World News
Fire above Reno forces 42,000 out and puts another 45,000 on notice
By Staff Writer | 24 August 2026
The Hawk Fire started on Saturday in the foothills and had covered about 13,000 acres by Sunday. Officials say a preliminary investigation points to human activity.
A fire burning down out of the Sierra Nevada foothills towards Reno had forced 42,000 people from their homes by Sunday afternoon, with a further 45,000 warned to be ready to go. The governor of Nevada, Joe Lombardo, has declared a state of emergency in Washoe County.
The Hawk Fire, named after the Hawk Meadow Trail where it began, started on Saturday and grew through the day on gusting winds, low humidity and dry brush. Fire officials put it at about 13,000 acres by Sunday, up from the 10,500 acres reported that morning, and at zero per cent contained.
The Hawk Fire is a very dynamic incident for us, as it's being driven by the winds
Richard Edwards, Chief of Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue
Three civilians and three first responders have been injured. Shane Akerson, one of three unified incident commanders, gave the evacuation numbers at a news conference on Sunday afternoon and said assessments were under way to establish how many buildings have been lost. The sheriff of Washoe County, Darin Balaam, asked people in the warning zones to leave early rather than wait, to keep the roads clear.
structures have already been burned in this fire and your life is more important than a building
Hillary Schieve, Mayor of Reno
What is shut and what is moving
The evacuation zone reaches the edge of the University of Nevada campus. Washoe County School District cancelled classes, events and activities at almost every school for Monday. A specialist hospital inside the warning area began moving patients out. Reports of homes and businesses without power ranged from nearly 10,000 in the morning to about 5,000 later in the day as supply was restored in places.
Around 400 personnel were on the incident according to a service statement in the morning, and some 800 firefighters by the later count. Lombardo mobilised the Nevada National Guard, sending two helicopter crews for aerial firefighting and 60 troops to help police the evacuated neighbourhoods.
This is an active and rapidly evolving situation, and I urge everyone in the affected areas to remain vigilant
Joe Lombardo, Governor of Nevada
Human caused, on a preliminary view
Officials said at the Sunday news conference that a preliminary investigation had found the fire to be human caused. Balaam reached the same view after an initial inquiry into the origin. No further detail has been released and the inquiry continues, so the finding is where it stands rather than where it ends.
Reno has a population of more than 280,000 and the burning ground is the wildland urban interface, the belt where housing runs up against untreated fuel. That belt is where the building standards work hardest: ember resistant vents, non-combustible cladding and roof coverings, glazing that survives radiant heat, and a defensible space kept clear around the plot. Where a scheme is built to those and the neighbour is not, the fire does not respect the boundary.
The rebuilding argument that follows a fire of this size is rarely about the standard itself. It is about which standard applied at the date of the original consent, whether the reinstatement is like for like or to current requirements, and who carries the difference. That is worth settling in the policy wording long before the smoke clears.