A fire official says half of the 40 rooms at a motel in Gerlach are uninhabitable after a blaze believed to have started in the laundry room.
Washoe County firefighters, aided by crews from Pyramid Lake and Truckee Meadows, battled the fire reported a little after 2 p.m. Sunday at Bruno's Motel.
Pat Irwin, Gerlach fire services community coordinator, tells the Reno Gazette-Journal that about 20 rooms were flooded after a water heater burst during the fire. Irwin says the entire building received heavy smoke damage.
Bruno's Motel is one of several businesses owned by Bruno Selmi in Gerlach, a town with about 200 residents about a two-hour drive north of Reno.
Gerlach is the town closest to the annual Burning Man festival site in the Black Rock Desert.
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