CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Legislators were told Thursday that more than 1 million acres of land has been blackened during Nevada's 2005 fire season _ which still isn't over.
State Forester Pete Anderson told the lawmakers' Interim Finance Committee that 1.1 million acres of land were scorched, nearly three-quarters of that in Clark and Lincoln counties in southern Nevada.
Major fires also occurred in Elko, Humboldt and Eureka counties, and smaller blazes hit several other counties.
The acreage total compares with just 41,000 acres that burned during the 2004 fire season. However, the number of fires was down, from about 900 in 2004 to about 700 this season. Also, the 2004 season resulted in major structure damage, especially in the Carson City area where 17 homes were destroyed, while there has been very little structure damage this year.
While high, the latest acreage total isn't a record. During the epic fire season of 1999, some 1.8 million acres of Nevada range were charred by fire. Lightning caused many of the blazes that year.
The 2005 fire season hasn't ended, but Anderson said scorching midsummer temperatures have ended. But even with cooler temperatures, he said firefighters won't let down their guard until there's some rainy weather.
''We could catch a fire in the daytime and it would burn pretty aggressively until evening,'' Anderson said. ''We wouldn't see a multiple-day event, but we could still have a fairly large fire.''
The state forester also credited the public for being cautious during the fire season. He said most of this year's fires were lightning-caused, adding, ''We had the potential for some very large fires in urban areas.''
Anderson gave his acreage report as Interim Finance members approved an emergency $2.5 million allocation to help pay firefighting bills. The forester said three-quarters of that money could be reimbursed to the state by the federal government because most of the fires were on federal lands.
Also approved was $230,000 to cover a revenue shortfall due to delays in receipt of funds from the federal government as a result of a new payment system.
