Firefighters lost ground Monday to two large Nevada wildfires burning through parched pine forests in northern and southern parts of the state, including a nearly 24-square-mile blaze that forced more than 500 people out of homes in woodsy Mount Charleston enclaves near Las Vegas and a more than 27-square-mile fire in the Pine Nut Mountains southwest of Reno.

Homes were threatened, but more than 750 firefighters, including 18 elite Hotshot crews, were battling the Carpenter 1 Fire some 25 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said Jay Nichols, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

Gov. Brian Sandoval toured the fire area, visited an incident command post in Pahrump on Sunday, and applied for federal disaster aid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency promised Monday to reimburse the state for 75 percent of the cost of fire suppression efforts.

The Carpenter 1 was declared a top priority nationwide due to its size and the value of homes and structures at risk, said Suzanne Shelp, a Forest Service spokeswoman.

An influx of firefighters and equipment including bulldozers, seven helicopters, four air tankers and a DC-10 jet fire retardant bomber came as crews in Arizona neared containment of a deadly blaze that killed 19 Hotshot firefighters near Yarnell on June 30.

From The Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/08/nevada-wildfires-2013_n_3564530.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003