CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Cooler temperatures and calmer winds overnight helped firefighters make progress on a wild fire that has burned 750 acres of brush, grass, pinion and juniper southeast of Carson City.
The Badger fire in Brunswick Canyon was 50 percent contained early Wednesday, fire information officer Kirk Frosdick said.
About 200 firefighters were working the blaze burning in steep terrain.
No homes were threatened and no injuries have been reported, but firefighters were having to contend with open mine shafts and lots of rattlesnakes, Frosdick said.
The exact cause of the fire was under investigation, but officials said it was human caused.
The fire broke out about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Whipped by winds gusting to 40 mph and fueled by dry cheat grass, the flames spread quickly and sent up a plume of swirling smoke visible from Reno about 30 miles to the north.
''There's no likely threat to structures foreseen,'' said Franklin Pemberton, a spokesman for the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center in Minden. ''The biggest resources threatened right now are sage grouse habitat.''
Frosdick said one large air tanker, two single-engine planes and a helicopter would be working the fire from the air on Wednesday. Additional helicopters also have been ordered, he said.
There was no estimated time for containment.
Earlier Tuesday, fire crews snuffed out a potentially dangerous fire near Spooner Summit just off U.S. Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe.
The fire reported at about 11:30 a.m. started about 100 yards south of Highway 50 West near a youth camp at Clear Creek. It burned only about 2 acres before an estimated 50 firefighters put it out.
''It had serious potential. They really did an outstanding job putting that out,'' Pemberton said.
