Camper ignites C Hill fire

A fire ignited Monday evening by an errant camper with a propane stove torched approximately five acres of brush on C Hill.

A fire road that intersects with Curry Street behind a Shell gas station served as a fire break to stop the flames from spreading into nearby Lake Glen, a community of houses on the north side of the hill, said Nevada Division of Forestry Training Officer Mike Klug.

"It stopped on this fire road put here after the big C Hill fire (in 1988)," he said, pointing towards the break in the flames. "It was specially built for this."

Although he said the flames did not pose an immediate danger to the Lake Glen houses, several evacuations near the backside of the community were ordered as a precaution.

Max Schillinger, 23 , of Arcadia, Calif.,who said he was on the third day of an around-the-world trip, was cooking dinner at his makeshift camp spot on the side of C Hill when the wind knocked his stove over.

"It was completely my fault," he said. "The wind knocked it over and it took off. In about four seconds it was about 10 feet in diameter.

"I only had time to save myself and my stuff. I was worried about my $2,000."

Fire officials on the scene said they had not yet decided whether to pursue criminal charges against Schillinger.

Dispatchers sent the first fire engines shortly after 6 p.m. When it was brought under control about 7:30 p.m., three NDF engines, four Carson City Fire Department engines and a water tender were canvassing the area.

Capitol police, Carson City sheriff's deputies and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers stopped traffic along Curry Street below the fire.

Kay Bennett, a Carson City supervisor, was sitting down to dinner with her family when they saw flames outside the window of their Lake Glen house.

"We saw it from my dining room," she said. "It looked big and we just went 'Whoa!'"

She said her evacuated neighbors headed back to their houses about 7:45 p.m.

Fire engines were standing by in the neighborhood with four-inch hoses attached to hydrants and strung along the base of the hill, she said.

"In a matter of 15 minutes they had the whole hill ready," she said. "The firemen did an impressive job."