Reno fire officials said that with five Reno fire trucks expected to be parked every day, maintaining an aggressive, immediate attack on wildland fires in Washoe County will be a challenge this summer, probably consuming more acreage than last year.
Reduced staff, drought-like conditions and the continuing spread of cheatgrass will make for a long, hot summer, Battalion Chief Tim Alameda told county commissioners Tuesday.<span> </span>
“That initial attack is the thing that’s concerning right now,” said Alameda, who oversees the outlying Truckee Meadows and Sierra Fire districts.
He said firefighters knocked down 129 fires in the county last year and limited burned areas to about 10,000 acres. But he said he expects total burned acreage will increase this summer.
The consensus among Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center officials, he said, is that the year is shaping up to be similar to 1998, when 87,563 acres burned in Nevada, twice as much as the year before.
While the county’s firefighting Raven helicopter will help, Alameda said he expects federal firefighting resources stationed in Nevada to be going to Western states, particularly in the Northwest, that have more severe drought conditions.
While local precipitation was about normal last winter, he said fir and pine trees and shrubs still are recovering from several years of drought. And cheatgrass has blanketed the surrounding hills.
“We’ve already seen cheatgrass that has been green — you’d think you were in Scotland — turn purple,” Alameda said. “In late June and July, you’ll see that grass go brown on us.”
Normally, fuels dry out in August. But combined with down-slope winds and the Great Basin heating up, he said he expects the drying could happen sooner.
see http://www.rgj.com/article/20100526/NEWS/5260427/1321/NEWS