Could the Camp Fire happen here? Carson City Fire Chief talks fire prevention

Fire season is upon us, and while the high temperatures may have come a little late this year, the wet winter and cool temperatures also created a perfect growing situation for fast acting fuels such as cheat grass.

Last year, our community watched with sadness and horror at the Camp Fire and Butte Fire that destroyed our western neighbor communities in California. Those fires, it has now been revealed, were caused by PG&E power lines combined with quick acting, dry fuels.

The question we've wondered is "can this tragedy happen here?" Especially after last fire season, with a number of local fires being related in some way to NV Energy power lines.

Carson City’s Fire Chief Sean Slamon says that, while possible, the Carson City and surrounding communities are incredibly proactive when it comes to fire safety.

“Carson City fire, and the community, is very proactive at fire prevention,” said Slamon. “Our best chance at preventing a Camp Fire situation, or a repeat of our Waterfall Fire which occurred in 2004, is prevention.”

Some of the preventative measures the Carson City Fire Department undertakes are education for those within the fire zones, fuel reduction days, providing dumpsters to home owners to clear yards of potentially-hazardous debris, free fire inspections, and of course, our beloved grass-eating foothill sheep.

“We just held some community clean up and wild land fuel reduction days in Timberline earlier in May,” said Slamon. “We also have dumpsters and trailers available for free for people who live in the wild land-urban interface areas.”

Those areas are homes that the fire department has determined could potentially be threatened in a Camp Fire scenario.

The department delivers the dumpster, homeowners clear their property of dead vegetation or hazardous fuels, load up the dumpster, and the department takes it away.

“It’s a unique opportunity for homeowners to make their properties wild land fire-safe, all it takes is some hard work and manual labor,” said Slamon.

Another important program which helps educate the community on fire safety is that when a new homeowner purchases a property in the wild land-urban interface areas, the fire department is notified and within 60 days they stop by and introduce themselves and educate the homeowner on proper fire safety.

They will also do a free inspection of a property—not inside homes, however—and give recommendations if there are any visible issues that could threaten the home or property during a wild land fire.

“The more prepared we are, and the more educated people are, the better,” said Slamon. “By taking these steps, it’s not just making homeowners own properties fire safe, it’s making the community fire safe.”

Our favorite wooly fire guardians are also a first line defense against fire season, reducing the fuels before the high temperatures come along. The sheep will eat the grasses from C Hill to Timberline, and then into Douglas County, as a way to combat fires before they even start.

One of the biggest issues the community could face in a potential Camp Fire situation, is simply that homeowners wait too long before evacuating.

“In Paradise, the community was very well educated in escape routes,” said Slamon. “However, even as prepared as they were, those routes got bogged down, people wait too long to evacuate, and in that case, the fires spread extremely rapidly.”

It’s not uncommon, Slamon said, for homeowners to stay too long until they actually see the fire approaching, and at that point it’s essentially too late. Things people don’t consider in those situations is that smoke, ash, and the fire itself can cause almost a black out in visibility, increasing the potentiality for car accidents, or possibly hitting people or animals on the roads, increases tremendously.

“We recommend any time there is a fire of any significance and the community is asked to evacuate, we are recommended you evacuate now.”

Slamon suggests having a “grab bag” ready to go for an evacuation event with important documents, prescriptions, glasses, pets and pet food, any thing that is vitally important. Time spent trying to locate important items increases the chances of being caught in a potentially fatal situation. Depending on external factors such as high heat and wind, the time you have to load and go could be as little as five minutes.

For more information on proper evacuation techniques, planning, on items to have on hand, click here.

All agencies in the area have been preparing for fire season since early winter, hammering out the details in mutual aid.

Throughout the season, our own local firefighters are often sent to different counties, or even different states such as California, Idaho and Oregon, to assist in knocking down fires. In the event of a Camp Fire situation in Carson, our surrounding agencies such as Douglas, Lyon, Washoe, and even out of state agencies would come to our aid as well.

While there are no vacancies in our county for firefighters, one issue Slamon is facing is that there has not been an increase in funding for additional firefighters in the last ten years. As our summers continue becoming hotter and hotter, and winters wetter and wetter, the need for increased firefighters is certainly to increase.

An issue we saw last year was the bizarre and terrifying trend of NV Energy power lines or transformers causing fires. Whether the cause was a motorist striking a pole, causing a line to snap, high winds, or the most disturbing, which appeared to be no reason at all, a fair percentage of last season’s fires were in some way related to power lines.

NV Energy, Slamon says, is taking steps to decrease the likelihood of a PG&E-Campfire catastrophe, and one of those solutions could potentially be shutting down power during high heat, high wind days, leaving Carson City and surrounding areas in potential brown out or black out situations.

“Obviously power lines are critical for our infrastructure,” said Slamon. “However, PG&E has had issues for decades in California. No matter how well we can maintain those lines, you get a strong wind event or something as simple as a car striking a power line, and those power lines could be taken down in the wrong area, and a fire could spread extremely quickly at that point. Now NV Energy, and other power companies, are working proactively with the possibility of powering down on those high wind, high heat days, and keeping ground cleared beneath their lines.”

The most important thing to keep in mind during this upcoming fire season is to be smart and be safe. With the rifle range closed, it’s a concern that more and more community members will take to the hills for target practice, which is one of the number one causes of wild land fires, and are generally in such difficult places that it makes it very difficult for firefighters to reach.

When in wild land areas, never fire into dry, grassy areas, and do not fire towards rocks or boulders, as even a simple spark could devastate an area in a matter of minutes. Keep your shooting days to mild, windless days, as high heat and high wind are a fire’s best pals.

When camping, never leave a campfire, hot coals or stones unattended.

To learn more about the Carson City Fire Department, click here.