The Hawk Fire started about 11:30 a.m. Saturday near Somersett in the foothills of northwest Reno and quickly forced evacuation orders as it spread toward nearby neighborhoods. By early afternoon, the fire had grown to 30 to 40 acres and was still moving rapidly.
Watch Duty said the blaze more than doubled in size in less than 25 minutes. The evacuation orders covered areas surrounding Peavine Peak and land north of neighborhoods along Somersett Parkway, Avenida de Landa and Las Brisas Boulevard, putting a wide stretch of northwest Reno on alert as smoke drifted east from the fire.
The Hawk Fire started about 1 mile north of Cold Creek Trail, but what set it off was not immediately clear. Incident Command said structures were threatened, and that detail mattered because the fire was already outrunning the clock: conditions were set to stay dangerous through 11 p.m. Saturday.
The National Weather Service had issued a Red Flag Warning for much of northwestern Nevada and several counties in northeastern California, with southwest winds of 15 to 25 mph and gusts up to 40 mph expected through the night. Humidity as low as 12% was part of the warning, and residents were told to avoid anything that could spark dry vegetation, including yard work, target shooting or lighting campfires.
That combination of wind and dry air helped explain why the fire drew such a fast response in a populated part of Reno. Somersett is a master-planned community, and the areas under evacuation orders sat close enough to the fire that officials moved before the situation could worsen further. The unanswered question now is how far the Hawk Fire will go before crews can get ahead of it, and whether the cause will ever be pinned down.
