Cathedral blaze at Mount Charleston mostly contained as residents return

When the flames closed in on her Mount Charleston home, Nachia Hamilton didn’t run. She grabbed a hose.

The 36-year mountain resident doused her house with water while fire crews battled back the flames 100 feet away.

“You just hope for the best and be ready to run,” she said.

Mountain residents got the best as firefighters turned the tide Friday in their battle against the Cathedral Fire, which burned 20 acres in Kyle Canyon since the fire started about 11 a.m. Thursday.

Investigators believe the blaze started when someone built an illegal campfire in the Cathedral Rock area, said Kirsten Cannon, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

About 250 firefighters from Nevada and three neighboring states had the fire about 70 percent contained by 7 p.m. Friday. Ground crews were aided by two helicopters dumping water on hot spots and an air drop of 3,000 gallons of reddish-orange fire retardant.

Jorge Gonzalez, incident commander for the Nevada Division of Forestry, was coordinating efforts with the firefighters still battling the blaze Friday evening from the agency’s fire station on Kyle Canyon.

Soot covered his face and flame-resistant shirt, and Gonzalez hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep since the blaze began Thursday and threatened homes in the Rainbow subdivision. At 5:30 p.m. Friday, Gonzalez was only a few hours away from being relieved of his duties for the night and was looking forward to “a hot shower and cuddling up with my wife.”

“I’ll be back in the morning,” he said.

Gonzalez predicted the blaze would be fully contained Sunday.

Authorities evacuated about 70 percent of the mountain’s 1,100 residents Thursday under a voluntary evacuation order and both the main road into Kyle Canyon, state Route 157, and state Route 158 were closed.

All roads were reopened at 4 p.m. Friday, and residents were allowed to return home. Most trails and campgrounds on the mountain also reopened except the Cathedral Rock Picnic Area and Trailhead, Trail Canyon Trailhead, Old Ski Tow Trailhead, Mary Jane Falls Trailhead, Echo Trailhead and all parking lots and facilities near the fire area, according to the BLM.

Eight-year Mount Charleston resident Allan “Jamup” Hirschorn, who lives in the Rainbow Subdivision, recounted the harrowing moments soon after the forest fire started.

He could see the thick smoke rising over a neighbor’s house and knew it was trouble.

“It was pretty scary,” Allan “Jamup” said.

As Hirschorn and his wife, Patricia, were packing for a possible evacuation, he got dozens of calls in about 20 minutes from Las Vegas Valley friends offering them a place to stay, reporters looking for comment, and fellow mountain residents telling him to flee.

“They were saying to me, 'Pack your bags,’” Hirschorn said.

He did, but he didn’t leave. He said he felt a duty to help his fellow residents, including Hamilton, and to protect his home.

“To abandon your home, you just don’t know what you’re going to come home to,” he said.

Shanon Daines, 37, was born and raised on Mount Charleston and has experienced many wildfires in her time on the mountain. She said the blaze worried her, especially because of her most valuable possessions — her four-legged furry “kids,” pet chow chows Abbie and Cody.

“Personal belongings can be replaced, but animals can’t,” Daines said.

For both Hirschorn and Hamilton, the Cathedral Fire highlighted the dangers of living in a mountain community where one careless person can cause so much devastation.

“One little match can destroy our whole mountain,” Hirschorn said.

Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281. Review-Journal photographer Jason Bean and Review-Journal reporter Antonio Planas contributed to this report.

Trending topics:

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Comments

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1. Common Sense Jul. 3, 2010 | 7:49 p.m. Report Abuse

   Fire is nature's way of starting over as everyone in the world(except vegascitizen) learned during the giant yellowstone fires in the 80's.
   
   After those fires new species of plants began growing. Species that they thought had been extinct.
   
   Protect the homes and let nature rejuvenate itself like it's supposed to.
   
   Ha! "grieve about the lost nature"... it will grow back I promise.

2. VegasCitizen Jul. 3, 2010 | 4:08 p.m. Report Abuse

   Looks like common sense is the one trying to milk this fire. Just let the people grieve about the lost nature

3. cynzia Jul. 3, 2010 | 10:02 a.m. Report Abuse

   I totally understand your frustration Native born las vegan, I shake my head time and again and wonder "WHY BREATHE IF YOU ARE GONNA JUST BE STUPID" ugh the majority of people are just plain idiots!!!

4. Virgil A. Sestini Jul. 3, 2010 | 5:52 a.m. Report Abuse

   The real sad tale about this fire is that it will be well over 100 years, if ever, that the burned area completely recovers. There will be follow up problems with winter with the very strong potential of snow avalanches in the burn area. With the current drought how well do you think new plants including shrubs and trees will be able to come back?

5. Allen Jul. 2, 2010 | 7:05 p.m. Report Abuse

   The headline should read:
   
   "Mt. Charleston fire contained; roads open for 4th of July celebrators to start new blazes"

6. Common Sense Jul. 2, 2010 | 3:36 p.m. Report Abuse

   The firemen are gonna milk this tiny fire for all it's worth. There is a contract vote coming soon and for once they can actually say that they are "working"

7. Kilgore.Trout Jul. 2, 2010 | 12:40 p.m. Report Abuse

   Come on RJ commenters...give everyone the real story: Obama told Harry Reid to do it in order to keep people away from Las Vegas, and then blame it on poor Sharron Angle.

8. elysia99 Jul. 2, 2010 | 12:05 p.m. Report Abuse

   Pianist and rob.bert -- Did I miss something here? Where in this article did it say it was an illegal worker or anything to do with the Water Authority? Why is it that when anything goes wrong in the world it's always immediately blamed on illegals? Stop being racist.

9. Virgil A. Sestini Jul. 2, 2010 | 11:59 a.m. Report Abuse

   Why do our moron politicians in the county want to fill the mountain with houses? Chris Guinchiliani has her mansion on the mountain so maye that explains part of it. How many other well healed politically empowered also have nice homes up and down Kyle and Lee Canyon? Can 'Joe Private Citizen' possibly buy land and build a house up there? Not likely unless you know someone with juice!!!!!
   
   
   One of these days there will be a major fire in one of these box canyons and the loss of life will be a major consequence. Who will be held accountable then?

10. rob.bert Jul. 2, 2010 | 11:44 a.m. Report Abuse

    An "illegal campfire" is right! What's up with that, Water Authority?! You hired undocumented workers who do not speak english to work on govt. land? Perhaps we should send the bill for this latest catastrophe to Mexico. That is, of course, this is a freebie like everything else to these people!

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