Crews remain on scene. The fire may continue to produce smoke in the area for several days. Authorities say there's no need to call 911.
The fire broke out at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday near Byars Lane and 21st Street, off Glendale in Sparks, as a business owner near the blaze reacts to it.
Crews say they suspect the fire started outside a business in that area, Green Planet 21.
They said no structures were affected, but outdoor equipment and recyclable materials were damaged, and because of the wind, the fire spread quickly.
Julie Duewel, the Communications Manager for the City of Sparks, said, "Right now there are no structures involved, but there is some equipment, tractor-trailer, some recyclable materials, things like that. It looks like they've got a good handle on it right now."
Evacuation orders for surrounding businesses were put in place for a while but were lifted once the fire was under control.
Road closures in the area were also needed while crews worked the incident so that agencies could get through with their heavy equipment, but have since been lifted as well.
Crews followed protocol when it came to cleaning up the scene.
Duewel told us, "So it'll just be the investigation. We’ll mop it up, make sure there's nothing else, you know, that could start a fire again, and we're just going to be monitoring it probably for the rest of the evening."
We got a chance to speak with business owners that also work in the same area, and they say they caught the start of the fire and were alarmed by how quickly it spread.
Joshua Varner, a business owner nearby, told us, "Within five minutes, the wind picked up all those bales of cardboard, paper on fire, and spread to the trees, surrounding grass, the brush area. I immediately tried to wet down the dry grass on my property. I mean, it just took off and got out of control from there."
They did say that fire crews got to the scene fast, and it gave them some relief watching them work to control the fire before it caused more damage.
Varner said, "This is my workplace. It's how I make my living. The fire department was here extremely quickly, did an excellent job. They’ve already got it under control, but it was pretty wild, pretty scary for a minute."
Although crews suspect the fire started outside of the business, the actual cause of the fire is still under investigation.
We will keep you updated as we continue to learn more.
