Nevada National Guard Concludes Intensive Wildfire Response After Dropping 328,000 Gallons on Northern Nevada Blazes

CARSON CITY, NV — The Nevada National Guard has officially concluded its emergency aviation and perimeter security deployment across northern Washoe County after helping corral the massive Bug, Stallion, and Fred Mountain fires.

The multi-agency suppression effort held total structural losses to eleven buildings despite catastrophic early models that predicted widespread destruction across the North Valleys.

The conclusion of Guard field missions comes as containment on the Bug Fire reached 94% across 93,733 acres, while the adjacent Stallion Fire achieved 95% containment at 40,691 acres.

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|          NV GUARD WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION DOSSIER         |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
|  - Bug Fire Status: 93,733 Acres | 94% Containment     |
|  - Stallion Fire Status: 40,691 Acres | 95% Containment|
|  - Evacuations Managed: 13,000+ Displaced Residents    |
|  - Water Dropped: 277 Bambi Buckets (328,591 Gallons)  |
|  - Aviation Assets: 5 Nevada Army Guard Helicopters    |
|                     (CH-47 Chinooks & UH-60 Black Hawks|
|  - Ground Force: ~50 Soldiers (137th MP Detachment /   |
|                  National Guard Response Force)        |
|  - Checkpoints Secured: 7 Neighborhood Access Sectors  |
|  - Structural Losses: 11 Structures (Zero Fatalities)  |
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Aerial Water Drops and Tactical Air Support

Following Governor Joe Lombardo’s state of emergency declaration on August 10, the Nevada Army National Guard deployed five heavy-lift and utility helicopters from the Army Aviation Support Facility in Stead.

Flying in low-visibility mountain canyons crowded with civilian air tankers and spotter planes, flight crews operating CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft executed 277 water bucket drops, delivering an estimated 328,591 gallons of water directly onto erratic flame fronts in the Dogskin Mountains and along the California border.

“It is fairly dangerous flying,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Scott Hermansen, a Nevada Army Guard Chinook pilot. “We have a pretty heavy bucket below us… it is flying the helicopter for us. And there is a lot of metal in the sky—lots of tankers, lots of helicopters—so you always have to keep your head on a swivel.”

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|            NEVADA GUARD RAPID DEPLOYMENT PHASES        |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
|  Phase 1: July 26 - Secret Pass & Ward Fires (Ely, NV) |
|           174 water drops (150,000 gallons delivered)  |
|  Phase 2: Aug. 9-10 - Emergency surge to Bug/Stallion  |
|           5 helo teams diverted to home base in Stead  |
|  Phase 3: Aug. 11-18 - 277 drops; 50 MPs secure lines  |
|  Phase 4: Aug. 20 - Demobilization as lines reach 95%  |
+--------------------------------------------------------+

Neighborhood Security and Anti-Looting Checkpoints

On the ground, approximately 50 soldiers from the Nevada National Guard Response Force (NGRF), including members of the 137th Military Police Detachment, partnered with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to safeguard empty subdivisions.

MPs manned seven checkpoints across Lemmon Valley, Cold Springs, and Golden Valley, preventing looting and controlling access while more than 13,000 residents remained under mandatory evacuation orders.

“There’s no doubt this fire would have been much worse had it not been for the quick and rapid response from first responders around the region,” stated Col. Kyle Cerfoglio, Nevada Joint Staff Director. “This fire came dangerously close to many homes.”

With primary perimeters secured and all mandatory evacuation orders lifted, state emergency management has returned full jurisdiction to local municipal agencies and the Nevada Division of Forestry. Meanwhile, the Nevada Air National Guard deployed a C-130 aircraft equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to support ongoing wildfire battles across the Pacific Northwest.

Source: Nevada National Guard Joint Force Headquarters Press Bureau, Nevada Division of Emergency Management, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office.