As the Hawk Fire made a mad dash for the North Valleys last week, the Bonanza Casino laid in its wake.
“The fire line was coming right at us,” says General Manager Ryan Sheltra. “And these heroes of our community, they saved our homes. They saved our business."
On Sunday, the Bonanza decided it was time to give back.
Over a dozen fire agencies fought the Hawk Fire. Crews from all of them had the chance to eat from the buffet at the Branding Iron Cafe, free of charge.
Sheltra says it's a small token of appreciation.
“Not just the Hawk Fire, but the Bug Fire behind it, really impacted the Bonanza Casino,” he says. “[It] impacted our customers, impacted my employees, and impacted me personally. Many of us were evacuated from our homes. We had a mandatory evacuation right across the street."
Between plates, 2 News Nevada got a chance to catch up with Great Basin Team 6, which coordinated resources for the Hawk Fire as incident command.
“It has complexities in different ways than some other fires,” says Juan Delgado, Public Information Officer for Great Basin Team 6, while speaking on the Hawk Fire.
Delgado says the Hawk Fire needed a lot more resources for public information, with tens of thousands of people impacted in some way.
“During the first few days of the fire, we got about 1,200 phone calls from residents in the community,” he says. “So just having the manpower to take those phone calls and answer those questions took a little bit of extra time."
Beyond the management of fire crews, incident command also has to figure out food, shelter, supplies, and more for firefighters.
Delgado says the biggest “thank-you” you can give to fire crews is keeping yourselves and drones out of the fire area.
“We have had some really close calls with the public in some of the closed areas, even a near collision yesterday with the heavy machinery,” he says. “The biggest support that we need right now is let us finish our job and let us get all that area back to normal."
