Thousands of people started returning to their homes near Reno, Nev., after firefighters began to curb a wildfire that had swept rapidly through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
The blaze, known as the Hawk fire, has burned more than 15,000 acres since it began on Saturday, prompting tens of thousands of residents to evacuate. Many more were ready to leave their homes.
Officials expressed optimism this week when firefighters reported that they had largely stopped the blaze from advancing. Still, several people were injured and dozens of homes burned to the ground.
Here’s what we know about the fires near Reno:
The Hawk blaze is practically halted.
Officials have said that the fire was probably sparked by a person near the base of the Sierra Nevada and that it quickly expanded over the weekend because of hot and dry weather.
More than 800 public safety personnel were deployed on Sunday as the blaze rapidly moved toward Reno, a city of nearly 300,000 people, with zero containment.
But by Monday morning, local authorities learned that firefighters had been able to largely stop the fire from advancing.
“Fire behavior was less extreme than anticipated in some areas, allowing crews to hold established lines and reposition resources to reinforce suppression efforts,” city officials said in a statement.
By Monday afternoon, some evacuated people were allowed to return to their homes and officials announced that the fire had been 27 percent contained.
Tens of thousands of people were told to flee.
On Sunday, 42,000 people were under evacuation orders, all of them northwest of downtown Reno. About 45,000 others were warned that they needed to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
But by Monday afternoon, as efforts to tame the fire took hold, many were told that they could return home for the first time since the weekend.
Now, only about 15,000 people remain under evacuation orders.
Dozens of homes burned to the ground.
Officials began assessing damage on Sunday and found that 32 homes had been destroyed and six damaged.
Four people and three firefighters were injured. No deaths have been reported, but public safety personnel have deployed dogs to search each burned property.
About 6,000 customers were without power on Tuesday, down from 60,000 during the fire’s peak.
Critical conditions could return.
On Saturday, the National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for weather that can cause extreme fires. The Hawk blaze burned four miles in three hours, said Devon Reese, a Reno city councilman.
Forecasters said that there was a 40 percent chance for critical fire weather to return from Wednesday to Saturday because of elevated wind gusts and low humidity.
Ample fuel and mountains complicate firefighting in the Sierra Nevada, which has had two large blazes in the past three weeks. The other, the Bug fire, which began on the California-Nevada border and spread just north of Reno, is nearly contained but scorched almost 100,000 acres.
Arid conditions have propelled an active wildfire season across the American West this summer. In Washington State, hundreds of homes and more than 400,000 have acres burned. In Oregon, a record 2.4 million acres have burned in 2026, according to state authorities.
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