Smoke from a series of large wildfires raging out of control in Southern California has led to smoky air across the Las Vegas valley in the past few days.
The Line Fire, The Bridge Fire, and The Airport Fire have already burned through 100 square miles in Southern California.
Meanwhile, earlier this week in Reno, Nevada, some 400 miles from Las Vegas, the Davis Fire (pictured) burned some eight square miles around 20 miles south of Nevada’s second-largest gambling hub.
The fire in Washoe County burned dozens of structures, forced schools and businesses to close, and injured dozens of people. However, the worst of the danger has now passed, with the fire mostly contained.
Some local residents who lost their homes or were evacuated took shelter at the city’s casino hotels, many of which offered highly discounted rates for those impacted.
The California Fires
September is peak wildfire season in California, and the start of the month has already got off to a blazing start.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County. The Bridge Fire and the Airport Fire have been barely contained by firefighters as of this writing.
Around 100 structures have burned across 100 square miles of land. One fire was caused by a known arsonist, who has been arrested, police said. The Airport Fire was sparked by construction crews using heavy machinery. Two years of rainy growth, followed by a very hot and dry spell this year, helped all three fires grow quickly across large areas.
The smoke from the fires has been blown several hundred miles east to the Las Vegas valley, where this week, air quality was rated as unhealthy by at least three monitoring stations.
On Wednesday morning, visibility approached the level of impacting flights, as it fell to just two miles at Harry Reid International Airport. However, things improved on Thursday afternoon.
“Smoke from Southern California wildfires continues to linger, causing elevated levels of particulate matter,” said an alert from Clark County Division of Air Quality.
“Additionally, shifting weather patterns are expected to cause more wildfire smoke to drift into Southern Nevada by Friday.”
The Nevada Fire
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of Nevada, thousands of residents of the area around the city of Reno and tens of thousands more were left without power over the weekend.
Various casino hotels in “The Littlest Big City in the World” offered up heavily discounted rooms to those displaced by the fire.
That included Atlantis, J Resort, Peppermill, Grand Sierra, The Row, and Nugget Casino Resort. The casinos all waived their resort fees for such bookings.
Wildfires, while common in California and the west, have been increasing in severity in recent years, with hotter and drier fire seasons. Las Vegas broke heat records this summer, seeing more than 10 consecutive days of punishing 100-degree-plus heat.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
