There are 917 people fighting the 114,017-acre Cottonwood Peak Fire in Elko County, according to a 7 p.m. Bureau of Land Management Nevada Facebook post on Thursday, Aug. 21. The blaze near Tuscarora is 4% contained. The fire started Friday, Aug. 15, by lightning, according to InciWeb. As of Sunday, Aug. 17, the tab to fight this blaze topped $2 million, according to the Eastern Area Complex Incident Management Team report. Moisture helped firefighters continue to hold a majority of the fire’s perimeter on Thursday.
Crews and dozers worked on fighting areas of fire putting off heat in the north. On the northeast and east portions of the fire, progress was made in creating containment lines. Thursday afternoon wind pushed the fire toward Tuscarora. Helicopters and hand crews are working round-the-clock to strengthen containment and contingency lines. Aggressive structure protection was deployed there including water pumps, hose lays, sprinkling systems, and additional firefighters.
Dozers were used to build an additional protection line between the fire and the community. The west side of the fire held steady but the southwest section remains active. On Friday, Aug. 22, firefighters will use multiple tactics to build line. Thursday night and into Friday morning, cloud cover is expected to reduce moisture recovery and keep things dry. Through the weekend, the weather will remain dry, hot and unstable. There is a chance of dry thunderstorms Saturday, Aug. 23, and a chance rain Sunday, Aug. 24, and into the coming week.
