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102-547: The Oakland firestorm of 1991 was a large suburban wildland–urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California , and southeastern Berkeley over the weekend of October 19–20, 1991, before being brought under full control on October 23. The official name of this incident by Cal Fire is the Tunnel Fire . It is also commonly referred to as the Oakland Hills firestorm or

204-399: A 1 kiloton of TNT (4.2 TJ) nuclear bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on January 27, 1951. The last atmospheric test was conducted on July 17, 1962, and the underground testing of weapons continued until September 23, 1992. The location is known for having the highest concentration of nuclear-detonated weapons in the U.S. Over 80% of the state's area is owned by the federal government. This

306-402: A U.S. state, just behind Arizona's 128 °F (53 °C) reading and California's 134 °F (57 °C) reading. The vegetation of Nevada is diverse and differs by state area. Nevada contains six biotic zones : alpine , sub-alpine , ponderosa pine , pinion-juniper , sagebrush and creosotebush . Nevada is divided into political jurisdictions designated as counties . Carson City

408-453: A community is a fire-adapted community . The U.S. Forest Service defines fire-adapted communities as "a knowledgeable and engaged community in which the awareness and actions of residents regarding infrastructure, buildings, landscaping, and the surrounding ecosystem lessens the need for extensive protection actions and enables the community to safely accept fire as a part of the surrounding landscape." Three groups are responsible for achieving

510-584: A county in 1856 by Utah Territorial Legislature and again in 1861 by the new Nevada Legislature. Clark County is the most populous county in Nevada, accounting for nearly three-quarters of its residents. Las Vegas, Nevada's most populous city, has been the county seat since the county was created in 1909 from a portion of Lincoln County, Nevada . Before that, it was a part of Arizona Territory. Clark County attracts numerous tourists: An estimated 44   million people visited Clark County in 2014. Washoe County

612-675: A degree of wildfire threat. These are ecological factors that define force, human factors that define ignition, and vulnerability factors that define damage. These factors are typically viewed in a geospatial relationship. The ecological factor category includes climate, seasonal weather patterns, geographical distributions of vegetation, historical spatial wildfire data, and geographic features. The ecological determines wildfire size and intensity. The human factor category includes arrangement and density of housing. Density correlates with wildfire risk for two reasons. First, people cause fires; from 2001 to 2011, people caused 85% of wildfires recorded by

714-559: A fire; lower vegetation has a lower risk. A quantitative risk assessment simulation combines wildfire threat categories. Areas at the highest risk are those where a moderate population overlaps or is adjacent to a wildland that can support a large and intense wildfire and is vulnerable with limited evacuation routes. The Calkin framework predicts a catastrophic wildfire in the Wildland–urban Interface (WUI), with three categories of factors. These factors allow for an assessment of

816-607: A limited window and thus MTT is only applicable to short-timescale simulations. Structure and vegetation flammability is reduced through community-focused risk management through reduction of community vulnerabilities. The degree of control of vulnerability to wildfires is measured with metrics for responsibilities and zones of defenses. The probability of catastrophic WUI wildfire is controlled by assignment of responsibility for three actionable WUI objectives: controlling potential wildfire intensity, reducing ignition sources, and reducing vulnerability. When these objectives are met, then

918-408: A population of 3,104,614 at the 2020 U.S. census . In 2022, the estimated population of Nevada was 3,177,772, an increase of 73,158 residents (2.36%) since the 2020 census . Nevada had the highest percentage growth in population from 2017 to 2018. At the 2020 census, 6.0% of the state's population were reported as under 5, 22.5% were under 18, and 16.1% were 65 or older. Females made up about 49.8% of

1020-468: A sample of more than 3,000 structures that burned in a known accidental fire. A group of fire investigators surveyed the residences and looked for artifacts that would normally be considered "suspicious," such as melted metals, spalled concrete and crazed glass. A careful study of 50 of the homes revealed that most of them contained artifacts that would be considered evidence of arson had they been found in an isolated fire that burned to completion. The study

1122-721: A state boundary at just over 400 miles (640 km). This line begins in Lake Tahoe nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) offshore (in the direction of the boundary), and continues to the Colorado River where the Nevada, California, and Arizona boundaries merge 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the Laughlin Bridge. The largest mountain range in the southern portion of the state is the Spring Mountain Range , just west of Las Vegas. The state's lowest point

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1224-407: A two-dimensional surface. Minimum Travel Time (MTT) methods build on Huygens' principle to find a minimum time for fire to travel between two points. MTT assumes nearly-constant factors such as environmental factors for wind direction and fuel moisture. The MTT is advantageous over Huygens in scalability and algorithm speed. However, factors are dynamic and a constant representation comes at a cost of

1326-838: A variety of effects on plant life. Depending on the influences that are present, some plant traits like woodiness and height may increase while many other traits either show mixe responses or are not well studied. Additionally, disease vectors in isolated patches can undergo genetic differentiation, increasing their survivability as a whole. Increases in wildfire risk pose a threat to conservation in WUI growth regions. Ecological change driven by human influence and climate change has often resulted in more arid and fire-prone WUI. Factors include climate change driven vegetation growth and introduction of non-native plants, insects, and plant diseases. In North America, Chile, and Australia, unnaturally high fire frequencies due to exotic annual grasses have led to

1428-464: A variety of reasons, the firefighting teams were initially overwhelmed by the firestorm. The winds were gusting at times in excess of 70 mph (110 km/h), creating erratic and extreme fire behavior. Flames took out power lines to seventeen pumping stations in the Oakland water system. Outside fire teams faced various equipment compatibility issues such as hydrants having the wrong size outlets for

1530-423: A vote. The Nevadan pronunciation is the one used by the state legislature. At one time, the state's official tourism organization, TravelNevada, stylized the name of the state as "Nevăda", with a breve over the a indicating the locally preferred pronunciation, which was also available as a license plate design until 2007. Before the arrival of Europeans, the earliest inhabitants were Indigenous tribes including

1632-481: A way that defense zones are effective (note: fire-resistant is arbitrary and is not defined in hours of resistance for a given degree of heat; these guidelines are relaxed for non- evergreen trees which are less flammable; this guide is not intended to prevent combustion of individual structures in a wildfire—it is intended to prevent catastrophic wildfire in the WUI): There are three challenges. An example of

1734-428: A wildfire is calculated by a Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) metric. The HIZ includes at a minimum the space within a 200 foot (61 m) radius around a structure. The HIZ is a guideline for whoever is responsible for structure wildfire protection; landlords and tenants (homeowner if they are the same) are responsible for physically constructing and maintaining defense zones while local government defines land use boundaries in

1836-592: Is a landlocked state in the Western region of the United States . It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive , the 32nd-most populous , and the ninth-least densely populated U.S. state. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's population live in Clark County , which contains

1938-623: Is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province and is broken up by many north–south mountain ranges. Most of these ranges have endorheic valleys between them. Much of the northern part of the state is within the Great Basin , a mild desert that experiences hot temperatures in the summer and cold temperatures in the winter. Occasionally, moisture from the Arizona Monsoon will cause summer thunderstorms; Pacific storms may blanket

2040-537: Is along the Colorado River, south of Laughlin. Nevada has 172 mountain summits with 2,000 feet (610 m) of prominence. Nevada ranks second, after Alaska, for the greatest number of mountains in the United States, followed by California, Montana, and Washington. Nevada is the driest state in the United States. It is made up of mostly desert and semi-arid climate regions, and, with the exception of

2142-549: Is commemorated by Nevada Historical Markers 57 and 58 in Lincoln and Nye counties. Eight days before the presidential election of 1864 , Nevada became the 36th state in the Union, despite lacking the minimum 60,000 residents that Congress typically required a potential state to have in order to become a state. At the time, Nevada's population was little more than 40,000. Governor Nye was frustrated that previous attempts to send

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2244-512: Is expected the WUI will continue to expand; an anticipated amenity-seeking migration of retiring baby-boomers to smaller communities with lower costs of living close to scenic and recreational natural resources will contribute to WUI growth. Climate change is also driving population shifts into the WUI as well as changes in wildlife composition. Housing growth in WUI regions can displace and fragment native vegetation. The introduction of non-native species by humans through landscaping can change

2346-400: Is mainly because homesteads were not permitted in large enough sizes to be viable in the arid conditions that prevail throughout desert Nevada. Instead, early settlers would homestead land surrounding a water source, and then graze livestock on the adjacent public land, which is useless for agriculture without access to water (this pattern of ranching still prevails). The COVID-19 pandemic

2448-417: Is measured with evacuation time through a proximity of habitable structures to roads, matching of administrators to responsibilities, land use, building standards, and landscaping types. Wildfire spread is commonly simulated with a Minimum Travel Time (MTT) algorithm. Prior to MTT algorithms, fire boundaries were modeled through an application of Huygens' principle ; boundaries are treated as wave fronts on

2550-454: Is not within the boundaries of any county). The tourism industry remains Nevada's largest employer, with mining continuing as a substantial sector of the economy: Nevada is the fourth-largest producer of gold in the world. Nevada is the driest state, and has been influenced by climate change , droughts in Nevada have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Nevada's water security . The name "Nevada" comes from

2652-442: Is officially a consolidated municipality, meaning it legally functions as both a city and a county. As of 1919, there were 17 counties in the state, ranging from 146 to 18,159 square miles (380 to 47,030 km ). Lake County , one of the original nine counties formed in 1861, was renamed Roop County in 1862. Part of the county became Lassen County, California , in 1864, resolving border uncertainty. In 1883, Washoe County annexed

2754-643: Is suspected to have originated with unhardened electrical transmission line infrastructure which had recently been redesigned though had not been reconstructed and the new design did not include hardening against ignition where it passed through the WUI. The Camp Fire demonstrated limitations of the fire-adapted community theory in late season wildfires driven by Katabatic winds , and in the land management agencies' responsibility in controlling infrastructure ignition sources. Nevada Nevada ( / n ə ˈ v æ d ə , - v ɑː -/ nə- VAD -ə, -⁠ VAH - , Spanish: [neˈβaða] )

2856-669: Is the second-most populous county of Nevada. Its county seat is Reno . Washoe County includes the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area . Lyon County is the third most populous county. It was one of the nine original counties created in 1861. It was named after Nathaniel Lyon , the first Union General to be killed in the Civil War . Its current county seat is Yerington . Its first county seat was established at Dayton on November 29, 1861. There are 68 designated wilderness areas in Nevada, protecting some 6,579,014 acres (2,662,433 ha) under

2958-590: Is true for a range of environments in North America, the Mediterranean Basin, Chile, and South Africa. Possible reasons for a decrease include decreases in open space for ember transmission, fuel fragmentation due to urban development, and higher availability of fire-suppression resources. Areas with moderate population densities tend to exhibit higher wildfire risk than areas with low or high population densities. The vulnerability factor category

3060-730: The Berkeley Hills , northeast of the intersection of California State Routes 24 and 13 (0.5 mi (0.8 km) north of the Caldecott Tunnel west portal. Firefighters fought the 5-acre (2.0 ha) fire on a steep hillside above 7151 Buckingham Boulevard, and by Saturday night believed it to be under control. The fire re-ignited as a brush fire shortly before 11:00   a.m. on Sunday, October   20, and rapidly spread southwest, driven by wind gusts up to 65 mi (100 km) per hour. It quickly overwhelmed local and regional firefighting resources. By 11:30 a.m.,

3162-466: The East Bay Hills fire . The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The 1,520 acres (620 ha) destroyed included 2,843 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The economic loss from the fire was estimated at $ 1.5 billion ($ 2.99 billion in 2023 dollars). The fire started on Saturday, October   19, from an incompletely extinguished grass fire in

Oakland firestorm of 1991 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3264-769: The Goshute , Southern Paiute , Mohave , and Wašišiw ( Washoe people ). Francisco Garcés was the first European in the area. Nevada was annexed as a part of the Spanish Empire in the northwestern territory of New Spain . Administratively, the area of Nevada was part of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Nevada became a part of Alta California (Upper California) province in 1804 when

3366-843: The Humboldt Sink near Lovelock . Several rivers drain from the Sierra Nevada eastward, including the Walker , Truckee , and Carson rivers. All of these rivers are endorheic basins , ending in Walker Lake , Pyramid Lake , and the Carson Sink , respectively. However, not all of Nevada is within the Great Basin. Tributaries of the Snake River drain the far north, while the Colorado River , which also forms much of

3468-491: The Las Vegas Valley , the average summer diurnal temperature range approaches 40 °F (22 °C) in much of the state. While winters in northern Nevada are long and fairly cold, the winter season in the southern part of the state tends to be of short duration and mild. Most parts of Nevada receive scarce precipitation during the year. The most rain that falls in the state falls on the east and northeast slopes of

3570-486: The Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area , including three of the state's four largest incorporated cities. Nevada's capital is Carson City . Las Vegas is the largest city in the state. Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the "Battle Born State" because it campaigned during its relatively brief territorial status as

3672-528: The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). Second, housing intensifies wildfires because they contain flammable material and produce mobile embers, such as wood shakes. The relationship between population density and wildfire risk is non-linear. At low population densities, human ignitions are low. Ignitions increase with population density. However, there is a threshold of population density at which fire occurrence decreases. This

3774-542: The Nevada Territory (1861–1864), then quickly achieved statehood during the American Civil War (1861–1865), (the words "Battle Born" also appear on its state flag ); due to the 16th presidency of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865, served 1861–1865). The federal Union benefited immensely economically translated into military necessity from the support of newly awarded statehood as the 36th state by

3876-510: The Sierra Nevada . The average annual rainfall per year is about 7 inches (180 mm); the wettest parts get around 40 inches (1,000 mm). Nevada's highest recorded temperature is 125 °F (52 °C) at Laughlin on June 29, 1994, and the lowest recorded temperature is −50 °F (−46 °C) at San Jacinto on January 8, 1937. Nevada's 125 °F (52 °C) reading is the third highest statewide record high temperature of

3978-519: The Spanish language , referring to Nevada's small overlap with the Sierra Nevada mountain range on its western edge; however, the rest of Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid , much of it within the central Great Basin region. Areas south of the Great Basin are within the Mojave Desert shared with Southern California , while the high altitude of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada lie on

4080-723: The Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory , then the Nevada Territory (March 2, 1861; named for the Sierra Nevada ). The first discovery of a major U.S. deposit of silver ore occurred in Comstock Lode under Virginia City, Nevada , in 1859. On March 2, 1861, the Nevada Territory separated from the Utah Territory and adopted its current name, shortened from The Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snow-covered mountain range"). The 1861 southern boundary

4182-578: The fire-adapted communities performance was demonstrated in November 2018 when the Camp Fire passed through the community of Concow in Butte County, California. The Concow community was a fire-adapted community. This late season fire provided a stress test of the fire-adapted communities theory. The Concow community was destroyed. The wildfire continued through the community without demonstrating

Oakland firestorm of 1991 - Misplaced Pages Continue

4284-504: The quality , but not the length , of the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation (Spanish /a/ is open central [ä] , whereas American English /ɑː/ varies from back [ɑː] to central [äː] ), it is not the pronunciation used by Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternative pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators and never received

4386-427: The 3-inch (76 mm) outlets previously used by Oakland were considerably more efficient. Water cisterns and a new hills fire station were added, and radio communications were improved. On June 12, 2008, a brush fire ignited in almost the exact location of the starting point of the 1991 fire, but owing to a rapid response, the preventive measures implemented after the 1991 disaster, and the lack of significant winds,

4488-713: The Californias were split. With the Mexican War of Independence won in 1821, the province of Alta California became a territory (state) of Mexico, with a small population. Jedediah Smith entered the Las Vegas Valley in 1827, Peter Skene Ogden traveled the Humboldt River in 1828, and in 1829 a merchant from Nuevo México named Antonio Armijo streamlined travel along the Old Spanish Trail . Chronicling Armijo's route his scout Raphael Rivera

4590-514: The Colorado River, essentially all of present-day Nevada south of the 37th parallel . The transfer was prompted by the discovery of gold in the area, and officials thought Nevada would be better able to oversee the expected population boom. This area includes most of what is now Clark County and the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Mining shaped Nevada's economy for many years (see Silver mining in Nevada ). When Mark Twain lived in Nevada during

4692-469: The Las Vegas area is situated, is within the Mojave Desert . The area receives less rain in the winter but is closer to the Arizona Monsoon in the summer. The terrain is also lower, mostly below 4,000 feet (1,200 m), creating conditions for hot summer days and cool to chilly winter nights. Nevada and California have by far the longest diagonal line (in respect to the cardinal directions) as

4794-419: The Spanish adjective nevada ( [neˈβaða] ), meaning "snow-covered" or "snowy". The state takes its name from the Nevada Territory , which in turn was named for the Sierra Nevada . Nevadans pronounce the second syllable with the "a" of "apple" ( / n ə ˈ v æ d ə / ) while some people from outside of the state pronounce it with the "a" of "palm" ( / n ə ˈ v ɑː d ə / ). Although

4896-576: The Union". Statehood was rushed to the date of October 31 to help ensure Abraham Lincoln 's reelection on November   8 and post-Civil War Republican dominance in Congress, as Nevada's mining-based economy tied it to the more industrialized Union . As it turned out, however, Lincoln and the Republicans won the election handily and did not need Nevada's help. Nevada is one of only two states to significantly expand its borders after admission to

4998-544: The Union, with the other being Missouri , which acquired additional territory in 1837 due to the Platte Purchase . In 1866 another part of the western Utah Territory was added to Nevada in the eastern part of the state, setting the current eastern boundary. Nevada achieved its current southern boundaries on January 18, 1867, when it absorbed the portion of Pah-Ute County in the Arizona Territory west of

5100-583: The United States, the wildland–urban interface (WUI) has two definitions. The US Forest Service defines the wildland–urban interface qualitatively as a place where "humans and their development meet or intermix with wildland fuel." Communities that are within 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the zone are included. A quantitative definition is provided by the Federal Register , which defines WUI areas as those containing at least one housing unit per 40 acres (16 ha). The Federal Register definition splits

5202-444: The WUI into two categories based on vegetation density: Human development has increasingly encroached into the wildland–urban interface. The WUI was the fastest-growing land use type in the United States between 1990 and 2010. Factors include geographic population shifts, expansion of cities and suburbs into wildlands, and vegetative growth into formerly unvegetated land. The primary cause has been migration. Of new WUI areas, 97% were

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5304-405: The area were crowded with parked cars, including many in front of fire hydrants; this prevented fire trucks and ambulances from getting to certain areas and connecting fire hoses. The general situation was one of chaos and panic among residents in the area. The most important factor was the rapid spread of the wind-driven fire. Before most of the firefighting resources could be brought to the scene,

5406-525: The area with snow. The state's highest recorded temperature was 125 °F (52 °C) in Laughlin (elevation of 605 feet or 184 meters) on June 29, 1994. The coldest recorded temperature was −52  °F (−47  °C ) set in San Jacinto in 1972, in the northeastern portion of the state. The Humboldt River crosses the state from east to west across the northern part of the state, draining into

5508-476: The bay into San Francisco . Ash fell onto the field of Candlestick Park where the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers were playing during that afternoon. The CBS telecast of the game also showed live footage of the fire. As with the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake two years earlier, the blimp shots from the national sports media provided many people with first word of the disaster. By mid-afternoon,

5610-413: The boundary with Arizona , drains much of southern Nevada. The mountain ranges, some of which have peaks above 13,000 feet (4,000 m), harbor lush forests high above desert plains, creating sky islands for endemic species. The valleys are often no lower in elevation than 3,000 feet (910 m), while some in central Nevada are above 6,000 feet (1,800 m). The southern third of the state, where

5712-593: The buildings and houses were spared. The hot, dry northeasterly winds, dubbed as " Diablo winds " in reference to the Diablo mountain range , Diablo Valley , and surrounding geography of same name, periodically occur during the early fall season. These are similar to the Santa Ana winds in Southern California, and have been the cause of numerous devastating fires. The fire began generating its own wind,

5814-859: The bulk in modern history occurred after 2003. In the United States, from 1985 to 2016, federal wildfire suppression expenditures tripled from $ 0.4 billion per year to $ 1.4 billion per year. Evacuations in WUI regions could be complex due to densely populated communities, limited road networks, and varying levels of preparedness and risk perception among residents can lead to congestion, delays, and unsafe evacuation routes. The diverse demographics in these areas —ranging from elderly populations to young families— require tailored evacuation strategies to accommodate different vulnerabilities and safety needs. Effective WUI evacuation planning must balance early warning systems, clear communication, adequate infrastructure, and community engagement to enhance preparedness and ensure rapid, safe responses in emergencies. Calculating

5916-409: The constitution via overland mail and by sea had failed by October 24, so on October 26 the full text was sent by telegraph at a cost of $ 4,303.27  – the most costly telegraph on file at the time for a single dispatch, equivalent to $ 83,831.36 in 2023. Finally, the response from Washington came on October 31, 1864: "the pain is over, the child is born, Nevada this day was admitted into

6018-479: The creation of the Nevada Territory out of the western portion of the Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, as the second of two states added to the Union during the Civil War (the first being West Virginia ). Nevada is known for its libertarian laws. In 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half

6120-494: The defining characteristic of a firestorm . The superheated fire-driven winds combined with warmer, drier air east of the Berkeley Hills, and interacted with the ambient cooler, more moist Bay/Coastal air to create erratic, dangerous gusts, which helped produce numerous rotational vortices. All of these combined to help spread the fire, tossing embers in all directions. The wind was so strong that it also blew debris across

6222-449: The efforts undertaken by CARD (Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters) after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, to build a nonprofit preparedness infrastructure, were key to addressing the needs of vulnerable communities. In response to issues about firefighting equipment during the disaster, Oakland city firefighters now carry more extensive wildland firefighting gear and fire shelters. Prior to and during this firestorm, when this

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6324-436: The expected slowing of the flame front. If there was a slowing it was less than anticipated though any slowing contributed to allowing residents to evacuate ahead of the flame front. The wildfire continued through wildlands between the community of Concow and the town of Paradise, California. The wildfire then destroyed the town of Paradise which was in the process of developing into a fire-adapted community. The wildfire ignition

6426-618: The fabric of Nevada's own cultural landscape. As a result of the Mexican–American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , Mexico permanently lost Alta California in 1848. The new areas acquired by the United States continued to be administered as territories. As part of the Mexican Cession (1848) and the subsequent California Gold Rush that used Emigrant Trails through the area, the state's area evolved first as part of

6528-492: The federal government presented the $ 49   million construction contract for Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam ). The Nevada Test Site , 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the city of Las Vegas, was founded on January 11, 1951, for the testing of nuclear weapons . The site consists of about 1,350 square miles (3,500 km ) of the desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with

6630-456: The fire had established a large perimeter. At the fire's peak, it destroyed one house every 11 seconds. By the first hour, the fire had destroyed nearly 790   structures. In addition to the winds and the heat, an important factor in the rapid spread of the fire was that it started in an area that was at an interface between developed and undeveloped land. Many of the first dwellings to burn were surrounded by thick, dry vegetation . In addition,

6732-557: The fire had spread to the nearby Parkwoods Apartments located next to the Caldecott Tunnel. Shortly before noon, the fire had been blown up to the top of Hiller Highlands to the west, from where it began its sweep down into the Hiller Highlands development and the southern hills of Berkeley . Burning embers from houses and vegetation were carried ahead of the fire line by torrid winds and started new blazes ahead of

6834-462: The fire slowly marched house by house toward the evacuated hotel. The fire was stopped shortly before it reached the hotel. By 5:00   p.m., the winds died down, giving firefighters a chance to control the blaze, though full containment would not be achieved until October   22. As many as 400   engine companies, 1,500   personnel, and 250   agencies worked to put out the fire. By Wednesday, October   23, at 8:00   a.m.,

6936-490: The fire was confined to 2 acres (0.81 ha), with no damage to any structures, and was extinguished within 90 minutes. In 2015, a $ 4 million federal grant to prevent fires in the Oakland Hills ignited debate over whether to cut down trees in the region. The city and its fire department say clearing young eucalyptus trees and other non-native plants would deter another deadly firestorm like the one that whipped through

7038-495: The fire was declared under control, almost 72   hours after it started. The fire's rapid rate of spread and massively-destructive nature sparked renewed recognition of the dangers posed by wildland-urban interface fires in major cities, and spurred research and investigation into improved prevention and suppression of such fires. Several nonprofit groups arose after the fire. One, the Hills Emergency Forum,

7140-504: The first independent government of the First Mexican Empire ( Mexico ) in 1821. The westward expanding United States a quarter-century later annexed the area of the Mexican Cession in 1849 after its victory in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and it was incorporated into the U.S. as part of the newly-organized larger federal New Mexico Territory (1850–1863 split with Arizona Territory , then statehood 1912) in

7242-464: The first permanent settlement in what is now Nevada, called Mormon Station (now Genoa), in 1851. Additionally, in June 1855, William Bringhurst and 29 other Mormon missionaries built the first permanent structure, a 150-foot square adobe fort , northeast of downtown Las Vegas, converging on the Spanish and Mormon Roads . The fort remained under Salt Lake City 's control until the winter of 1858–1859, and

7344-421: The first phase of its reopening on May 9, 2020. Restaurants, retailers, outdoor malls, and hair salons were among the businesses allowed to reopen, but with precautions in place, such as limiting occupancy to 50 percent. A second phase went into effect on May 29, 2020. It allowed for the reopening of state parks and businesses such as bars, gyms, and movie theaters. Casinos began reopening on June 4, 2020. Nevada

7446-460: The hills in 1991. One of the most famous victims who lost his house in the disaster was game designer Will Wright , who lived a few blocks away from where the fire started. He used his experience of rebuilding his life as the basis for the concept of the Maxis computer game series The Sims , and added the city's recovery from the fire as a scenario in the game SimCity 2000 . The fire provided

7548-405: The hoses used by neighboring counties. Oakland was also not able to communicate with many mutual aid resources due to antiquated equipment and lack of access to statewide radio frequencies brought on by the budget restrictions in the preceding years. In some areas, firefighters simply ran out of water, as there was no power to refill the emptied reservoirs. Additionally, many narrow, winding roads in

7650-616: The jurisdiction of the National Park Service , U.S. Forest Service , and Bureau of Land Management . The Nevada state parks comprise protected areas managed by the state of Nevada, including state parks , state historic sites , and state recreation areas . There are 24 state park units, including Van Sickle Bi-State Park which opened in July 2011 and is operated in partnership with the adjacent state of California . The United States Census Bureau determined Nevada had

7752-471: The loss of native shrublands. Human development has increasingly encroached into the wildland–urban interface. Coupled with a recent increase in large wildland fires, this has led to an increase in fire protection costs. Between 1985–1894 and 2005–2014, the area burned by wildfires in the United States nearly doubled from 18,000 to 33,000 square kilometers. Wildfires in the United States exceeding 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) have steadily increased since 1983;

7854-449: The massive infusion of the monetary support it provided of nearly $ 400 million dollars in rich underground geological layers of veins of silver ore generated at the time by the 1859 discovery of the legendary Comstock Lode , mined beneath and around Virginia City up to about 1874 / 1920s ). It is also known as the " Sagebrush State", for the native plant of the same name; and as the " Sage-hen State". The state's name means "snowy" in

7956-418: The nearby undeveloped land had even more dry brush. Other factors included many wood shake/shingle roofs which were easily ignited by embers, and the use of wood chip mulch in landscaping around buildings, which was blown around spreading embers and igniting vegetation across streets. The same conditions contributed to a major conflagration nearby in the 1923 Berkeley fire and a more limited conflagration in

8058-522: The original burn. Within thirty minutes the fire had crossed both Highway   24 (an eight-lane freeway) and Highway   13 (a four-lane freeway), eventually igniting hundreds of houses in the Forest Park neighborhood on the northwest edge of the Montclair district and in the upper Rockridge neighborhood . The fire eventually touched the edge of Piedmont , burning some municipal property, but

8160-593: The period described in Roughing It , mining had led to an industry of speculation and immense wealth. Both mining and population temporarily declined in the late 19th century. However, the rich silver strike at Tonopah in 1900, followed by strikes in Goldfield and Rhyolite , created a second mining boom in Nevada and Nevada's population. Unregulated gambling was commonplace in the early Nevada mining towns but

8262-431: The population of the next least-populous state, Wyoming . However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century. Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in its most populated regions – Clark County (Las Vegas), Washoe County (Reno) and Carson City (which, as an independent city,

8364-430: The population. 19.1% of the population was reported as foreign-born. Since the 2020 census, the population of Nevada had a natural increase of 2,374 (the net difference between 42,076 births and 39,702 deaths); and an increase due to net migration of 36,605 (of which 34,280 was due to domestic and 2,325 was due to international migration). The center of population of Nevada is in southern Nye County . In this county,

8466-548: The portion that remained in Nevada. In 1969, Ormsby County was dissolved and the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City was created by the Legislature in its place coterminous with the old boundaries of Ormsby County. Bullfrog County was formed in 1987 from part of Nye County. After the creation was declared unconstitutional, the county was abolished in 1989. Humboldt County was designated as

8568-487: The region Nevada (snowy) because of the snow which covered the mountains in winter, similar to the Sierra Nevada mountains in European Spain . The area formed from mostly Alta California (Upper California) to the west and to the east as part of Nuevo México ( New Mexico )'s colonial province and territory to the northern portion within the larger colonial era Viceroyalty of New Spain , which gained freedom as

8670-592: The result of new housing. In the United States there are population shifts towards the WUIs in the West and South; increasing nationally by 18 percent per decade, covering 6 million additional homes between 1990 and 2000 which in 2013 was 32 percent of habitable structures. Globally, WUI growth includes regions such as Argentina, France, South Africa, Australia, and regions around the Mediterranean sea. Going forward it

8772-447: The risk posed to a structure located within a WUI is through predictive factors and simulations. Identifying risk factors and simulation with those factors help to understand and then manage the wildfire threat. For example, a proximity factor measures the risk of fire from wind carried embers which can ignite new spot fires over a mile ahead of a flame front. A vegetation factor measures the risk those wind carried embers have of starting

8874-614: The route remained largely under the control of Salt Lake City and Santa Fe tradespersons. As such, these pioneers laid the foundation for the emergence of the initial settlements between the Sierra Nevadas and Mojave Desert and within the Las Vegas Valley. The enduring influence of New Mexico and Utah culture has since profoundly impacted Nevada's identity, manifesting through New Mexican cuisine and Mormon foodways or New Mexican and Mormon folk musics , into

8976-472: The same area on September   22, 1970, again under similar conditions. A smaller fire also started in Wildcat Canyon on December   14, 1980. As night descended, the firestorm threatened to destroy the historic Claremont Resort hotel, where the media had gathered to report on the fire. Television crews trained their cameras on the dark hill immediately behind the hotel and millions watched as

9078-424: The scene of the fire. The next morning, before full control had been gained, satellite photographs, especially infrared (heat-sensing) photographs, were provided with the help of NASA Ames Research Center 's Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) to aid firefighters in plotting the extent of the fire and spotting hidden hot spots. In terms of alarm assignments, it was the equivalent of a 107-alarm fire . For

9180-496: The southern portion. To the north of the newly acquired Mexican / Spanish lands was the similarly larger Utah Territory (1850–1896) along with the far-western new 31st state of California on the Pacific Ocean coast also in 1850. The discovery of mineral wealth at the Comstock Lode silver bonanza in 1859 led to a population boom similar to that of earlier California Gold Rush in 1848–1852, that became an impetus to

9282-702: The state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was asked to mobilize air tanker support to the fire zone. Eventually the California Department of Forestry (CDF) was asked to dispatch several air tankers , which doused the fire with tons of fire retardant all day long. The CDF established a base at the Naval Air Station in Alameda . Additionally, the Naval Air Station itself sent its own firefighting equipment and material to

9384-416: The three WUI objectives, these are land management agencies, local governments, and individuals. Fire-adapted communities have been successful in interacting with wildfires. The key benefit of fire-adapted communities is that a reliance on individuals as a core block in the responsibility framework reduces WUI expenditures by local, regional, and national governments. The risk of a structure to ignite in

9486-470: The unincorporated town of Pahrump , 60 miles (97 km) west of Las Vegas on the California state line, has grown very rapidly from 1980 to 2020. At the 2020 census, the town had 44,738 residents. Las Vegas grew from a gulch of 100 people in 1900 to 10,000 by 1950 to 100,000 by 1970, and was America's fastest-growing city and metropolitan area from 1960 to 2000. From about the 1940s until 2003, Nevada

9588-461: The western edge. In 2020, 80.1% of the state's land was managed by various jurisdictions of the U.S. federal government , both civilian and military. Native Americans of mostly the Paiute , Shoshone , and Washoe tribes inhabited what is now Nevada. The first Europeans to explore the region were tho Spanish and explorers from their worldwide Spanish Empire in the 16th century . They called

9690-476: The wildlife composition of interface regions. Pets can kill large quantities of wildlife. Forest fragmentation is another impact of WUI growth, which can lead to unintended ecological consequences. For instance, increased forest fragmentation can lead to an increase in the prevalence of Lyme disease. White-footed mice , a primary host of the Lyme tick , thrive in fragmented habitats. Increased urbanisation has

9792-578: The wind had slowed and shifted to the west, driving the fire to the southeast. At about 9:00   p.m., the wind abruptly stopped, giving firefighters a chance to contain the fire. Assistance from firefighting agencies as far north as the Oregon state line, as far south as Bakersfield and as far east as the Nevada state line were delayed initially. Official reports differ between when the Oakland Fire Department made requests, and when

9894-529: Was confirmed in Nevada on March 5, 2020. Because of concerns about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Nevada governor Steve Sisolak declared a state of emergency on March 12, 2020. Four days later, Nevada reported its first death. On March 17, 2020, Sisolak ordered the closure of non-essential businesses in the state to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Various protests were held against Sisolak's shutdown order beginning in April 2020. Nevada launched

9996-619: Was created by local fire agencies to build consensus on fire safety standards and codes, offer multi-jurisdictional training, and coordinate fuel reduction strategies, as well as other goals. At least two citizen groups also arose, the North Hills Phoenix Association and the Claremont Canyon Conservancy to participate in policy decisions and provide educational and stewardship services at the wildland–urban interface . The fire validated that

10098-451: Was not standard equipment, firefighters were sometimes forced to don turn-outs which greatly hampered their ability to move quickly and stay cooler during a wildland fire. Fire hydrants now have the industry standard 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 and 2 + 1 ⁄ 2  inch outlets throughout the city. The lack of a standard in 1991 caused numerous difficulties for various agencies who attempted to connect to non-standard hydrants, even though

10200-491: Was outlawed in 1909 as part of a nationwide anti-gambling crusade. Because of subsequent declines in mining output and the decline of the agricultural sector during the Great Depression , Nevada again legalized gambling on March 19, 1931, with approval from the legislature. Governor Fred B. Balzar 's signature enacted the most liberal divorce laws in the country and open gambling. The reforms came just eight days after

10302-671: Was published in a peer-reviewed journal, Fire Technology, as well as the trade journal The Fire and Arson Investigator. These articles helped to debunk several of the myths that plagued fire investigation, and improved the work product of fire investigators. Lentini, J., Smith, D. and Henderson R. “Baseline Characteristics of Residential Structures Which Have Burned to Completion: The Oakland Experience,” Fire Technology, Vol. 28, No. 3, August 1992. Lentini, J., Smith, D. and Henderson R., “Unconventional Wisdom: The Lessons of Oakland,” The Fire and Arson Investigator, Vol. 43, No. 4, June 1993. Wildland%E2%80%93urban interface In

10404-573: Was the first to name Las Vegas, in an 1830 report to governor José Antonio Chaves . Following the suggestions by Rivera of a spring, on the published expedition's map, located in the Las Vegas area John C. Frémont set up camp in Las Vegas Springs in 1844. In 1847, Mormons established the State of Deseret , claiming all of Nevada within the Great Basin and the Colorado watershed. They built

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