RENO, Nev. – Not even the desert is safe from the threat of wildfires across parts of the West where crews are battling wildland blazes in triple-digit heat.
One of the scores of wildfires burning from California to Montana temporarily shut down the main travel route to the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Reno.
About 100 firefighters remained on the lines Thursday night after air tankers dumped retardant on flaming sagebrush and invasive cheat grass in the high desert about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of the counterculture celebration where the mercury is expected to top 100 degrees (38 Celsius) Friday.
In California, temperatures exceeding 110 will be possible in interior valley areas east of San Francisco Bay on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
