WINNEMUCCA — A thick plume of black smoke hovered over the Rose Creek area Christmas morning due to a diesel-fuel fire.  Dispatched to a possible car fire shortly after 10 a.m., Winnemucca Rural Fire Department firefighters arrived on scene where they discovered a pool of diesel fuel dumped by the side of the road had somehow ignited.  The firefighters decided to let the fuel burn and even added brush to help it along.  Assistant Fire Chief Torrey Sheen explained they were reluctant to dump water on the fire because it would just cause the fuel to sink into the ground.  The fuel was dumped near the Conservation Rd. turn-off, but how it got there and what ignited it remains a mystery.   

SPJ sends our appreciation and the appreciation of the community to all those on duty over the Holiday, including those who are on stand-by, ready to respond in a moment’s notice to whatever emergency arises.  These include but are not limited to:  The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Dispatchers manning the 911 lines – who never get the appreciation or the recognition they deserve, the Winnemucca Volunteer Fire Department, the Winnemucca Rural Fire Department, the deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, the officers from the Winnemucca Police Department, the troopers from the Nevada Highway Patrol, and the staff of Humboldt General Hospital – including EMS.  Thank you.

WINNEMUCCA —  The boil water order issued Dec. 1 for the 950 customers of the Gold Country Estates water systems customers in Grass Valley has been rescinded.

The system was chlorinated, flushed and six total coliform samples were collected throughout the distribution system on two consecutive days. All samples were absent of any bacteria. The operator of the system believes the problem was associated with a contamination at the sample tap or problems with sample collection.

The system must collect an additional five samples prior to the end of the month to comply with the monitoring requirements for the Total Coliform Rule.

As is customary for such an event, the Nevada Health Division will continue monitoring the northern Nevada area, and the Winnemucca area in particular, for the next three weeks for any stomach illness associated with E. coli bacteria. All monitoring done so far in the area has not shown an increase.