Hawk Fire 85 Percent Contained After Destroying 47 Homes

FINAL UPDATE, Wednesday 8:15 AM — The Hawk Fire is 85 percent contained at 15,067 acres, a figure the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District confirmed to KUNR as of 5 PM Tuesday and one that interagency perimeter data now carries as well. Crews are securing fire lines and mopping up, with 586 personnel assigned, down from nearly 900 Tuesday afternoon. Great Basin Incident Management Team 6 is managing the incident. The fire is human-caused, and the cause remains under investigation.

Damage assessments now count 47 homes and one commercial building destroyed and eight more structures seriously damaged. Seven people are injured, four civilians and three firefighters, and no deaths have been reported. Canine teams searching the burn area have found no victims. Officials say most of the destroyed homes are on the west side of US-395 and that no homes were damaged in the Somersett area.

About 5,000 people remain under “Evacuate Now” orders, down from nearly 90,000 over the weekend. Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said Tuesday afternoon that the entire east side of US-395 is being repopulated, clearing about 9,300 people to return home in and around Golden Valley, Raleigh Heights, Hoge Road, and Rancho San Rafael. US-395 reopened Monday in both directions, though North Virginia Street remains closed between Panther Drive and Village Parkway.

In Sierra County, the evacuation warning is over. The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office lifted the warning on zones E024 and E061, which cover the Verdi and Long Valley areas, on Tuesday morning, three days after issuing it. The fire did not cross into the county, and interagency perimeter data places it entirely within Washoe County, Nevada.

Power is nearly restored. About 1,275 people were still without electricity Tuesday evening, down from roughly 60,000 at the height of the fire, and NV Energy has repaired or replaced about 60 of the 100 poles the fire damaged along US-395 and Peavine Peak. Roughly 250 natural gas customers remain shut off, and the utility says service will be restored as residents return home.

Thirteen Washoe County School District schools closest to the fire are closed Wednesday for a third day, including McQueen High School and North Valleys High School, while every other school in the district is open. Buses are not running in red or yellow evacuation zones. Forecasters expect sunny skies and a high near 92 degrees Wednesday, with southwest winds as strong as 25 miles per hour and a 30 percent chance of showers Friday.

UPDATE, Monday 8:40 AM — The Hawk Fire has burned 15,040 acres northwest of Reno and remains zero percent contained as of 5:30 AM Monday, according to the latest fire perimeter from the National Interagency Fire Center. “We can confirm that the fire was human caused,” said Shane Akerson, a battalion chief with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District. Six people are injured, three of them civilians and three of them first responders, and about 800 personnel are assigned to the fire.

In Sierra County, evacuation warnings remain in effect for zones E024 and E061, which cover the Verdi and Long Valley areas. The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office says the fire remains south and east of the county and has not crossed the county line as of 11 PM Sunday, and deputies are on scene monitoring conditions in both areas. Residents inside the two zones should stay prepared to leave if conditions change.

US-395 remains closed in both directions as of late Sunday. Southbound traffic is being held at the Highway 70 junction at Hallelujah Junction, and northbound traffic is being held at Parr Boulevard in Reno, cutting the direct route between Sierra County and Reno.

About 42,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders and roughly 45,000 more are under evacuation warnings, putting the total affected just under 90,000. The orders cover about 75 square miles of northwest Reno and the North Valleys. Officials say structures have burned but cannot give a count, because the sites are not yet safe for investigators to enter.

Power outages have fallen sharply. They peaked at about 60,000 customers Saturday and were down to about 10,000 by early Sunday, mostly in the Silver Lake, Stead, and Lemmon Valley areas, according to NV Energy senior vice president Jesse Murray.

Forecasters expect partly cloudy skies, patchy smoke, and a slight chance of afternoon showers Monday, with highs between 89 and 94 degrees and southwest winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour in the afternoon. A community meeting is set for 7 PM Monday at the California Building at Idlewild Park, 75 Cowan Drive in Reno, and will be livestreamed on the Hawk Fire 2026 Facebook page. Public safety officials have set up an information line for the fire at 775-244-6988.

UPDATE, Sunday 8:50 AM — The Hawk Fire grew to 10,522 acres Saturday evening, roughly four times its size earlier that afternoon, with no containment reported. Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency in Washoe County and mobilized the Nevada National Guard, which assigned two helicopter aircrews to aerial firefighting and 60 response personnel to help law enforcement protect evacuated neighborhoods. About 400 local, state, and federal personnel are working the fire. Officials confirmed that structures burned, though no count was available Sunday morning.

More than 42,000 residents live inside the mandatory evacuation zones, which cover about 75 square miles of northwest Reno and the North Valleys. An evacuation center is open at Hall 4 of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, 4590 South Virginia Street in Reno.

The Red Flag Warning in effect during the fire’s fastest growth expired at 11 PM Saturday, and forecasters expect calmer weather today. The National Weather Service predicts sunny skies and patchy smoke, light southwest winds reaching 10 miles per hour in the afternoon, and highs between 89 and 94 degrees. About 10 air resources were ordered and were set to begin working the fire at 8:30 AM Sunday, according to Reno City Council member Devon Reese.

In Sierra County, the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office had not announced a change to the evacuation warning it issued Saturday afternoon for zones E024 and E061, which cover the Verdi and Long Valley areas. Residents inside the two zones should be prepared to leave on short notice and can check current zone status on the Genasys Protect map.

US-395 was closed Sunday morning between Parr Boulevard and Bordertown, at the California state line north of Reno, cutting the direct route between Long Valley and Reno. Southbound drivers were being turned around at Bordertown, and southbound lanes remained open from Red Rock Road south into Reno. Reno-Stead Airport closed to commercial flights while remaining open to firefighting and military aircraft, and Reno-Tahoe International Airport was not affected.

The fire also cut power on the California side of the state line. “NV Energy enacted an emergency de-energization of the transmission line that feeds our system due to its proximity to the Hawk Fire near Verdi,” the Truckee Donner Public Utility District said, and about 14,800 customers in the Truckee area lost power Saturday evening. More than 10,000 NV Energy customers in Washoe County were still without power as of 7:30 AM Sunday.

UPDATE, 2:45 PM — The Hawk Fire has grown to about 2,500 acres, according to the incident data on the fire activity map kept by the Great Basin Coordination Center. The fire was estimated at 30 to 40 acres in the early afternoon, roughly two hours earlier.

UPDATE, 1:25 PM — The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office has placed two evacuation zones in eastern Sierra County under an evacuation warning because of the Hawk Fire. Zones E024 and E061 cover the Verdi area and the Long Valley area, and residents inside them should be prepared to evacuate if conditions change. The office directed residents to the Genasys Protect evacuation map for current zone details and said it will continue to monitor the fire.

RENO — A fast-growing wildfire in the foothills northwest of Reno has forced evacuations Saturday and sent up a plume of smoke visible from parts of the Sierra Valley. The Hawk Fire was reported about 11:25 AM near the Somersett Golf and Country Club in Washoe County, Nevada. Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue first estimated the fire at 15 to 20 acres, and by early Saturday afternoon it had reached an estimated 30 to 40 acres.

The fire started about one mile north of Cold Creek Trail and more than doubled in size in less than 25 minutes, the Reno Gazette Journal reported. Incident Command reported that structures were immediately threatened, according to Watch Duty. Evacuation orders covered the area surrounding Peavine Peak and land north of the neighborhoods along Somersett Parkway, Avenida de Landa, and Las Brisas Boulevard.

At 12:45 PM, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said an evacuation warning was in effect north and northwest of Somersett and north of Verdi. “While the majority of the evacuation area is unpopulated, residents near the immediate area should remain alert and prepared, as conditions can change rapidly,” the office said. Residents on the west side of US-395 at Golden Valley, Lemmon Valley, and Stead were told to be ready to leave if conditions worsened. Deputies asked the public to stay out of the Verdi and Somersett area and to watch for emergency vehicles.

The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office posted a notice at 11:44 AM saying it was aware of the fire. “Smoke from the fire is visible from portions of the Sierra Valley,” the post said. “We are monitoring the situation and will provide additional updates as needed.”

The fire started less than half an hour into a Red Flag Warning that the National Weather Service has in effect from 11 AM to 11 PM Saturday for northern Washoe County, the northern Sierra Front, Surprise Valley, and eastern Lassen County. Forecasters predict southwest winds of 15 to 25 miles per hour, gusts up to 40 miles per hour, and humidity as low as 12 percent. “The combination of gusty winds and low humidity can cause fire to rapidly grow in size and intensity before first responders can contain them,” the warning said.

Washoe County directs residents to perimetermap.com for current evacuation boundaries. Officials have not released a cause or a containment figure for the Hawk Fire as of 1 PM.