An inmate crew makes its way to the fire Tuesday at Balls Canyon. Containment was predicted for tonight for the 1,700-acre blaze northwest of Reno near Bordertown.

MARILYN NEWTON/RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL

An inmate crew makes its way to the fire Tuesday at Balls Canyon. Containment was predicted for tonight for the 1,700-acre blaze northwest of Reno near Bordertown.

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Strong winds pushed flames into new areas Tuesday from a fire near Carson City that officials said would take four days to contain, as containment was predicted tonight for a 1,700-acre fire northwest of Reno near Bordertown, part of 110,000 acres blackened in Nevada this week.

Strong winds continued to push flames of the Linehan Complex Fire west towards the Goni Road area of Carson City and northeast towards the Silver City and Gold Hill areas but no structures were burned, said Karla Norris, spokeswoman Karla Norris said. The blaze crossed a dirt road, threatened a ranch in the Silver City area and looped around Carson City on the eastern front of the Sierra, sending a mile-long snake of fire down a hillside near McClellan Peak.

Earlier Tuesday, incident commander Greg Marfil praised the work of fire crews but warned the weather could spread the fire. Evening winds were milder Tuesday than Monday, when 20 new fires sparked.

"Yesterday and last night the biggest problem was that we didn't know who was here. People were just running around trying to put the fire out," Marfil said. "When you don't have any command and control it makes it very difficult to assign people jobs to be done.

"We're very optimistic we're getting a good handle on the fire."

The fire forced the evacuation Monday of about 150 Mound House area homes. Many of those people had returned by 1 a.m. Tuesday. People in the Linehan Road area still were being kept from their homes Tuesday, Marfil said.

Crews from 14 federal, state and local fire agencies from as far away as Tahoe City fought the Linehan fire Tuesday afternoon with 13 engines, five water tenders, four bulldozers and several air tankers and helicopters, Norris said.

As many as a 200 homes remained threatened there late Tuesday. Hand crews were sent scrambling when a wind shift pushed flames back up a hillside about 4:30 p.m. But a heavy air tanker responded with a retardant drop and helicopters dropped water on the fire's northeast flank, greatly reducing the threat within an hour, fire officials said.

Marfil pleaded with home owners who live near wild lands to make sure there was a defensible space around their homes where there was nothing that would burn, either naturally grown plants or items stored there.

"Give us as much opportunity as you can to save your house," Marfil said. "I'm not going to put someone in a position where they're going to risk their life or lose their life" trying to save a house.

North of Reno, the 1,700-acre Balls Canyon Fire, started Sunday by lighting, was reported 70 percent contained with full containment expected tonight. A severe thunderstorm hit the fire Tuesday afternoon, producing winds that whipped up flames. Six structures near the fire were said to be threatened Tuesday night.

"They had a significant blowup and a rapid run" of fire on its southwest edge, said Christie Kalkowski of the U.S. Forest Service.

At the Pah Rah Range between Palomino Valley and Spanish Springs, firefighters reported 50 percent containment of three fires combined to burn up to 900 acres. The 95-acre Oregon Fire that threatened homes in Lemmon Valley on Monday was expected to be fully contained Tuesday night.

No structures have burned nor injuries reported so far. But there have been a number of close calls, including at the more than 1,000 acres of fires that threatened homes Monday night in Palomino Valley and Lemmon Valley on the outskirts north of Reno.

Full containment of the Empire Fire near Gerlach is expected tonight, officials said. That fire burned about 3,000 acres and started Sunday. Another lighting strike on Tuesday started a separate blaze near the Empire Fire and it was reported to be spreading at a significant rate.

Near Susanville, about 50 miles north of Reno, firefighters found themselves overwhelmed by dozens of fires. The Cheney Fire, a lightning-sparked blaze that burned more than 625 acres and forced evacuation of about 100 homes near the western edge of Susanville on Monday night, is expected to be fully contained by Friday.

"We have had 80 confirmed fires. Some are getting big," said Craig Kincaid, co-manager of the Susanville Interagency Fire Center. "Because our firefighting resources are depleted, we have not been able to send engines or crews to every fire."

The fire burned right up to Dick Demuth's Fledspar Circle home, charring three trees in his yard.

"They told us we had 20 minutes to get out of here," Demuth said. "By the time we got down to the checkpoint, they said 'your house is already afire.'

"That turned out not to be true."

More than 1,000 firefighters continued to battle dozens of fires, including a 57,000-acre blaze burning out of control largely in uninhabited rangeland in northeast Nevada.

"We're stretched about as thin as possible," said Jeff Arnberger, assistant fire management officer for the Bureau of Land Management in Elko, where the largest fires were.

"Thankfully our neighbors from around Nevada and across the country are giving us a hand," he said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, citing fires burning from Elko to Reno and Carson City, declared a state of emergency Tuesday to obtain federal funds for firefighting and to access the state's Disaster Relief Fund.

"A significant amount of time remains in the fire season and early access to federal and local assistance will enable the state and local communities to get the resources necessary to address the current situation as well as any additional wildfires throughout the summer months," he said.

Business was getting back to normal Tuesday at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Mound House that was evacuated for about 7 hours Monday night.

"It wasn't a fun day at the ranch," said brothel owner Dennis Hof, adding that about 50 women fled as flames closed in on his business. It was not damaged.

"It was pretty traumatic for the girls," Hof said. "They just wanted out of here."

One of those girls was "Audrey," who said she had never witnessed a wildfire before.

"We seriously thought the place was going to burn down," Audrey said. "It was just incredibly scary. The fire just spread in a U shape around us."

North of the fire at the Gold Hill Hotel, built in 1861 and Nevada's oldest operating hotel, owners and guests watched the flames anxiously.

"Last night was quite something," said hotel manager Melody Reynolds. "It was a little too close for an old historical building like this one. To lose this would be horrible."

The estimated 110,000 acres that have burned since lightning bolts started sparking fires over the weekend amounts to about 172 square miles, including the 12,000-acre Sage fire that was estimated to be 15 percent contained about 20 miles northwest of Lovelock, and the 5,000-acre North Antelope fire, which started Tuesday about 15 miles southeast of Midas.

The biggest fire in northeast Nevada, the Suzie fire, had consumed an estimated 57,000 acres of sagebrush and grass from Carlin about 20 miles west of Elko to a state highway leading out of Elko to the Idaho state line. It closed Interstate 80 for about three hours Monday and nearly doubled in size during the afternoon when a storm cell settled directly over the fire.

But improved weather made all the difference by the end of the day Tuesday, and it was estimated to be 10 percent contained.

"We didn't get the sustained wind and dry lightning we thought we might get," BLM spokesman Richard Brown said from Elko. "And (on Wednesday) they are a bit more optimistic about the weather because they think they might get rain with it."

Just east of that, the Elburz fire blackened 12,600 acres but was "nearly contained" Tuesday night, Brown said. The Sneekee fire in the Red Springs Wilderness Study Area 35 miles southwest of Elko was estimated at 5,300 acres of grass and brush.

Eight Clark County firefighters, a wildfire coordinator and two engines were dispatched late Monday to the Elburz fire -- a trip of more than 400 miles.

Wire service reports contributed to this story.