Corta Fire grows to nearly 17,000 acres in Elko County

A fire burning in northeast Nevada has grown to 16,862 acres.

The

, located 10 miles southeast of Jiggs, was started by lightning on August 4, 2019.

As of Wednesday, the fire is 10 percent contained.

According to the Bureau of Land Management, the fire has jumped Harrison Pass Road and is making a run to the north toward the Green Mountain area, with potential to threaten critical mule deer winter range, Columbian Spotted Frog habitat, priority Greater Sage-Grouse habitat, and Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.

"We were able to get a lot of air and ground resources on the fire yesterday," said Incident Commander Tyler Hecht. "Ground crews and aircraft made good progress on all flanks of the fire, but rough terrain is making the progress slow."

No structures are threatened at this time.

Thunderstorms are expected in the Elko area over the next couple of days. The U.S. Forest Service is urging anyone who sees a new fire start to call 911 and report it.