Officials brace for fire season as Nevada is ‘abnormally dry'
'Don't say this is going to be the worst fire season,' Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo jokingly told State Forester and Fire Warden Kacey KC at a June 10 wildfire briefing in Carson City. 'You say that every year.'
KC smiled in reply, but her cautious forecast for the coming fire season didn't quite comply with the governor's request.
The state is 'abnormally dry for this time of year,' she told him, primarily because of minimal snow at lower elevations during the winter followed by a warm spring that rapidly melted the snowpack at higher elevations.
The annual briefing, focused on updating the governor and his staff on the state's coming wildfire season, brought together a conglomeration of agencies and groups, including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada National Guard and city, county and tribal representatives.
Despite dry conditions, officials are optimistic about their ability to respond to whatever happens, touting interagency cooperation and well-executed emergency responses last year that will serve as models for the coming season. A healthy dose of one-time state and federal funding was also a cause for optimism.
But that same day, two fires broke out in the Reno-Sparks area. One, a small brush fire in North Reno, was quickly contained, but a second blaze, the more than 115-acre Marie Fire in Spanish Springs north of Reno, prompted evacuations.
And, with early drought conditions settling in over the drying state, it has the potential to be a long fire season.
'There's no department — state, federal or local — that can mitigate a significant emergency on their own,' Reno Fire Department Chief Dave Cochran said. 'We need that collaboration and cooperation.'
'An active summer'
Roughly 150 fires have burned more than 600 acres so far this year, KC said, and they are making 'bigger runs than we would expect at this time.'
The state has already received about half of its average number of fire-related calls, Eric Antle, deputy administrator at the Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF), said at a June 4 wildfire event focusing on Reno, although the fire season hasn't really started yet.
That heavy number of calls reflects that half of the state is already experiencing drought conditions. At this time last year, just 1 percent of the state was in drought.
Much of the state's lower elevations saw little to no snow during the winter. Last year's cheatgrass, an invasive and highly flammable weed found across much of the state, was never tamped down, and a second crop of cheatgrass is springing up this year.
Two years of cheatgrass, as well as other dry fuels, are a concern and will lead to above normal wildfire potential for Southern and western Nevada, according to Jim Wallmann, meteorologist for National Interagency Coordination Center Predictive Services.
The conditions, he said, recall those of 2006, when two consecutive years of heavy grass crops led to well over 1 million acres burning in the state.
'We're seeing the same signs,' he said at a June 3 webinar focusing on drought and fire conditions.
The state's largest fire season was 1999, when 1.8 million acres burned. In an average fire year, Nevada sees about 450,000 acres burn.
Wildfire concerns are expected to slow in Southern Nevada in mid to late July with the arrival of the area's monsoons. But, as the danger lessens in the south, it will increase in the rest of the state.
'Expect an active summer, kind of moving from the southwest up into California (then) Nevada as we head into the summer,' Wallmann said.
Davis Fire response 'is the model'
Despite issuing a record number of vetoes, Lombardo signed two bills from this session expected to help the state's firefighting efforts: AB578, appropriating $6 million to the Nevada Division of Forestry for projects through the state's shared stewardship agreement, and SB19, authorizing the state to enter into two interstate wildfire compacts, easing the state's ability to transfer resources during an emergency.
The $6 million allocation is the first time the state has invested in wildfire prevention work in nearly a decade, KC said, and could allow the state to unlock about $150 million in federal funds.
NDF was also recently awarded $45.5 million in federal funds for projects along the Sierra Front and around Elko in areas that experience frequent fires.
Last year, 760 fires in Nevada burned more than 103,000 acres; nearly two-thirds of those were started by people, including the Davis Fire, which destroyed 13 structures in South Reno in September.
Officials at the governor's briefing highlighted the unified response to the Davis Fire as a model for future emergencies. The fire was one of the first to involve the state's Division of Emergency Management and to utilize personnel from Southern Nevada who, while not qualified to fight wildland fire, were able to backfill Truckee Meadows Fire positions while those wildland fire-trained crews battled the Davis blaze.
The Davis Fire response was 'seamless,' said John Stansfield, Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest supervisor. 'That is the model. In order to be successful this year, that's how we have to keep doing things.'
NV Energy wildfire self-insurance policy
As wildfire season ramps up, NV Energy is poised to begin hearings with state energy regulators on its request to create a $500 million self-insurance policy to increase the utility's liability insurance coverage limits in the case of a catastrophic wildfire that is alleged to have been caused by its equipment.
The increase would bring the utility's total coverage to roughly $1 billion.
It would also increase the monthly bill for Northern Nevada customers; according to the utility, the average residential customer would see their bill go up by $2.42 if the utility's request is approved. In Southern Nevada, customer bills would increase by just over 50 cents per month.
If approved, the utility would begin collecting the funds in October, with collection occurring over the next decade.
The utility is also seeking to recover roughly $55 million in expenses it has already spent on wildfire mitigation work, including vegetation management, implementing planned outages and equipment replacement. Northern Nevada customers would pay an additional $1.44 per month.
At a June 11 public comment session before the state energy regulators, Tim Clausen, NV Energy's vice president of regulatory, said a self-funded insurance policy would 'protect customers' by avoiding significant and unexpected rate increases if a wildfire were to occur.
Louis Renner of Sparks, a former California electric utility employee, told energy regulators funding wildfire insurance isn't the responsibility of ratepayers.
'If we're worried about the fires, increase the preventative maintenance … Do something that's proactive rather than just let's just keep throwing money at it,' he said. 'The only person that (the proposal) helps is NV Energy.'
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This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
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