For JoAnna Warthan, the plundering Davis Fire in Northern Nevada has meant the loss of a tight-knit community in which her family has lived for generations.

Since the fire broke out on Saturday, life has been a blur, making sure her uncle and mother who fled their home in a rush have what they need. She’s thankful they are safe, taking refuge in her home northeast of Sparks.

Without a wildfire insurance policy that was too expensive for her uncle’s fixed income, the home and the memories of holiday dinners and neighborhood block parties are reduced to nothing but ash. A GoFundMe to help the family had garnered almost $5,000 as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s almost surreal,” said Warthan, who works as an advocate for children in the welfare system. “When are we going to wake up from this? Everything happens for a reason, and it’s brought us together.”

Warthan’s home is one of 11 that the fire burned to the ground, but officials said they don’t expect any more damage to buildings. Aggressive firefighting efforts have worked to subdue the fire, with no increase in the perimeter despite dangerous winds grounding all planes on Wednesday.

Containment was at 56 percent as of Thursday at 8 p.m. PDT, and the fire was still holding behind firefighting lines at about 5,800 acres or just more than 9 square miles.

Some evacuation warnings for south Reno were lifted, but evacuation orders remained in place for much of the affected area.

Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said he has been heartened by the support he’s seen for those on the front lines.

“I just want to say what a beautiful community it is that we live in here. ... My phone has been blowing up with text messages,” Balaam said at a news briefing on Thursday afternoon. “That really makes this job worth doing.”

Situation fluid, but more stable

The National Weather Service’s unusual “particularly dangerous situation” declaration based on winds with 70 mph gusts was lifted at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and a meteorologist said there were no plans to renew it because winds have subsided.

Bladen Breitreiter, an incident weather service meteorologist based in Reno, said conditions have improved when it comes to fire weather. The station is monitoring a weather system that could affect the area this weekend, but it’s not expected to have as much of an impact, he said.

A swift, clean response from Nevada officials prevented the fire from moving at all, even though the fire had been expected to shift up to 7 miles.

“It was a very extreme event, and yet we had this footprint here that didn’t really move at all,” Breitreiter said Thursday. “The good news is, starting today, we have much quieter weather.”

About half of the more than 2,000 customers without power had it restored as of2 p.m. Thursday, NV Energy Vice President Jesse Murray said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Balaam said it’s to early to rule out causes, including arson.

Skyrocketing insurance rates

Officials are cautiously optimistic that the main focus can now shift to recovery.

In the Washoe Valley neighborhood that Warthan loves, lives have been forever changed.

While her uncle — whom she calls a cowboy — and mother are grateful for the help, moving to a more urban area from rural Nevada is an adjustment they don’t want to make so late in their lives.

Warthan’s uncle is not alone in not being able to afford wildfire insurance.

Nevada’s top insurance official has said a record number of insurers are denying coverage or refusing to renew policies across the state because of fire risk.

“They’re skyrocketing their rates and flat out not insuring people,” Warthan said. “People have been worried sick about situations like this for years.”

The path forward is complex, but she’s committed to finding a solution, whether that’s putting a tiny home on their property or raising enough money to rebuild, she said.

“I want to fix it for them,” Warthan said. “They’ve always fixed everything for me.”

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly onX.