wildland fire

California State Parks will kick off the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team fall prescribed fire program beginning Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. If conditions are favorable, prescribed fire operations will take place in D.L. Bliss State Park on the southwest end of Lake Tahoe.

UPDATE 8:34PM: Six Mile Fire is roughly 250 acres and 40 percent contained, Storey County officials announced Friday night via social media. The fire will be staffed throughout the night. Weather conditions are favorable and no structures or communities are threatened at this time. Six Mile Canyon Road remains closed and is patrolled by the Sheriff's Office to maintain safety.
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UPDATE 2:47PM: A Carson City Fire Department brush unit was called up Friday afternoon to help fight the Six Mile Fire located in Storey County near Six Mile Canyon Road.
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UPDATE 2:20PM: The Six Mile Fire has grown to 150 acres, burning in grass and brush, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center. Multiple fire units are on the scene with air and ground support. According to Storey County's Facebook page, there are no evacuations in place and no structures threatened at this time.

With fire danger worsening around Western Nevada and the upcoming July 4 holiday period, law enforcement and fire agencies are warning people not to ignite fireworks. Not only are they potentially dangerous and could touch off wildfires, but they’re also illegal.

Ray Johnson, Fire Prevention Technician on Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, was recently awarded the 2017 Bronze Smokey Bear Award. Johnson received this award for the work accomplished during his 24-year career educating the public about the dangers, causes, and prevention measures associated with wildland fire.

With a record mountain snowpack changing to a robust, above normal, significant fire potential, wildland firefighting agencies are gearing up for another fire season and the University of Nevada, Reno is ramping up its AlertTahoe HD/4K fire camera system, which overlooks and helps protect dozens of western mountain ranges and hundreds of square miles of Nevada’s Great Basin.

With one of the biggest winters we have experienced in years and the snowpack level at 200-300 percent of normal, it is expected that the excessive precipitation will likely push the start of the 2017 fire season back a couple months.

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension is once again coordinating the collaborative efforts of federal, state and local fire services, public safety agencies, community organizations and others to participate in Nevada Wildfire Awareness Month throughout May.

A controlled burn operation northwest of Carson City that began earlier this week and brought dense smoke into Carson City overnight will continue through Saturday with less smoke expected Thursday night, according to the Nevada Division of Forestry.

With calm winds and the threat of rain now passed, the Nevada Division of Forestry is conducting a prescribed burn in the Little Valley area north of Carson City, about three miles west of Washoe Lake and 2.5 miles east of Lake Tahoe.
The burn operation began Tuesday and is expected to continue for three to four days.

Fire restrictions on public land in Western Nevada, in place since June 30, will be lifted this Friday, Sept. 30, agency managers announced Wednesday. The Carson City Fire Department, however, has no intention at this time of lifting fire restrictions within the city limits.

Fire season is still in full swing, regardless of clouds in the sky and a few rain drops; Carson City is at risk, just one spark away from a major fire. Weather conditions play a very integral part in the daily planning and readiness level for fire agencies.

UPDATE SUNDAY: The Carson Fire remained at 50 acres Sunday morning, was 40 percent contained with full containment expected by 4 p.m. Sunday, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch.
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UPDATE 8PM: The Carson Fire burning southeast of Markleeville remains at 50 acres as of 8 p.m. Saturday and is burning uphill away from structures, according to the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center. There are 160 firefighting personnel on this fire.

Joe Freeland, a fire and aviation advisor for the Bureau of Land Management, has been named State Forester Fire Warden, the director of Nevada's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced Friday.

The latest round of funding through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act includes more than $3 million for projects to help reduce wildfire risk in Lake Tahoe communities.

The U.S. Forest Service and cooperating fire agencies will escort fallen U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighter Michael “Mikey” Hallenbeck from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., to his final resting place on Thursday, August 13, 2015.
Hallenbeck died of injuries sustained when a tree fell on him during efforts to suppress the Sierra Fire on Saturday, Aug. 8.

An updated Lake Tahoe Basin Community Wildfire Protection Plan will be presented to the public during the Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit on Monday, August 24.

This new Community Wildfire Protection Plan was collaboratively developed by the 18 member organizations of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team and is the culmination of a three-year planning effort.

UPDATE 9AM:: The Kyburz Fire has burned 200 acres as of this morning, but is now 30 percent contained. Highway 50 remains closed in both directions. Caltrans will reevaluate the closure at 10 a.m. this morning.
The fire is burning on both sides of the highway and has jumped across the American river heading east.
There are 350 personnel working this fire.
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There is a wildland fire burning this afternoon near Kyburz on the West Slope of El Dorado County and 22 miles west of South Lake Tahoe. Highway 50 is closed in both directions.
Voluntary evacuations are being done between Kyburz and Strawberry.

Crews continue to make significant progress on the Washington Fire that began June 19 south of Markleeville. By Wednesday morning, the lightning-caused fire was 66 percent contained and had burned 17,790 acres, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center.

Two instances in the past week where people flew drones that disrupted firefighting operations in Southern California has prompted federal, state and local wildfire managers to again urge the public not to fly the unmanned aircraft systems within or near wildfires.

Douglas County firefighters are responding to wildland fire reports in the Clear Creek and Jacks Valley areas, according to Carson City dispatch. A plume of smoking is seen in this photo rising off of the mountainside. Multiple lightning strikes have been reported in the Carson City, Carson Valley areas tonight.

Update 7:40 p.m.: Sheriff Kenny Furlong reports that the fire has been extinguished, and was contained to the vehicle. About 20 gallons of fuel was spilled on the ground as a result, and that environmental officials have been contacted. No one was injured.

UPDATE 7:53PM: Douglas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Pat Brooks said a member of Douglas County Search and Rescue who was working traffic control at the time of the fire at Highway 395 and Stephanie Way had a medical issue and was rushed to the hospital. The person's condition is unknown at this time.
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Firefighter turned administrator Bob Roper has been named Nevada's new Division of Forestry leader, the director of the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced Tuesday. He starts the job Feb. 2, 2015.

Roper, now the chairman of the International Association of Fire Chief’s Wildland Fire Policy Committee, was Fire Chief for Ventura County, Calif., for 15 years prior to his retirement in 2012. He worked his way up through the county organization beginning in 1980 as a firefighter.

September brought the reality of wildfires to the forefront in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The King Fire came within 8 air miles of the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit boundary, and as we all anxiously awaited its containment, the Cascade Fire broke out in the Desolation Wilderness.

Plaques bearing the names of Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Engineer John T. Delucchi and Hungry Valley VFD Assistant Chief Donovan Garcia, Jr., were added to those of other Nevada firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty at a Nevada Firefighters Memorial ceremony Saturday at Mills Park in Carson City.

Assistant Fire Chief Garcia, 52, was participating in wildland fire training when he collapsed and died from a heart attack.

UPDATE 10PM: Kingsbury Grade has re-opened. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office says the wildfire is around around 4.5 acres.

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UPDATE: 6:40: Fire crews and aircraft have halted the forward advancement of a wildland fire Wednesday night off Kingsbury Grade in Douglas County. Firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, the Nevada Division of Forestry, and local fire districts, including East Fork, Tahoe Douglas, Lake Valley, and South Lake Tahoe responded to the Kingsbury Fire.

Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei of Carson City introduced legislation Tuesday in response to the possibility of the sage grouse being listed to the Endangered Species Act.

The bird is found in 11 Western states, including Nevada. Amodei is against the possible listing. The Sage-Grouse and Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Act authored by Amodei pledges to:

One of Lake Tahoe's biggest funding mechanisms for clarity and restoration efforts, as well as millions for parks, trails and firefighting efforts in the state, money drawn from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, is under threat by members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday denounced House efforts to gut the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act as part of the Tule Springs legislation mark-up to take place Thursday morning.

CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) is seeking applications for the Volunteer Fire Assistance grant program. About $500,000 from the US Forest Service State and Private Forestry program will be available for rural (local and volunteer) fire departments statewide. The purpose of this funding is to improve rural fire departments’ readiness for and response to wildfires, especially those in the wildland urban interface.

Nevada Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller and U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-2) met Wednesday with top officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior to discuss actions that can be taken to help prevent the Endangered Species Act listing of the sage grouse, as well as the negative impact such a listing would have on the economic growth and development of the Silver State.