2 wildfires causing evacuations in Mt. Charleston, Moapa enclaves near Las Vegas

2 wildfires causing evacuations in Las Vegas area

LAS VEGAS — Authorities evacuated homes Thursday in two enclaves threatened by wildfires in the Las Vegas area, including a rustic community on Mount Charleston and the ranching desert hamlet of Moapa.

Police officers went door-to-door to evacuate the hillside Rainbow and Cathedral subdivisions on Mount Charleston after a five-acre blaze was reported in steep terrain just after noon Thursday off State Route 157, officials said.

Both that fire, dubbed the Cathedral fire, and the 35-acre Moapa fire were human-caused, federal Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon said.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage to homes. Officer Bill Cassell, a Las Vegas police spokesman, told KLAS-TV that a helicopter search-and-rescue crew made at least one rescue on Mount Charleston, where trees and shrubs were burning in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

The fires broke out on a day temperatures topped 100 degrees at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and the National Weather Service posted a “red flag” critical fire warning for some parts of southern Nevada, but not the immediate Las Vegas area.

Winds in Las Vegas were gusting to 30 mph, with humidity a very dry 5 percent shortly after noon.