The Carson City Fire Department is warning residents to be cautious as fire season still is in effect and the area is under a red flag warning.
Despite some rain and the temperature dropping, officials with the fire department said Carson City still is at risk, just one spark away from a major fire.
Recently, the Carson City Fire Department has seen several fires start from seemingly innocent activities, said officials in the department. Two fires occurred in populated neighborhoods from burning a small pile of debris and welding and off-road vehicle and the third fire started as the result of target shooting in the hills of Carson City. While the two neighborhood fires were caught early with moderate damage, the third burned more than 240 acres in just a few hours.
A Fire Weather Warning is a forecast issued by the National Weather Service to inform area firefighting and land management agencies conditions are ideal for wildland fire ignition and rapid spread. After five years of drought conditions, low regional humidity and high or erratic winds, the red flag warning becomes a critical statement for firefighting agencies.
For Carson City, the department often alters staffing and equipment resources to accommodate the forecast risk because that red flag warning means high fire danger.
The weather criteria for fire weather watches and red flag warnings include the daily vegetation moisture content calculations, expected afternoon high temperature, afternoon minimum relative humidity and daytime wind speed.