wildfire

Heading into Thursday, sunshine and a gradual warming continues. Happenings around the capital city include a meeting of the Carson City Board of Supervisors, a cardio and strength connection class offered through Carson Tahoe Health and Wellness, a Muscle Powered hike along the V&T trail, library activities, Pilates at the Brewery Arts Center and for your music pleasure, roots raconteur Ray Bonneville will perform at the Silver City Schoolhouse with Richie Lawrence.

The first Board of Supervisors meeting of February will take place on Feb. 6 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Sierra Room of the Community Center located at 851 E. William Street.

On the docket for discussion is board appointments for wildlife management, a grant application for wildfire fuel reduction, vehicle donations, and more.

The Nevada Division of Forestry is currently seeking pre-proposals for two competitive grant programs: Landscape Scale Restoration and State Fire Assistance.

On Friday, Gov. Sisolak signed an Executive Order directing state agencies to develop and implement a robust climate strategy in Nevada. The Nature Conservancy applauds Governor Sisolak and his effort to advance comprehensive climate action in Nevada.

An agreement that aims for state and federal agencies to increase their collaborative efforts to reduce the risks and impacts of catastrophic wildfire was finalized Friday by the Office of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 2003, I wrote an article on making a home firesafe. I started with this “The raging fires in California are a terrible reminder of the wildfire risk of living in the urban-wildland interface.” Now, 16 years later, that initial sentence bears repeating. With climate change, global warming we are seeing hotter, more intense, faster spreading wildfires than ever before. Fuels such as brush, grasses and trees are tinder dry everywhere, including Northern Nevada.

Thanks to a partnership between the Nevada Department of Corrections, Bureau of Land Management, and Institute for Applied Ecology, more than 200,000 sagebrush will be planted in Nevada wilderness scarred by wildfire.

PLACERVILLE, Calif. - Incident Commander Kevin Breitwieser has declared that the Caples Fire is now 100% contained and in patrol status at 3,435 acres. There has been almost no change in fire size since October 18. The extreme wind event on October 26 that prompted a public safety power shutoff was a good test of the containment lines and resulted in three small spots which were extinguished. Traces of smoke from interior burning will continue to be visible, but no additional fire growth is expected.

The Carson City area as well as Dayton in Lyon County received a heavy waft of smoke late Wednesday due to wind carrying smoke from the Caples Fire burning on the California side of the Sierra.

The smoke and haze building around the Carson City region is due to the Caples Fire burning in the Eldorado National Forest. As of Sunday the fire had burned more than 2800 acres and was 35 percent contained.

An approaching low pressure system will bring strong, gusty winds Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Red Flag warning for Carson City and much of the Western Nevada Sierra Front.

As part of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s hazardous fuels reduction efforts, both Carson and Bridgeport Ranger Districts’ fire crews will conduct pile burning beginning in October 2019 through May 2020, weather and fuel conditions permitting.

The Lake Tahoe Basin Fall Prescribed Fire Program may begin as early as Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019, under the management of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, which includes local, state and federal fire and land management agencies.

UPDATE: The National Weather Service has cancelled the Dense Smoke Advisory for the Greater Reno, Carson City and Carson Valley areas as visibility and air quality have improved across much of the area. Haze will likely remain in the valleys around the Reno metro area through the rest of the day.
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The Walker Fire burning in northern California's Plumas County has prompted the National Weather Service in Reno to issue a dense smoke advisory for portions of northern and western Nevada, through 11 p.m. Sunday.

The advisory is for Lassen and Eastern Plumas counties, Eastern Sierra County, northern Washoe County, the Greater Reno area as well as Carson City and Carson Valley in Douglas County.

UPDATE 5:52PM: According to Douglas County's Facebook page: "Things appear to be settling down out on Jacks Valley due to a little help from the rain. Residents are still being asked to remain aware!" Also noteworthy is the brush unit that Carson City sent to fight the fire, has since returned to Carson City.

According to CCFD Chief Sean Slamon, there were no fires burning in Kings Canyon. The Fire Department received calls, checked it out, and the smoke was drift smoke from the Jacks Valley Fire. CCFD did knock down a fire at residence on Muldoon Street in town. The small fire was caused by a lightning strike on the roof of the residence.

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UPDATE 5:39PM: According to Douglas County Dispatch Jack’s Valley road has been reopened, and the Record Courier in Douglas County reported via twitter that forward progress has stopped with an assist from the rain.

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UPDATE: 5:26PM: Per Douglas County Facebook page: Parents CAN pick up their children at Jacks Valley School at this time should they be in the after school program or after school sporting activities. #JacksValleyFire

RENO — As fire hazard has built through the summer, ALERTWildfire, a network of mountaintop cameras that helps fire managers spot and monitor fires over large swaths of land, has been on a frenzied pace to reach its goal of adding 300 cameras to the network in the western U.S. by the end of the year. In the past three years the network has been involved with nearly 1,000 fires.

Heading to Lake Tahoe for Labor Day weekend to celebrate the unofficial end of summer? Please keep the following in mind for a safe and fun-filled holiday weekend.

UPDATE: Fire officials said Thursday the Canyon Fire is 40 percent contained and burned around 440-acres. Full containment is expected by Saturday.
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UPDATE 10:33PM: Evacuations have been lifted for residents east of Canyon Drive but the evacuation center remains open. Firefighters will continue to fight the Canyon Fire through the evening, according to the Douglas County government Twitter feed. The fire is estimated at 1,500 acres.
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UPDATE: 5:21PM: The Canyon Fire burning in south Douglas County near Topaz Ranch Estates is estimated at 800 acres, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center.
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UPDATE 4:26PM: The Bureau of Land Management reports via Twitter that the Canyon Fire near Topaz Ranch Estates in south Douglas County is estimated at around 300 acres. Voluntary evacuations are underway. Multiple resources are responding.
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UPDATE: 3:59PM from Douglas County via Twitter: Voluntary evacuations have been put into place for East of Canyon Drive due to the Canyon Fire. An evacuation center has been set up for Topaz Community Center 3911 Carter Dr, Wellington. An evacuation center has been set up.
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UPDATE: 3:50PM: Voluntary evacuations being conducted in Topaz Ranch Estates east of Canyon Drive near Sandstone, the Record-Courier reports via Twitter.
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UPDATE 3:13PM: Douglas County reports via Twitter the Canyon Fire near Topaz Ranch Estates has grown to 100 acres as of 2:51 p.m.
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UPDATE 3:07PM: Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center reports the fire near Topaz Ranch Estate is 60 acres. More resources have been called, including Lyon County.
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A brush fire that erupted Wednesday afternoon in south Douglas County near Topaz Ranch Estate in the Minnehaha Canyon area has firefighters from surrounding agencies, including Carson City, responding.

UPDATE SUNDAY 5 p.m. The Clifton Fire has been contained as of 4 p.m., according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch.
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UPDATE Sunday: The Clifton Fire was approximately 66 acres as of early Sunday morning. Air and ground resources were to continue suppression efforts through the night, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center via Twitter.

Target shooting has become a fairly common cause of wildfires. They've even happened at recommended public shooting ranges. Last year, shooters at the Carson City Rifle and Pistol Range touched off a 200 acre fire and already this year there have been two small fires there.

With a daytime high around 92 and plenty of sunshine, activities lined up around Carson City for Tuesday, July 30, feature a midnight meteor shower gathering at the Jack C. Davis Observatory, morning and evening hikes, a Capital City youth fall baseball meeting, a ladies bike ride, a Relay for Life fundraiser at Firehouse Subs, archery at Centennial Park, art showings and more. Enjoy.

NV Energy customers are invited to an open-house event Tuesday, July 30 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Genoa Town Hall in Genoa to learn more about NV Energy’s Public Safety Outage Management plans.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. Mark Twain was born in Carson City, Nevada on February 3, 1863.

Though most know this is one and the same person, the name Mark Twain and his writings, tall tales and witticisms are known throughout the world while Samuel Clemens has been reduced to a trivia question.

UPDATE 4:17PM: Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center has revised the number of acres at the fire to 21.
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UPDATE 2:35PM: The wildfire burning at the Alpine County Airport near Markleeville has burned 65 acres, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center. Containment is unknown at this time. There are reports that Indian Creek Campground has been evacuated.
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Firefighters responded Monday afternoon to a wildfire in the area of the Alpine County Airport near Indian Creek Campground in the Markleeville area south of Lake Tahoe.

UPDATE 8:51PM: I-580 has been cleared for traffic in both directions at Bowers Mansion, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District has revised the size of the fire to 12.5 acres.
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UPDATE 8PM: Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District says the Temelec Fire, now contained, was likely caused by a car fire. Multiple agencies responded including Carson City Fire Department, BLM, Reno Fire Department, Sparks Fire Department, and the U.S. Forest Service. Four aircraft supported fire suppression. Officials say the aim is to have northbound I-580 at Bowers Mansion opened by 8:30 p.m.

Holidays are often as fleeting as any other day, ending about as indeterminately as they had begun. On occasion, though, there is always that one day...

When I was about 10 years old, I spent the Fourth of July holiday at the beach with family.

As usual, Mom and Dad piled their four children into the cab-over camper and drove south — all night — to Morro Bay, Calif., where my grandparents lived.

With fire danger a threat throughout Nevada, local, state and federal agencies are reminding citizens that igniting, discharging or using fireworks is prohibited on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands and within the city limits.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Waters Supplies Association (TWSA) are in the process of distributing an initial run of 250 cigarette butt collection canisters at key locations around Lake Tahoe. The aim of the Tahoe Cigarette Disposal Program is to reduce toxic chemicals from littered cigarette butts from leaching into the environment, to protect wildlife, and to reduce litter on Lake Tahoe’s shoreline and vicinity.

The Fourth of July holiday period is upon us and signifies the busiest time of year in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit asks residents and visitors to share in the stewardship of their public lands, and to keep the following tips in mind to help everyone enjoy a safe and fun holiday.

SPARKS, Nev. — With summer arriving and more people heading outdoors to enjoy the season, the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest would like to remind visitors and residents in communities adjacent to the Forest to be extra cautious while engaging in activities that could start a wildfire.