Carpenter 1 (canyon) Fire

{Click on any image to view full size, then use the back button on your browser to return to this page}
This page last updated on 02/11/2019

Side Note - Carpenter Fire: The fire began on July 1, 2013 in Carpenter Canyon behind (north east of  Pahrump, Nevada), before spreading eastward. It was reported that it was started by lightening. After eight weeks of battling the fire, Carpenter 1 was fully contained on August 18, 2013. The fire consumed nearly 28,000 acres and resulted in the evacuation of residents and closure of businesses and portions of roads in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the Carpenter 1 fire was considered "the highest ranked priority fire in the nation" at the time of its occurrence. The fire, stretched between 5,000–11,000 feet elevations, and was fought by hundreds of firefighters and eight Hotshot crews, as well as helicopters, fire engines, water tenders, and a DC-10 tanker plane.

I created this page to follow the fire and post updates on its progress. Two and a half weeks after the fire started, Harvey and I drove to Pahrump to see what we were able to observe in the mountains. We tried to get Carpenter Canyon but were unable to get up the wash. We then drove to Trout Canyon to see if they had received any damage. Check the link below.

07/18/2013 Fire Update: Click the following link to get the latest update on the Carpenter 1 Fire and pictures and info from our visit yesterday to some of the affected areas ... Trout Canyon and Lovell Summit Road and the SMNRA.

(Fig. Map) General Area Consumed by the Fire

Yesterday (07/13 – day thirteen of the fire) heavy equipment was used to open roads and gain access into the areas which were affected by flash flooding/debris flows on Friday. This allowed firefighters to continue constructing direct line southeast into the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Creeping and smoldering with isolated single tree torching was the observed fire behavior yesterday. Structure protection continues for Kyle Canyon, also the Harris and Prospect Ranches. Crews are continuing cold trailing and construction of a line along the South Loop ridge while patrol and mop-up operations are ongoing in all areas of the fire. The area shown in the (Fig. Map) above represents the 27,971 acres (roughly 43-square miles) burned as of Friday morning. The recent wet weather has allowed firefighters battling the Carpenter 1 wildfire near Mt. Charleston to strengthen their containment lines, bringing the fire to about 43 percent containment, a significant increase from many of the previous reports which listed containment at 15 percent. The extra moisture allowed the nearly 1,400 people battling the blaze to make progress building containment lines along Kyle Canyon Road near the Rainbow neighborhood.

07/12/2013 Fire Update: The good news is that as a result of yesterday's heavy monsoon rains this massive fire is about 42% contained as of this morning. The bad news is that it has now burned 28,000 acres and is still not out.

(Fig. 01)

07/10/2013 Picture Notes: While we were out driving around yesterday, I captured some more pictures of the smoke plumes of the Carpenter Canyon fire that is still raging in Mount Charleston area of the Spring Mountains, just west of the city. The shot in (Fig. 01) was captured along NV-160 near Lovell Canyon Road on our way out to the Pahrump Valley Winery. Lovell Canyon Road was closed to fire fighting personnel only. If you look carefully at this picture, you can see some flames near the middle of the plume. The picture in (Fig. 02) was taken out by Red Rock Canyon near the turnoff for Calico Basin.            Fire Notes: Today (07/11) we received some much needed rain that we hope will aid the firefighting efforts against this huge fire. Yesterday was the 10th day of this fire, which now according to estimates is only 15% contained and has burned more than 25,000 acres – approximately 40-square miles. As of late yesterday some more elite out of state firefighting crews joined the effort to control this blaze, bringing the total number of firefighters to more than 1,048.

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

07/08/2013 Picture Note: Captured the picture in (Fig. 03) above from the highway coming back into Las Vegas with our friends Jim Herring and his daughter Christina after a daytrip out to Boulder City for lunch and a visit to the Hoover Dam and the Mike O'Callihan/Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. It shows the smoke from the Trout Canyon fire, now in its 8th day, blanketing the city of Las Vegas. So far this fire is only 15% contained and has already burned 18,000 acres or about three square miles. They don’t expect to have it under control until the 19th of July. Jim sent me the bottom picture (Fig. 04) that he took from his house in north Las Vegas after he got home that evening.

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05)

07/05/2013 Picture Notes: After picking company up from the airport on Friday afternoon, I captured these pictures on the way over to my friends house in North Las Vegas. (Fig. 05) was taken while stopped at an intersection off US-95. The pictures in (Figs. 06-08) were taken from a mall outside an In & Out Burger. Side Note - Fire Notes: The fire, ignited Monday by lightning just south of Carpenter Canyon in the Spring Mountains, covered about 1,950 acres by Thursday. The growing wildfire forced residents to come down the hill Thursday afternoon and leave their homes behind. By Friday night the fire spread to near Mount Charleston. Having grown to about 6,000 acres, it prompted 520 residents to evacuate. Trout and Kyle canyon communities northwest of Las Vegas are under mandatory evacuations, while Lee Canyon is open only to residents. The fire remained completely unconstrained by early Friday afternoon. Officials say they expect winds up to 35 mph and extreme fire behavior throughout Friday and Saturday. Roads and trails in the area are closed, as is all access to Mount Charleston Peak.

(Fig. 06)

(Fig. 07)

(Fig. 08)

Back to ... Trout Canyon and Lovell Summit Road.

Trout Canyon and Lovell Summit Road

{Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

This page last updated on 02/09/2019

Side Note - Fire As of 07/18/2013: As of today it has been reported that the fire is 93% contained, up from Monday’s containment figure of 80 percent. This is mostly due to some heavy monsoon rains. The active fire edge is south of State Route 157 and east of Rainbow, and may be several days before that section of the fire line is fully secured. There is also active fire above the Cathedral Rock area, where the terrain is too steep to safely access. That section will be allowed to smolder until rain extinguishes it. On yesterday’s ride, we could still see shouldering areas in the mountains above the small village of Trout Canyon. We observed helicopters (right) flying from the Pahrump staging area carrying supplies and water over the mountain ridge to the east. “Two problem spots remain — one above the west side of Kyle Canyon and the other in the southeast portion of the fire swath, not far from Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The area to the north of the western Kyle Canyon is extremely steep terrain and, as a result, inaccessible to firefighters. It’s going to be a waiting game.” It was noted that,”We’re going to have smoke in there for some time higher up — quite high up.” Refer to my page on the updates to the fire ... Carpenter 1 (Canyon) Fire.

(Fig. 01)

(Fig. 02)

07/17/2013 Trip Notes: Today Harvey Smith and I started out by driving up the 11-mile Carpenter Canyon Road (Fig. 01). After about 8 miles, about three miles short of the canyon, we had to abandon our trip due to a non-passable area in the road, refer to (Fig. 02). From here we backtracked back to Pahrump and took NV-160 east to Trout Canyon Road. We followed this well graded dirt road for about 8 miles up and across the desert (Fig. 03) before finally reaching the small village of Trout Canyon (Fig. 04). Shortly after entering the access road to the village, we came upon a local property owner (Fig. 05) who offered to escort us to his family’s 6-acre property, called “Scenic Areas” (Fig. 06), located on the north western edge of town so we could take some pictures of the surrounding fire damage. Standing and talking with him in the backyard (Fig. 08) and looking at the areas along the edge of his property, where the firefighters had dropped “fire retardant”, it became obvious how lucky he and his family had been. There were places where the fire came within 40-feet of his property line. Looking beyond his gardens and 128 fruit trees (Fig. 09), the entire area to the top of the distant ridge line was burned black. Every thing you see in (Fig. 09 & 10) was burned. We learned that the community’s water pipeline — made of PVC piping at the spring head and shell casings coming three miles downhill from Deer Springs, had sustained 18 breaks, meaning that the entire town was without water. It was his hope that officials would soon approve a temporary pipeline, hopefully to be installed before he lost all of his trees and gardens. (Notes continued below)

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05)

(Fig. 06)

(Fig. 07)

(Fig. 08)

(Fig. 09)

(Fig. 10)

After taking pictures here, we drove a couple of miles back down Trout Canyon Road to the entrance of Lovell Summit Road. This 10 mile long road, connects to the northern end of Lovell Canyon Road, near the Torino Ranch. Refer to the map in (Fig. 02). This well traveled dirt road led us in and around several mountains and valleys that provided some beautiful scenic views. About 2/3 of the way along this road, we were quite surprised to find a beautiful green valley (Fig. 11) that contained a large ranch and nearly a dozen homes and dwellings, all marked, “Private Property”. Upon reaching the highest point of this road (Lovell Peak), we were confronted with an expansive view (Fig. 12) that looked down into Lovell Canyon. Notice the large black area just to the right of center – this was the “burn area” for the fire that was in Lovell Canyon. After we reached this area and got out to take pictures, I realized that I had once hiked to this exact spot with my friend Buster. In fact, we hike a stream that ran down the wash you can see snaking its way down the center of the picture in (Fig. 13). The two pictures in (Figs. 14 & 15) are looking east (Left) and west (right) along the burn area. This burn area follows the road three-quarters of the way down the road to the Lovell Canyon Trailhead parking area. I don't know how this fire was put out, either by the rangers or the rain that we had last weekend, but am so glad that it didn't spread any further. Over the years we have really enjoyed hiking in this area.

(Fig. 11)

(Fig. 12)

(Fig. 13)

(Fig. 14)	(Fig. 15)
(Fig. 16)	(Fig. 17)

Go backto ... Lovell Canyon and the SMNRA - Summary Page