Man says he is responsible for Washoe Drive Fire
By Reno Gazette-Journal
10:13pm:
Southbound Highway 395 is open at Mount Rose Highway. Northbound Highway 395 to reopen later tonight, Nevada Highway Patrol reports.
8:15pm (summary story)
The Washoe Drive Fire that destroyed 29 homes and charred 3,177 acres south of Reno started Thursday afternoon because a man improperly discarded hot fireplace ashes on the northern end of Washoe Valley, officials said Friday evening.
The blaze was 65 percent contained as 300 firefighters continued to work to extinguish hotspots amid another weather system that brought high winds and the threat of potential flash flooding in the areas that burned.
The elderly man, who officials declined to name Friday, came forward to investigators earlier in the day to admit he had discarded of the ashes in a utility trailer shortly before 1pm Thursday. This is about the time the Washoe Drive Fire started. So far, the cost of the response has been estimated at $690,000 while the damage is likely to be in the millions, officials said.
“He was overcome with remorse,” said Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez, who added the Washoe County district attorney will investigate and determine if criminal charges should be filed against the man.
Meanwhile, officials confirmed the only fatality associated with the fire was an elderly woman who lived on Old Ophir Road. The cause of death remains unknown, but authorities believed she died because of smoke inhalation. An autopsy was pending.
Officials had no word on when the 2,000 residents who remained evacuated from the area Friday night could return.
How do people become so stupid? Are they born that way or did they have to go to school. I guess Tahoe was a harbinger of things to come.
A fundraiser for the elderly man who died would be in order but who knows maybe they’ll have one for the guy who started the fire instead.
This event is tragic. The 93-year old woman who died was a neighbor of the 87-year old man who accidentally started the fire by an unintentional careless act.
The fact that the man turned himself in demonstrates to me that he is a person of integrity, and sincere in his remorse for what happened.
The family of the woman who died does not want to press charges against the man responsible, as it was said that they were not only neighbors, but friends.
From my perspective, I have compassion for not only the victims; the woman who died, her family, but also all the people whose homes were lost or lives impacted by this fire. I know this too well having been evacuated and affected by the Angora Fire in 2007.
But I also have compassion for the 87-year “accidental arsonist,” who at this late stage of his life, must now live with the consequences.
This type of act of taking “responsibility” for your own actions is all but missing in today’s society. In the face of a horrible event, this 87-year old man demonstrated the “Way it Used to Be;” a much better time for mankind.
Agreed MissMort, it takes a big person to come forward and admit fault, something you don’t see too much today.
Very well said Miss Mort. We as True Americans have been weighted down with so many utterly rediculous stories of moral depravity and been so conditioned to point fingers and cast blame that when we *finally* do see a man who’s integrity is such that, in this society he would stand and be counted as at fault, we hardly recognise it for what it is:CLASS. This man is not “stupid”, he misjudged the outcome of his actions then…wait for it…voluntarily took responsibility. I say he is of a by-gone breed that our current society sorely lacks.
Well said.
From my perspective, this is a “teachable moment” for youth and adults alike.
I hope all the criticism of a man who made a mistake, as all humans do, will die down because it is, in part, the fear of hostile ridicule that makes it even harder for a person who has erred to come forward.
My prayers go out to this elderly man who in the end, did the honorable thing.
We need more honor these days.