Area 51 at risk as huge fire creeps closer to base with black smoke filling air sparking wild UFO conspiracy theories
Dramatic images have captured plumes of smoke erupting outside the remote Air Force base north of Las Vegas.
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An uncontained wildfire is encroaching on Area 51 in Nevada
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Dramatic surveillance footage has captured plumes of smoke erupting near the base
The dangerous Gothic Fire has been burning through Nevada for days, and the Bureau of Land Management said it wasn't contained as of Monday.
The blaze was sparked by a lightning strike that lit up trees in Clark County, just 45 minutes north of Las Vegas, on July 4.
Now, it's swelled from 9,000 acres to 35,000 and is burning on the Nevada Test and Training Range withdrawn lands.
A thick haze has also wafted all the way down to Las Vegas, but no one is in danger, according to officials.
Area 51 lies just north of the burning blaze, and surveillance footage has captured the smoke rising dangerously close to the mystery base.
According to data released by the Nevada Interagency Fire Center, the wildfire is burning just 15 miles away from the facility.
Conspiracy theorists have rattled off baseless speculations about the fire, as they fear the federal government will use it to cover up secrets.
"This is a sanitizing event, blowing up the facility," claimed one user on X.
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The theorist guessed that "sensitive contents" could be hiding inside the facilities that need to be buried in the flames.
Others feared that aliens could have attacked to reclaim evidence exposing life outside Earth.
"I'm not saying anything other than it was aliens," wrote a user who shared surveillance videos capturing the blaze.
On Sunday, officials said that no structures were threatened and that firefighters were confining and containing the blaze instead of suppressing it, NBC affiliate
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At least 19 killed after Bangladeshi air force plane slams into school building
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