SPARKS, NV - Some Sparks homeowners are still counting their blessings the fire didn’t get any worse. But those who measure fuels here in Northern Nevada say the same can’t be said for current fire conditions here.

The fire took cars, a building, trees and brush in its path. The only thing that separated it and the Stewart's backyard was good firefighting and a ditch.

That doesn't mean there wasn't any damage here, their tool shed melted in the heat, and a wood fence was damaged.

It all began when the man who lived behind them accidentally started the fire by igniting cottonwood seed fluff.

One homeowner, Stella Stewart, says she was given fair warning.

“Even my daughter it’s her worst nightmare. She does, she comes out here and sprays everything all the time. She has always said we are going to have a bad fire here sometime,” says Stella.

“It's a flash burn. I've never seen anything burn so fast,” said the man who inadvertently started the fire when he lit his barbeque, Michael Hollingworth.

The cottonwood seed fluff is called dead fuel according to fire investigators. Much like cheat grass it is drive by the air available to it.

“I've been to a couple of fires where somebody had said, well I know that will burn and they put a match down there and they had no idea how fast it would burn,” says Casey Jones, a fire technician from the United State Forest Service.

Jones says dead fuels determine the speed of fires, along with the slope and wind. But he and other technicians look at other factors calibrated at 40-sites across the Western Great Basin to determine fire volatility.

Moisture, humidity, historical data all help them determine when fire restrictions should go in place.

Those conditions are such right now, fire restrictions will go into effect on Saturday July 17th.

That will mean campers and others will only be allowed to light fires in designated camping sites where space and water are clearly available.

Fire officials say dead fuels can dry within a matter of hours even after a rain storm.

That’s why they don’t recommend you water down cottonwood seed fluff, instead they say gather it, and throw it away.