1.0 Introduction

1.1 Project Background

A key element of the Healthy Forests Initiative announced by the White House in 2002 is the implementation of core components of the National Fire Plan Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment 10-year Comprehensive Strategy. Federal agencies and western state governors adopted the Plan in the spring of 2002, in collaboration with county commissioners, state foresters, and tribal officials. The Plan calls for more active forest and rangeland management to reduce the threat of wildfire in the wildland-urban interface.

The Healthy Forest Restoration Act (H.R. 1904) was signed into law in December of 2003. The Act creates provisions for expanding the activities outlined in the National Fire Plan. In this same year the Nevada Fire Safe Council received National Fire Plan funding through the Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management to conduct a Community Risk/ Hazard Assessment in communities at risk across Nevada. The communities to be assessed are among those named in the 2001 Federal Register list of communities at risk within the vicinity of Federal lands (66 FR 160). The list identifies Nevada communities adjacent to Federal lands that are most vulnerable to wildfire threat in Nevada.

Resource Concepts, Inc. (RCI), a Carson City-based consulting firm, was selected to conduct the Community Risk/Hazard Assessments. During 2004, the RCI Project Team visited over 250 communities in seventeen Nevada counties to assess both the risk of ignition and the potential fire behavior hazard. Procedures accepted by Nevada’s wildland fire agencies were used to reach consistent and objective evaluations of each community.

The specific goals of the Nevada Community Risk/Hazard Assessment Project are listed below:

Assess wildfire hazards present to each community on the Federal Register list of Communities At Risk in Nevada.
Identify firefighting resource needs (equipment and infrastructure).
Conduct fuel hazard mapping for high and extreme fuel hazard communities.
Describe proposed risk and hazard mitigation projects in enough detail to aid communities in applying for future implementation funds.
Distribute assessment results and proposed mitigation project descriptions to each County in an easily updated and useful form for use in public meetings and other public education activities.

The community risk/hazard assessments were conducted systematically for each community. The RCI Project Team observed and recorded the factors that significantly influence the risk of wildfire ignition along the wildland-urban interface and inventoried features that can have an influence on hazardous conditions in the event of a wildfire. Interviews with local fire agency and emergency response personnel were conducted to assess the availability of suppression resources and identify opportunities for increased community preparedness. A description of the existing fuel hazard and fire behavior potential is discussed for each community. Photo points and fuel hazard maps are presented for each community where the community hazard rating is high or extreme.

The results of each community assessment are formatted to facilitate ease of reference and reproduction for individual communities. Each community is mapped and ignitions risks, fire hazards, and recommended mitigation projects are described for each community. The recommendations are summarized in table form and presented on a map, if the proposed mitigation project can be graphically represented. These tools will aid local, state, and federal agencies in strategic planning, raising public awareness, and securing funding to implement risk and hazard reduction projects. Mitigating the risks and hazards identified by these assessments is not only crucial to the long term goals of the National Fire Plan, but also to the short and long-term viability of Nevada’s communities, natural resources, infrastructures, and watersheds.

Numerous agencies and individuals were involved in the planning and implementation of this effort. Special thanks and acknowledgement is given to the following:

Nevada Fire Safe Council (NFSC)
USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
USDA Forest Service (FS)
Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF)
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension
Nevada Association of Counties (NACO)
Nevada’s Counties
Fire Chiefs and firefighters statewide

1.2 Communities Assessed

The Federal Register (66 FR 160) identified eight communities within Lincoln County as potentially at risk of wildfire within the wildland-urban interface. Rachel was not on the Federal Register list but was added to the assessment because it met the criteria for inclusion as a wildland-urban interface community. The results of previous wildfire risk and hazard assessments for Caliente, Panaca, Pioche/Caselton, and Mt. Wilson (RCI 2002) were reviewed, updated, and incorporated into this report. The results of the risk and hazard assessments for the following nine Lincoln County communities are included in this report:

Alamo
Ash Springs
Caliente (RCI 2002)
Eagle Valley/Ursine
Hiko
Mt. Wilson (RCI 2002)
Panaca (RCI 2002)
Pioche (RCI 2002)
Rachel

There may be additional rural areas or small subdivisions in Lincoln County that were not included on the Federal Register list and thus not included in the scope of this project. Conditions in and around some of these communities may warrant future individual hazard/risk assessment. However, many of the recommendations developed for similar communities in this report may apply to these additional areas.