Human-caused wildfire near Reno, Nevada, prompts state of emergency as 90,000 urged to flee

A wildfire threatening neighborhoods in and around Reno, Nevada, has forced officials to urge tens of thousands of people to evacuate and cancel school for much of the area on Monday – and high winds that have frustrated firefighters’ efforts to contain it could make the situation more dire this week.

The uncontained Hawk Fire – which started Saturday and had burned some 15,000 acres northwest of Reno by Sunday – was human-caused, officials have said, without saying how it started or whether it was intentionally set. Flames could be seen rapidly Sunday advancing down a hillside toward residential neighborhoods near Reno, marking the latest in a destructive fire season that has scorched thousands of acres and forced the evacuations of entire towns across the Southwest.