Concerns raised over county takeover of Mount Charleston fire station

CARSON CITY — A transfer of the Nevada Division of Forestry fire station on Mount Charleston to the control of Clark County is on track to be completed by June 30, lawmakers were told at a budget hearing this week.

However, the two lawmakers who represent the area questioned whether the county will be ready to take over the station by June, with the wildland fire responsibilities that will go along with the transition.

The transfer is the final step in the agency’s plan to get away from “all risk” fire response, including structure fires, to a purely wildland fire response for the agency, said Kay Scherer, deputy director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The County Commission is expected to talk about the details of the transition on Feb. 17.

Nearly 30,000 acres of the Mount Charleston burned in the Carpenter 1 fire in July 2013. The fire danger remains high in the region.

Assemblyman James Oscarson, R-Pahrump, said he is not certain the county is ready for the responsibility at Mount Charleston.

“I am not convinced they are prepared to accept that and understand what the wildfire ramification is. They are structure fighters,” he said about county firefighters. “They are not in the game of wildfire. The facility is in complete disarray.”

Oscarson said Mount Charleston residents are not in favor of the county taking over the facility. Mount Charleston is a different area than where the other transfers to local control have occurred, he said.

Sen. Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, who also represents the community, said he does not know if the county is ready either. The community needs a new fire station, he said.

“The ball is in Clark County’s court,” Goicoechea said.

Both lawmakers said they will watch the process as the legislative session goes forward.

Scherer said the agency plans to work with Clark County to leave behind equipment to help with the transition, just as it did with recent transitions that have been completed in Eureka and Elko counties.

“I think we’ll know better when we see them unveil what their plans are,” she said.

In many cases the transitions take place with the state NDF employees becoming local employees, Scherer said.

County Commissioner Larry Brown, whose district encompasses Mount Charleston, said transitioning the employees over to the county would be beneficial.

“There’s certainly a priority on the county’s part to do everything we can to keep the existing, experienced firefighters on the mountain,” Brown said in an interview in Las Vegas. “The county would like that, I think the firefighters would like it and I think the community would like it.”

Brown said he’s confident the county will be prepared by the June 30 deadline, noting that planning has been in the works for more than a year.

“There’s still a very good comfort level that we are on track,” Brown said, adding that the county had a community meeting several weeks ago to keep residents informed.

Brown and county management, when in Carson City on Feb. 10 for the county’s legislative presentation, plan to meet with Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office for a status report on the matter.

The transition was discussed Wednesday by the Legislative Commission’s Budget Subcommittee as part of a review of the forestry agency budget. There will be further reviews by the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees when the legislative session begins on Monday.

The Nevada Division of Forestry staffs one full-time and one seasonal station on Mount Charleston. It is the only agency to provide round-the-clock emergency services to the mountain’s nearly 400 year-round residents and more than 2 million annual visitors

Review-Journal writer Ben Botkin contributed to this report. Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.