LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Tricky winds and brittle grasses were hampering firefighters Sunday in their battle against two major wildfires in southern Nevada.
Air crews were assisting more than 800 firefighters on the ground in the fight against the Duzak and Delamar fires in Lincoln County. No homes were directly threatened.
''The main problem is the shifting winds,'' fire spokesman David Chevalier said. ''The whirlwinds come out of nowhere, which is what Nevada is famous for.''
The Duzak Fire - the largest of the year in Nevada - covered an area of more than 500 square miles near the Utah border in eastern Lincoln County, although only about half had burned.
Fire crews were still assigned Sunday to protect the dozen homes of Motoqua, Utah in case the blaze moved closer. It was more than a mile away.
Officials on Sunday reported the fire about 49 percent contained, the same figure as Saturday.
To the west, the Delamar Fire covered an area of more than 60 square miles that included the newly created Delamar Wilderness Area.
''We're talking about beautiful Gene Autry-type Western country,'' Chevalier said, adding the area includes Joshua trees, pines and an American Indian archaelogical site.
Officials reported zero containment on the blaze, the same figure as the day before.
Updated containment and acreage figures were expected to be released Sunday night.
Fire spokesman Dick Birger attributed the size of the Lincoln County blazes to a wet winter and spring that produced a bumper crop of grasses.
''The real problem has been all the fine fuels, the grasses that are the result of all that moisture we had this winter and spring,'' Birger said. ''That's allowing the fire to be carried along by the wind.''
Elsewhere, firefighters were plagued by 110-degree-plus temperatures in their battle against a wildfire about 35 miles from Mesquite, a small gambling town near the Nevada-Arizona border and about 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
More than 200 firefighters were working that blaze, the Fork Fire, which covered more than 60 square miles. Officials reported the fire 62 percent contained, down from 85 percent the day before.
''A few days ago they looked at it and thought it was going out,'' fire spokesman Rick Barton said, adding the blaze had more life than expected.
Crews were going out of their way to avoid unnecessary disturbance of the fire area, which is habitat for the federally protected desert tortoise, Barton said.
The heat has caused several firefighters to suffer dehydration and other illnesses, he added. Crews are being urged to drink plenty of water and seek shade during the hottest part of the day.
In the mountains south of Las Vegas, the Goodspring Fire was 97 percent contained Sunday, the same figure as the day before.
The lightning-caused blaze has burned more than 52 square miles since June 22 at a cost of $2.4 million to various fire agencies, spokeswoman Pam Sichting said Sunday.
Some firefighters were released from the fire Sunday to battle a new blaze about nine miles north of Las Vegas. That fire had burned less than a square mile by mid-afternoon.
