15.0 Conclusions

The RCI Project Team developed the recommendations in this report based on site-specific conditions observed during the wildfire risk and hazard assessments and information provided by local fire departments and agencies. General and specific recommendations provide a starting point for each community to take a proactive approach in implementing projects to reduce the risks of loss of life, property, and natural resources from a wildland fire.

Nye County spans a broad range of elevations from the Mohave Desert areas in the south to the Toquima and Toiyabe mountain ranges in the north. The communities to the south generally have lower ignition risks, lower hazard ratings, and a lower incidence of wildfire. The communities in northern Nye County tend to have more vegetation, higher ignition risk ratings, and high to extreme community hazard ratings.

The communities of Amargosa Valley, Beatty, Belmont, Gabbs, Ione, and Manhattan, need to improve and maintained defensible space around structures according to the defensible space recommendations provided to each community and specified in the guidelines in Appendix E. To be most effective, defensible space treatments need to be implemented on community-wide basis. Community coordination and participation with the Nevada Fire Safe Council, will facilitate homeowners in taking proactive measures to protect their private property.

The communities of Manhattan, Ione, and Belmont have the highest hazard ratings in Nye County and require extensive fuel reduction treatments in addition to defensible space treatments in order to effectively reduce the community hazard. These small communities are surrounded by public land and/or National Forest and are dependent upon the federal land management agencies to address fuel hazards and reduce the risk of a catastrophic wildfire in the wildland-urban interface. The Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service have planned fuel reduction treatments for the communities of Ione and Manhattan and have either already started implementing treatments or plan to during the 2005 fiscal year. Limited fire suppression resources in these communities will be much more effective in protecting lives and property when the fuel reduction recommendations are fully implemented and maintained. Limited suppression resources in these communities also warrants the development and distribution of community evacuation plans.

All of the communities in Nye County, except Pahrump, rely heavily on volunteer firefighters. Volunteer fire departments need to be equipped with wildland personal protective equipment, wildfire suppression equipment, and be properly trained in accordance with National Wildfire Coordinating Group 310-1 requirements, such as the BLM Wildland Firefighter Training. Membership in volunteer fire departments is subject to change and Fire Chiefs need to assure that their members are trained annually.

To be most effective, fire safe practices need to be implemented on a community-wide basis. There is no way to completely eliminate the threat that wildfires present to communities at the wildland interface. However, the recommendations in this report are intended to increase public awareness and encourage concerned community members to make proactive efforts to effectively reduce the risk of wildfire ignitions near their communities. Implementing defensible space treatments, fuel reduction projects, and public education programs will help to mitigate the hazards inherent in wildland interface areas.