City manager averts fire

One of the San Diego area fires threatening communities there came within a mile of the home from which Nick Marano, Carson City’s new city manager, will be moving soon to take his post on June 2.

Marano, whose contract was approved by Carson City’s Board of Supervisors Thursday, said by email evacuation turned out to be unnecessary but he had loaded his Suburban vehicle to be prepared.

“In the end,” he wrote, “I don’t feel that we dodged a bullet. I believe that the professionals we trust our lives to came through big time. This could have been far worse.”

Carlsbad and Camp Pendleton, where the retired Marine colonel used to be base commander, are in a region hit by fast-moving fires worsened by drought and winds.

Marano shared some notes he had made during the problem. He said the human cost gets lost in televised drama of 30-foot flames roaring up a canyon. He said Carlsbad city and San Diego County information pushes seemed to work well via City Reverse 911, County 211 line communications providing updated evacuation information. He stressed responders performed heroically to prevent a catastrophe.

Marano also said the county there had activated its emergency operations center (EOC), and he is interested in how the Carson City EOC works. He also is interested in related equipment, training matters and preparation.

“I’m interested in how we train for these type of events, to include mass-casulaty drills,” he wrote. “We had a saying in the Marine Corps that the more you sweat in peace time, the less you bleed in combat.”