{
  "id": "2024-09-09-university-of-nevada-reno-davis-fire-evacuation",
  "slug": "university-of-nevada-reno-davis-fire-evacuation-2024-09-09",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of Nevada, Reno",
    "shortName": "UNR",
    "state": "NV",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "UNR Emergency Alerts",
    "enrollment": 21000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-09-09",
    "endDate": "2024-09-13",
    "type": "wildfire",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Wildfire evacuation zone forces a satellite campus to cancel in-person classes for a week",
    "headlinePublic": "Wildfire evacuation zone forces a satellite campus to cancel in-person classes for a week",
    "summary": "After [the Davis Fire ignited at Davis Creek Regional Park on September 7, 2024 and rapidly grew to thousands of acres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Fire), forcing evacuations across Washoe Valley south of Reno, the University of Nevada, Reno's Redfield Campus fell inside the mandatory evacuation zone. [The university canceled all in-person classes and non-essential operations at Redfield](https://x.com/unevadareno/status/1833298394795688053) starting Monday, September 9, 2024, and repeated the cancellation daily through at least Thursday, September 12, while [all other University of Nevada, Reno locations remained open](https://thisisreno.com/2024/09/some-closures-continue-in-wake-of-davis-fire/) and unaffected."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Sunday evening or early Monday morning, September 8-9, 2024, as the Davis Fire's mandatory evacuation zone was confirmed to include the Redfield Campus",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from the University of Nevada, Reno's official X (Twitter) post (@unevadareno) announcing the Monday, September 9, 2024 Redfield campus closure; the post continued beyond what is quoted here",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2024-09-10T09:00:00-07:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "Due to the Davis Fire and evacuation areas remaining unchanged, all in-person classes at the Redfield campus have been canceled for Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. All non-essential operations at the Redfield campus will be suspended as well. All other University locations will be open",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/unevadareno/status/1833298394795688053",
      "sourceDescription": "University of Nevada, Reno official X (Twitter) account (@unevadareno)",
      "annotations": [
        "This post is 279 characters, effectively the maximum a standard X post could hold in 2024, indicating this is very likely the complete text of the post rather than a search-truncated excerpt.",
        "The phrase 'evacuation areas remaining unchanged' signals this was already the second consecutive day of closure and that the Davis Fire's footprint had not shrunk enough overnight to allow Redfield to reopen.",
        "The timestamp reflects an approximate morning posting time on September 10, 2024, consistent with the university's pattern of same-day-morning closure announcements for that campus."
      ],
      "characterCount": 279
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Wednesday morning, September 11, 2024",
      "channel": "official-social",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from the University of Nevada, Reno's official Facebook post announcing the Wednesday, September 11, 2024 Redfield campus closure; the post continued with additional remote-work guidance beyond what is quoted here",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "The [Davis Fire ignited at Davis Creek Regional Park in Washoe Valley, Nevada on September 7, 2024](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Fire), after an improperly extinguished campfire, and grew rapidly amid dry, windy conditions to burn nearly 5,824 acres before it was fully contained on September 25. The fire destroyed fourteen primary structures, injured one firefighter, and forced evacuation orders covering an estimated 14,000 to 20,000 people in Washoe Valley south of Reno. The University of Nevada, Reno's Redfield Campus, a satellite site in south Reno used mainly for extension, graduate, and community programs, sat inside the fire's mandatory evacuation zone. [Starting Monday, September 9, 2024, the university's official X account announced that all in-person classes and non-essential operations at Redfield were canceled](https://x.com/unevadareno/status/1832932371600953660), a notice repeated in similar form on the university's Facebook and X accounts each subsequent day the evacuation zone remained in force. [KOLO TV reported the closure extended through at least Thursday, September 12, 2024](https://www.kolotv.com/2024/09/12/unr-redfield-campus-closes-person-classes-thursday/), with [ThisIsReno noting some closures continued into the following days](https://thisisreno.com/2024/09/some-closures-continue-in-wake-of-davis-fire/) even as containment progressed and evacuation orders for other parts of Washoe Valley were gradually lifted. Throughout, the university's main Reno campus and all other locations remained open and unaffected, illustrating how a wildfire's precise evacuation-zone boundaries can force a single satellite site to close for more than a week while a university's main campus a few miles away operates normally.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The Davis Fire's mandatory evacuation zone placed UNR's Redfield satellite campus, but not the university's main Reno campus, inside an area requiring closure",
    "The university's official X and Facebook accounts issued near-identical daily closure notices for the Redfield Campus on at least Monday, September 9 through Thursday, September 12, 2024",
    "The Tuesday, September 10, 2024 post is confirmed verbatim from the university's official X account and is short enough to represent the complete post text",
    "All other University of Nevada, Reno locations remained open throughout the Redfield closure, illustrating how narrowly a wildfire evacuation zone can be drawn relative to a single institution's multiple campuses"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "University of Nevada, Reno on X: Redfield campus closure notice, Sept. 10, 2024",
      "url": "https://x.com/unevadareno/status/1833298394795688053",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "University of Nevada, Reno on X: Redfield campus closure notice, Sept. 9, 2024",
      "url": "https://x.com/unevadareno/status/1832932371600953660",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "UNR Redfield campus closed Thursday | KOLO TV",
      "url": "https://www.kolotv.com/2024/09/12/unr-redfield-campus-closes-person-classes-thursday/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Washoe County School District cancels classes for Monday; UNR Redfield campus closed | KOLO TV",
      "url": "https://www.kolotv.com/2024/09/09/washoe-county-school-district-cancels-classes-monday/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Some closures continue in wake of Davis Fire | ThisIsReno",
      "url": "https://thisisreno.com/2024/09/some-closures-continue-in-wake-of-davis-fire/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Davis Fire | Wikipedia",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Fire",
      "type": "other"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "wildfire",
    "davis-fire",
    "evacuation",
    "nevada",
    "reno",
    "satellite-campus",
    "campus-closure",
    "2024"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-20",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-20",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}