Wind-driven wildfire near Reno forces 90,000 from their homes

A fast-moving wildfire that erupted in the hills northwest of Reno on Saturday has burned more than 15,000 acres with no containment, forcing roughly 90,000 people from their homes or onto standby to evacuate and prompting Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo to declare a state of emergency for Washoe County.

The Hawk Fire ignited around 11:23 a.m. on August 22 near Verdi, close to the Somersett Golf and Country Club about five miles northwest of downtown Reno, according to the federal incident tracking page for the fire. Driven by dry vegetation, gusty winds and low humidity typical of late-summer Nevada, it grew at a rate of more than 7,500 acres a day through the weekend, expanding from the Sierra Nevada foothills toward the outskirts of the city.

What happened

Fire officials said a preliminary investigation determined the blaze was human-caused, though they had not disclosed by Sunday how it started or whether it was intentional. Truckee Meadows Fire & Rescue Chief Richard Edwards described the fire as "a very dynamic incident" for crews, driven largely by shifting winds that repeatedly changed its direction of travel. By Sunday evening, the fire had pushed close enough to the University of Nevada, Reno campus that the "go now" evacuation zone reached its edge, and officials said the fire was likely to keep spreading northeast toward the community of Stead, threatening homes, businesses and infrastructure along the way.

At least six people have been injured, three of them first responders and three civilians, and at least two medical facilities evacuated patients as a precaution. Several structures have already been destroyed, though authorities had not released a final count as containment efforts continued into a third day.

The numbers

• More than 15,000 acres burned as of Sunday night, with 0 percent containment
• Roughly 90,000 residents affected: 42,000 under mandatory "go now" evacuation orders and 45,000 more in a warning zone told to prepare to leave
• 720 personnel assigned to the fire under a Type 3 incident command structure, with firefighting costs already exceeding $6 million
• At least 6 injuries reported, including 3 first responders

The Reno-Sparks Convention Center has been converted into an evacuation shelter, and the evacuation zone as mapped by fire officials now covers an estimated 13,700 residences. Washoe County School District canceled classes districtwide on Monday as smoke and evacuation orders disrupted transportation and made several campuses inaccessible.

Context: a hard summer for Nevada

The Hawk Fire is the third major wildfire to strike the Reno area in a matter of weeks. It follows the Bug Fire, which burned roughly 94,000 acres and was 94 percent contained before the new blaze broke out, and the Stallion Fire, which charred more than 40,000 acres and reached 98 percent containment. Together, the three fires have stretched local and state firefighting resources thin even as national wildfire activity for 2026 already sits well above historical norms; more than 7.7 million acres have burned nationwide so far this year, according to interagency tracking, running at roughly 129 percent of the 10-year average for total fires and 169 percent of the average acreage.

Nevada's Emergency Operations Center has coordinated the response across multiple agencies, an arrangement that has become increasingly familiar to state officials this fire season. Lombardo had already declared a state of emergency earlier in August for the Bug and Fred Mountain fires burning elsewhere in Washoe County and on the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, an emergency that remained in effect for roughly a week before conditions there improved enough to let it lapse.

The evacuation zone spans a mix of suburban subdivisions, golf-course communities and rural parcels on Reno's northwestern edge, an area that has grown rapidly in recent years as the city has expanded into the foothills. Lombardo activated the Nevada National Guard to support the firefighting effort, deploying two helicopter crews for aerial water and retardant drops along with roughly 60 troops assigned to help law enforcement secure evacuated neighborhoods against looting.

"This is an active and rapidly evolving situation, and I urge everyone in the affected areas to remain vigilant and follow the direction of local officials. The state is fully engaged, and we are working alongside local authorities and first responders to deploy every available resource to protect lives, safeguard communities, and keep Nevadans out of harm's way."

That statement, issued by Lombardo's office as it announced the emergency declaration, directed all state agencies to coordinate through the Nevada Emergency Operations Center to supplement the response being led by Truckee Meadows Fire & Rescue and federal land managers. The declaration also clears the way for the state to seek reimbursement for emergency expenses and positions Nevada to request federal assistance if the fire continues to grow.

Residents under evacuation orders have been told to expect to be away from their homes for several days to allow crews unobstructed access to roads. Local news outlets in the Reno market have reported extensively on the shifting evacuation boundaries as fire behavior has changed hour to hour, urging residents near the edges of the warning zone to monitor official updates closely rather than rely solely on visible smoke or flame.

What happens next

Firefighters were working through the weekend to establish containment lines while battling erratic, wind-driven fire behavior that has so far outpaced efforts to box the blaze in. The National Weather Service office serving the Reno-Tahoe region has continued to monitor the wind and humidity conditions feeding the fire, factors that will largely determine whether crews can gain the upper hand in the coming days. National coverage of the fire's rapid growth has noted that containment could remain elusive as long as the current wind pattern holds.

For now, evacuees are being asked to stay away from the fire zone, and officials have said an update on containment progress and any expansion of evacuation orders will follow as conditions develop. The National Interagency Fire Center continues to track the Hawk Fire alongside dozens of other active wildfires burning across the western United States this month, a season officials say is far from over.