California wildfire smoke prompts air alert in northeast Nevada

RENO — An air quality alert has been issued for parts of northeast Nevada due to smoke from wildfires in the Sierra Nevada nearly 300 miles away.

Lightning started five wildfires in northeast Nevada’s Elko County on Saturday. But the National Weather Service says the smoke in the region is coming from the California fires.

The air quality alert remains in effect at least until 8 p.m. Monday for most of southwest Elko County, including the towns of Elko, Carlin and Spring Creek.

The elderly, children and people with pre-existing heart and lung diseases are advised to limit outdoor activity.

A similar air quality alert for the Reno area was allowed to expire at 11 a.m. Monday after a new weather system started to push the smoke farther west.

The Las Vegas area also saw some smoke from Taboose Fire in Central California, but it had cleared out by early Monday.