By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
A wildfire came dangerously close to engulfing homes and apartments in an Overton neighborhood on Monday, February 7. The fire started in the slough just behind and to the east of homes on Lou Street in Overton, fire department officials said. No determination was made on the cause of the blaze.
The fire, fed by the thick vegetation in the earthen ditch, spread quickly to the north and to the south along the slough which, in that area, runs parallel to Lou St only about 50 feet behind homes in the area. Firefighters were able to check the blaze before it spread to residences and there were no reports of damage to homes or property.
Local volunteer firefighters received the alarm at around 12:30 p.m. Firefighters from Overton Station 74 were first on the scene. They were joined later by units from Logandale Station 73 and Moapa Station 72. Nevada Division of Forestry teams also responded to the scene to assist.
Firefighters attacked the fire from the west at Lou Street where there were fire hydrants available to supply water. But, while they were able to protect houses in that area, the full scope of the brush fire was somewhat out of their range.
Worried that the southern end of the fire might spill into an apartment complex in that area, firefighters began an evacuation of the complex. Fortunately the fire was brought under control before it reached the apartments.
Construction crews from Las Vegas Paving played a key part in finally controlling the fire, firefighters said. Las Vegas Paving crews, who were working on the valley-wide sewer pipeline, saw the fire and came with large water tanker trucks to help fight the fire. They approached the scene from the east through the fields and used high pressure water cannons to douse the blaze.
“Those guys really deserve a lot of the credit in that things didn’t get a lot worse,” said Station 74 Chief Matt Nelson in a Moapa Valley Fire District Advisory Board meeting held the following evening. “They came in from the east where it was harder to access and those cannons were able to put a lot of water over a very large area. Much further than we could reach.”
The fire would have been much less of an issue if residents of the area had kept property cleared of fuels, Nelson said.
“In a lot of cases, the property lines down there go down to the slough so it is the property owner’s responsibility to keep it clear,” Nelson said. “If the firebreaks were there; if they had kept the standard recommended 50 ft. perimeter around the home there would have been no problem on Lou Street.”
