Firefighters logged major gains on Monday (August 24) against a wind-driven blaze that threatened the city of Reno, Nevada, over the weekend, destroying dozens of homes and chasing tens of thousands of people from their dwellings.

As of Monday, fire crews had managed to carve containment lines around 27% of the Hawk Fire, which erupted on Saturday (August 22) near Nevada's third-most populous city and raced through tinder-dry grass, brush and forest into residential areas.

Within 48 hours the blaze had scorched more than 15,000 acres on the outskirts of Reno, a hub of high-tech industry, gambling and outdoor resorts in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range near the California border.

It was the second major wildfire to strike Nevada's Truckee River valley area in recent weeks.

No fatalities have been reported, but four civilians and three emergency personnel suffered minor burns in the initial hours of the blaze on Saturday, authorities said.

Chief Richard Edwards of the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District said at a mid-afternoon news briefing that at least 32 homes had gone up in flames, with a half dozen more damaged. But the tally of property losses is expected to climb as damage-assessment teams canvass more of the fire zone in the coming days, he said.

As the fire raged out of control over the weekend, wind-whipped flames roared up canyon slopes and over fire trucks while authorities issued evacuation notices urging an estimated 90,000 residents to leave their homes immediately or get set to flee.

By Monday afternoon, the fire threat had diminished enough for officials to lift evacuations in some areas, but Sheriff Darin Balaam said 23,000 residents were still displaced under "go-now" orders, with another 40,000 advised to be ready to go at a moment's notice.

More than 900 firefighters remained assigned to the Hawk Fire on Monday, Edwards said, including personnel from 15 U.S. states as well as crews from Australia and New Zealand who were part of teams dispatched from abroad to help battle dozens of blazes raging across the Western U.S. in recent weeks.

Officials said the Hawk Fire was human-caused, but whether it was intentionally set or ignited by accident remained under investigation.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

RENO, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 24, 2026) (ABC AFFILIATE KOLO - No Access USA. No Archive)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TRUCKEE MEADOWS FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT CHIEF RICHARD EDWARDS, SAYING:

"The fire is a little over 15,000 acres right now, but I'm happy to announce that right now the fire is at 27 percent containment and we got those numbers about two minutes before walking in here. So kudos to all the hard work of the firefighters of the last 48 hours to bring that containment to the level that it is right now."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TRUCKEE MEADOWS FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT CHIEF RICHARD EDWARDS, SAYING:

"To date, we've had four civilian injuries and three firefighter injuries and our damage assessment teams made their way out into certain areas yesterday. The areas they were able to canvas, they did discover 32 destroyed homes and six damaged homes and we expect those numbers to increase as damage assessment teams are still out in the field assessing other areas right now."

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) RENO FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF, PETE BRYANT, SAYING:

"Beginning with the south end of the map, like Chief Edwards said, we're proud to announce that we've gotten 27 percent containment and that is along the southern portion of the incident that backs up to the Somersett area down in the subdivision there. So this is going to be changed to black. In addition to this area, there's a piece of the fire that came across 395 when the flame front hit the road and we successfully contained the area on the east side of 395."

NEAR RENO, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 22, 2026) (ALERTCALIFORNIA/UC SAN DIEGO - Broadcast: Part must not obscure logo / Part must on-screen courtesy ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego Digital: Part must not obscure logo / Part must on-screen courtesy ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego) (MUTE)

6. TIMELAPSE SHOWING BUILD UP OF HAWK FIRE