Overview

• Lightning sparked the Gothic Fire on July 4 and it has since expanded to over 35,000 acres across northern Nevada
• EWU Crew’s July 16 livestream captured smoke rising inside Area 51’s boundary, prompting a resurgence of UFO conspiracy chatter
• The blaze is burning over portions of the Nevada Test Site, where Cold War–era above-ground nuclear tests once took place
• The Department of Defense manages the response on its restricted range, and as of July 17 the wildfire remains 0% contained with no evacuation orders
• Online speculation ranges from crashed experimental craft to alien involvement despite official confirmation of a natural wildfire