Reno, Nevada-area wildfire’s advance has stopped, but work remains before evacuees can return, official says

RENO, Nevada — Reno, Nevada (CNN) — Firefighters have the stopped forward progress of a wildfire threatening neighborhoods around Reno, and are working to extinguish hot spots on the fire’s perimeter in hopes of letting evacuated residents return to their homes “as soon as possible,” a fire official said Tuesday.

The Hawk Fire, which has burned some 15,000 acres just northwest of Reno and destroyed more than 30 homes since it began Saturday, has been 27% contained since Monday.

But firefighters anticipate that containment “to go up as we continue to be successful along the fire edge,” Matt Armantrout, an operations official with the fire management team fighting the blaze, said Tuesday in a video posted to Facebook.

In the places where the fire perimeter is closest to Reno homes, “there’s still a lot of work” that firefighters need to do before evacuated residents can return, he said.