Fire hazard reports presented to Storey and Carson City this week

What residents, businesses and local governments can do to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire is on the agenda in both Storey County and Carson City this week.

Resource Concepts will present its risk/hazard assessment for Storey County at the commission meeting today. It will give Carson City its evaluation before the Board of Supervisors on Thursday.

Resource Concepts visited some 250 communities in Nevada's 17 counties to assess the risk of wildland fires and potential severity in each area. The specific goals of the project were to assess wildfire hazards in Nevada, identify firefighting needs, map fuel hazards, and outline projects to mitigate the hazards.

Each study considered a variety of factors affecting potential fire hazards, including community design, the availability of fire-suppression resources and the amount of vegetation available as potential fuel for a wildfire.

Carson City's report, in particular, makes repeated reference to the hazards exposed by the Waterfall fire in July.

Both reports urge the communities involved to take steps to mandate fuel reduction in areas where human development abuts wildlands.

The Carson City report shows a moderate risk of major wildland fire for the capital itself, but rates the Clear Creek community as having a high potential for a catastrophic fire. It says while many homeowners have been aggressive in establishing and maintaining defensible space around their homes, others have not. It urges the city to impose mandatory fuel- reduction standards for wildland-urban interface areas.

Clear Creek, it points out, is in a heavily forested canyon with potentially dangerous and narrow access. It said the Nevada Division of Forestry and property owners need to clear brush fuels from nearly 1,700 acres as well as create fuel breaks along the roadway into Clear Creek.

The report says similar brush clearing should be mandated along the western portion of Carson City and on the city's eastern border.

The Storey County Commission meeting begins at 10 a.m. today. The Carson City Board of Supervisors meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

n Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or 687-8750.