The Energy Department said Friday it is extinguishing fires in the west-central corner of the remote Nevada National Security Site.
The blaze, which burned cheat grass and sage grass in an estimated 5,000-acre area, did not affect any structures, facilities, or radiologically contaminated spots at the former nuclear weapon-testing site, DOE said in a press release ahead of the U.S. Labor Day holiday.
“Crews are focusing on hot-spots and establishing fire lines along the outer borders of the fire,” the release says. “The NNSS helicopter continues to provide aerial water drops, as needed, on the fire.”
The agency did not say what caused, or might have caused, the fire.
The 1,360-square-mile Nevada National Security Site is overseen by DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. Its missions include supporting stockpile stewardship of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, production of systems for detecting nuclear weapons and radiological “dirty bombs,” and disposal of low-level and mixed-low-level radioactive material.
