Douglas fire districts under discussion

INDIAN HILLS - A Jacks Valley homeowner who is also volunteer fire chief for that area suggests Douglas County consider redistricting its complicated fire districts.

Mike Bournazian, 31, fire chief for the Jacks Valley Volunteer Fire Department since January, has asked county commissioners to consider reviewing a proposed merger of fire districts in the Truckee Meadows because one of those districts, the Sierra Fire District, covers part of Douglas County.

The other two districts in the county are the Tahoe-Douglas, which is mostly in the Sierra Nevada, and the East Fork District, covering the east half of the county.

Douglas County contributes more than $300,000 to the Sierra Fire District, Bournazian said.

"Are we really getting our money's worth?" he asked the commission. "What we as property owners are proposing is to make one fire district."

One of the ways to improve financial efficiency and keep Douglas County money in Douglas County could be accomplished by dissolving the Sierra Fire District, which is administered by the state-run Nevada Division of Forestry, and have East Fork take over, Bournazian said.

Rich Harvey, fire chief of the Sierra Fire Protection District, said he is willing to "come to the table" and discuss anything that would make fire protection in Douglas County better.

"It would have to provide as good as, or better, service to residents, though," he said. "We don't want to see the coverage drop."

Bournazian said he is also concerned about what he says is the state's poor treatment of the volunteer force, which includes 200 active people in the Carson Valley through East Fork. The Sheridan Fire Department also works with the state.

"We have substandard equipment and that's what I mean by poor treatment of the volunteers," he said. "It's all about equipment. We had to wait for our personal protection gear and that's just criminal. On the other hand, East Fork has great gear and supports us with classes all the time.

"We have a program in place to replace the old equipment," Harvey said. "We have a new tender that will be going in there."

Bournazian has also made presentations about redistricting to the Indian Hills General Improvement District and the Alpine View Property Owners board of directors.

He said the complicated process of redistricting would be undertaken only if he believed the majority of residents and firefighters supported it.

"We'd still have a mutual aid agreement with them," Bournazian said. "Eighty percent of our calls are medical, anyway. Last year, we only responded to two structure fires, but that was not a typical year."

Jim Reinhardt, 50, former chief of the East Fork Fire District who retired May 19, is in a unique position - he worked for the state for 17 years as fire management officer for the western region.

"The main issue with me is how NDF doesn't support their volunteers," Reinhardt said. "It didn't used to be like that, but this administration isn't as supportive of the volunteer. It was one of the reasons I left NDF."

The state uses a paid staff, providing 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. coverage in the Ridgeview station in Indian Hills. The volunteer staff is largely employed elsewhere during the day and not as readily available, Harvey said.

"This is not to say that a paid staff is better than a volunteer staff, but show me where the volunteers can cover the daytime hours as well as the paid staff," he said. "The volunteers and the career firefighters are capable of doing the same level of work, it's just that the volunteers usually have other jobs from 8 to 5. This is key to response time during the day."