Martin Fire was a

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

in northern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, that started on Monday, July 5, 2018. The fire burned a total area of 439,230 acres. It was the largest fire in Nevada's history, and one of the biggest in the U.S. The blaze destroyed six

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

es, grazing land, and animal habitats.

Origin

The fire erupted seven miles north of Paradise Valley in Humboldt County and burnt eastward into

Elko County Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

. The origin of the fire was thought to be human-based. Dry, hot, and windy conditions combined with high fuel load caused the extension of fire.

Description

The fire was reported around 12:25 a.m. on July 5, and by 5:00 p.m, the fire had spread over 22,000 acres. On July 8, the fire was only 8% percent contained, and 330,000 acres were burnt.Martin Fire
. ''Elko BLM ESR.'' Retrieved 2020-05-05. 35% containment of the fire was observed on July 9, and about 425,000 acres were burnt. By the end of it, 439,230 acres were damaged. Due to the size and complexity of the fire, both government agencies and private contractors were deployed to gain control of the fire. By July 12, there were approximately 572

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s to fight the 680 mile long blaze. The

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

(BLM) had also announced a reward of $28,000 for anyone who would give information about who started the fire. By July 21, the fire was fully contained.

Use of UAS

As per the 'Call When Needed' contract with the

U.S. Department of Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating ...

, a team of pilots and four

unmanned aircraft systems An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

(UAS) were deployed by Bridger Aerospace, a private contractor, on 11 July. The UAS were used to map 425,000 acres of the wildfire to gather data on the magnitude of damage and locate hot spots using an

infrared sensor Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared imag ...

Consequences

The fire destroyed grazing areas and a small building. It destroyed the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

for the

sage grouse Sage-grouse are grouse belonging to the bird genus ''Centrocercus.'' The genus includes two species: the Gunnison grouse (''Centrocercus minimus'') and the greater sage-grouse (''Centrocercus urophasianus''). These birds are distributed throug ...

and the

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

habitat. Several springs and streams were also affected.

Closures

On July 10, the Wilson reservoir and campground (HWY 226) was closed for public safety due to

fire suppression Fire suppression may refer to: * Firefighting * Fire suppression systems * Wildfire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts depend on many factors such as the availabl ...

activities. It was reopened on July 13.

References

{{reflist Wildfires in Nevada Wildfires