--- title: "Reno-Area Wildfire Reaches 85 Percent Containment" url: https://www.herechapin.com/2026/08/26/hawk-fire-containment-reno-washoe-county-evacuations/ date: 2026-08-26T16:19:15+00:00 modified: 2026-08-26T16:19:15+00:00 author: "Marty Owens" categories: ["Public Safety"] site: "HERE Chapin" attribution: "HERE Chapin" --- # Reno-Area Wildfire Reaches 85 Percent Containment *Source: [HERE Chapin](https://www.herechapin.com/2026/08/26/hawk-fire-containment-reno-washoe-county-evacuations/) — August 26, 2026 by Marty Owens* A wildfire that pushed tens of thousands of people out of neighborhoods northwest of Reno, Nevada, is now largely surrounded, and the picture on the ground has changed almost every day since the fire started. The federal interagency incident record for the Hawk Fire listed the burn at 15,085 acres and 85 percent contained when it was checked at midmorning Pacific time on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. The Washoe County Regional Emergency Operations Center posted a new morning operational update the same day, timestamped about 8:29 a.m. Pacific time. Those numbers replace a much grimmer set published only a day earlier, and the gap between them is the reason any figure attached to this fire needs a timestamp. The interagency daily update issued at 10:35 a.m. on Tuesday, August 25, still carried the burn at 15,051 acres and containment at 27 percent, with 816 personnel assigned, 14 crews, 81 engines, 10 helicopters and 9 dozers. The acreage has barely moved since. The containment figure roughly tripled. ## How the fire began The incident record puts the start at 11:23 a.m. on Saturday, August 22, 2026, at a point in the hills northwest of Reno. Washoe County described the point of origin as being off Hawk Meadow Trail, roughly one mile north of Cold Creek Trail in the Somersett area. The listed jurisdiction is the Reno Fire Department, and the county has said the United States Forest Service, the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District and the Reno Fire Department ran the response under a single unified command. The first day did most of the damage. The interagency update issued Tuesday said the fire showed extreme behavior on day one, advancing about four miles in three hours and covering roughly six miles in total, and that a railway line and a communication tower were among the infrastructure affected. By the evening of August 22 the county put the burn at about 10,500 acres with roughly 400 people working it. Its daily update for Sunday, August 23, listed 10,522 acres, zero containment and approximately 90,000 residents inside the two active evacuation tiers, the get-set and go-now zones. ## Evacuations and road status Both of those tiers have been shrinking. In an announcement posted at 6:02 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25, the interagency incident record said some evacuation zones had been downgraded as crews made progress, and told returning residents to stay alert and be ready to leave again if conditions shift. The county had already begun that rollback the previous evening. In a release timestamped 5 p.m. on Monday, August 24, the Regional Emergency Operations Center said U.S. Highway 395 had reopened to traffic in both directions after being shut in both directions from Parr Boulevard to Red Rock Road since 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 23. That same Monday release downgraded several areas east of the highway from the red evacuate-now tier to the yellow get-set tier, naming White Lake, Granite Hills, Granite Peak, the area around North Valleys Regional Park and the neighborhood around Alice Smith Elementary School. Some pockets east of the highway stayed in the red tier, including areas near the Sierra Sage golf course, Silver Lake Road and Moya Boulevard. North Virginia Street remained closed from Panther Drive to Village Parkway. Federal land is closed under a formal order. The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest issued Forest Order 04-17-26-01-06 for the Carson Ranger District, an emergency area closure covering national forest land, roads and trails in the Peavine area, effective from 7 p.m. on August 22, 2026 through late October. Violations are punishable as a Class B misdemeanor. ## Utilities, campus and county services Power restoration has moved faster than containment. The utility serving the region reported in an update timestamped 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25, that roughly 1,275 electric customers were still out after emergency de-energizations tied to the fire, that nearly 60 utility poles had been repaired or replaced, about 40 of them that day, and that overnight crews were concentrating on the Raleigh Heights area. Natural gas customers returning to homes with the gas shut off were told to book a technician visit, because a qualified technician has to complete safety inspections and relight the service. The University of Nevada, Reno, whose main campus sits southeast of the burn, has stayed open throughout. In a message last updated at 6:02 p.m. on Monday, August 24, university leadership said the main campus and the Redfield and Lake Tahoe campuses would run on regular operations the following day, that the campus was not inside an evacuation zone or a get-ready zone, and that campus power, water and dining remained fully operational. That message put containment at 27 percent at the time, with work concentrated along the southern perimeter nearest the campus, more than 900 firefighters assigned, and prevailing winds carrying the fire to the northeast. The university opened walk-in crisis counseling and discounted campus meals for affected students and employees through August 31, with complimentary meals for responders over the same period. County government took a hit of its own. The sheriff in Washoe County said permits and general front desk services were suspended while personnel were redirected to the incident, and described the law enforcement role as evacuation support, patrols of evacuated areas, property security and assistance to aerial suppression. ## Weather that could still matter The forecast is not finished with the region. The National Weather Service office in Reno issued a fire weather planning forecast at 12:58 a.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, August 26, warning of elevated to critical fire weather conditions on Wednesday and Thursday across northeastern California and northwestern Nevada because of gusty winds and low humidity. For the northern Sierra Front zone it forecast valley minimum humidity of 8 to 18 percent and southwest gusts to 30 mph. A forecast discussion issued at 3:13 a.m. the same morning put gusts at roughly 25 to 35 mph on both afternoons, with a 40 to 80 percent chance of showers on Friday that should ease fire weather concerns. ## Cause and the emergency declaration The interagency record lists the cause as human. The utility has said publicly that the cause and origin remain under investigation and that no determination has been made about any reimbursement tied to the incident. No finding beyond the human classification appears in any incident record. Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency for Washoe County on Sunday, August 23, 2026, signed at the State Capitol in Carson City and attested by Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar. The declaration text describes a fire that had burned more than 13,000 acres, threatened tens of thousands of homes in northwest Reno and Stead, and driven more than 40,000 people out of residential neighborhoods, and it notes that Washoe County had declared a local emergency the day before. It requires state agencies to work through the Nevada Emergency Operations Center and tells state emergency management to coordinate with the Nevada Division of Forestry and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in support of the county. The declaration is written to expire on August 29, 2026 unless conditions improve enough to end it sooner.