‘Normal’ number of fires predicted

CARSON CITY -- Nevadans should expect a summer with a "normal" amount of wild land fires, which means there will be considerable damage.

Mike Dondero, Nevada Division of Forestry fire management officer, said Thursday he expects 600,000 to 900,000 acres to burn and the state to have about 1,000 wild land fires.

"It is hard to say if it is caused by global warming, or what, but there are too many fires, too many fuels out there ready to burn," Dondero said during a briefing before Gov. Jim Gibbons.

Five of the last seven years have been among the 10 worst years in term of acres burned for Nevada since record keeping began in 1960.

Last year, 895,000 acres burned, short of the record 1.87 million acres that burned in 1999, but far more than the 17,800 acres in 2004.

Dondero said an "extreme fire hazard" exists around Mount Charleston and in the Spring Mountains in Southern Nevada because of a large amount of underbrush, weeds and other fuels.

Residents of places like Lee and Kyle canyons face extra danger, "because there is only one way in and one way out," he said.

Gibbons said he was pleased by the cooperative agreements and steps taken by firefighters in various state, local and federal agencies to work together on fires.

"The key is to get them (fires) when they are small," Gibbons said.

The governor pleaded with homeowners, particularly those near forests, to create "defensive space" by thinning out trees and vegetation close to their homes.

In most cases, homes in fire areas have not burned when defensive space areas were created, he said.

Dondero said rains that have fallen over Southern Nevada and Northern Nevada in the past week have been a blessing, but all they ultimately will do is postpone the advent of the fire season by two weeks.

He said the rain will lead to more vegetation at lower levels that will present a fire hazard early in the summer. Later in the summer, trees and other vegetation at higher elevations will dry out and then will become a hazard, he added.

The firefighting effort in Northern Nevada this summer will be without the female inmates from the Silver Springs Conservation Camp.

Corrections Director Howard Skolnik announced Thursday that he will close the camp in July to save money. The camp's 75 inmates will be transferred to the Jean Conservation Camp in Southern Nevada.

Corrections spokeswoman Suzanne Pardee said most of the Silver Springs inmates were trained and certified firefighters. She said it is hoped that they now will battle fires in Southern Nevada.

Pardee said corrections officials want to train more male inmates at Stewart Conservation Camp in Carson City to fight fires in Northern Nevada. Only about one-third of them now have been trained for wild land fire work.

The Silver Springs camp is closing because it was operating at only half of capacity. There is plenty of space for the inmates in the Jean camp.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.