In The News – A week of fear and fire: A look back at the Davis Fire
September 17, 2024 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Reno Gazette Journal, 09/15/2024, Written by Brett McGinness Siobhan McAndrew Jason Hidalgo Jaedyn Young
More than 6,000 acres burned. Eleven homes and a church were lost. Thousands were told to flee their homes and shelter elsewhere, and students in south Reno — who had yet to be in class for even a month this fall — had a week’s worth of education delayed.
But the most dire forecasts — flames tearing through homes along the west side of Reno all the way up to McCarran Boulevard — didn’t come true thanks to firefighters who spent the week battling the Davis Fire, which started in a wooded park in Washoe Valley.
“By the hard work of those firefighters … it saved the day up there. No growth experienced,” said Stewart Turner, the fire behavior analyst who modeled predictions for the wildfire. “It wasn’t luck, it wasn’t the weather change, it was the hard work of those firefighters. That’s all it was.”
Photo Credit: Jason Bean (RGJ)