In the American West, wildfire comes for the suburbs

The Hawk Fire tore through Somersett near Reno, Nevada, starting August 22, spreading more than 23 miles in days and placing roughly 90,000 people on evacuation notice while dozens of houses burned.

It follows the Bug Fire, which scorched 150 square miles nearby two weeks earlier, part of a national year in which more than 7.9 million acres have burned. Researchers point to record-low snowpack, prolonged heat, and the relentless growth of housing in the wildland-urban interface — the zone where subdivisions meet flammable wilderness.

Officials note Reno's population has grown 26 percent in 15 years, much of it into exactly the terrain most likely to ignite. Narrow roads built for gradual traffic, not mass evacuation, have turned fires in Spokane and past blazes like California's Camp Fire into gridlock nightmares as flames close in.

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