Local tree and fire data
These pages put public government data about our service area into plain tables you can download: wildfire risk to homes by community, large fires since 1980, housing age, climate normals, elevation and hardiness zones, wood heat and tree care wages.
Need a tree looked at? Call 775.232.8243 or get a free estimate. Estimates are free. Nevada Business License # 20131580674.
- 4.8 on Google · 44 reviews
- Best of Carson City 2018-2025
- ISA Certified Arborist WE-11728A
- Fully insured
Every number is from a named federal source with the date we retrieved it. We built these pages because the numbers explain the tree work: old neighborhoods have big trees, dry valleys have irrigated trees, and high-risk communities need defensible space.
Wildfire risk to homes by community in Northern Nevada
Most communities around Carson City, Reno and Lake Tahoe rank in the top 5% of the country for wildfire risk to homes, according to the USDA Forest Service. Virginia City, Lemmon Valley and Dayton ran
See the dataLarge wildfires near Carson City, Reno and Lake Tahoe since 1980
The National Interagency Fire Center maps 299 wildfire perimeters of 300 acres or more since 1980 in the region around Carson City, Reno and Lake Tahoe. The table lists the 40 largest, from the 2021 D
See the dataHow old are the homes, and the trees? Housing age by town
Homes in Hawthorne, Virginia City, Zephyr Cove and Kingsbury are the oldest in our area, with more than two in three built before 1980, while Spanish Springs, Northwest Reno and Cold Springs are the n
See the dataSnow, rain and temperature normals by weather station
Annual precipitation in our area runs from about 4 inches at Hawthorne to 11.7 inches at Virginia City on the valley and foothill side, and 18 to 22 inches at the Nevada Tahoe stations. Snowfall varie
See the dataElevation and plant hardiness zones across the service area
Our service area spans more than 3,000 feet of elevation, from Fallon at 3,965 feet to Kingsbury at 7,126 feet, and USDA hardiness zones from 6b to 7b. Zone 6b places average an extreme winter low of
See the dataWho heats with wood in Northern Nevada
About 27.7% of households in Palomino Valley and 26.5% in Virginia City heat mainly with wood, compared with 1.0% for Nevada and 1.4% for the United States. In the big cities the share is under 3%, bu
See the dataTree care wages and businesses in Nevada
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay of tree trimmers and pruners at $24.62 an hour in Nevada and $30.15 an hour in the Reno area, against $24.50 nationally. The Census Bureau count
See the dataTree rules by jurisdiction: permits, rights-of-way and Lake Tahoe
In Reno you do not need a permit to remove a tree on your own property, but a city right-of-way tree needs a Tree Work Permit and a Certified Arborist. In the Lake Tahoe Basin, TRPA requires a permit
See the dataHigh wind events by county since 1996
The National Weather Service logged about 1,000 high wind events for Washoe and Lyon counties between 1996 and 2025, 898 for Carson City and Douglas County, and just 105 for Churchill County. Those co
See the dataHeavy snow and winter storm events by county since 1996
The Weather Service logged 492 heavy snow events for Washoe County between 1996 and 2025, 462 each for Carson City and Douglas County, 249 for Lyon, 191 for Storey, and only 32 and 26 for Mineral and
See the dataDrought history in Northern Nevada since 2000
Between 2000 and 2025, some part of Washoe County was in drought on 926 of 1,357 weekly maps, or 68% of weeks, and some part of Carson City on 733, or 54%. In extreme drought, Washoe leads with 459 we
See the dataBark beetle and forest insect damage in Nevada by year
In the forests of our seven counties, aerial surveyors have mapped 684,088 acres of pinyon ips damage, 443,025 acres of pinyon needle scale, 105,970 acres from the fir engraver and 71,543 from the mou
See the dataData sheets by town
Carson City tree and wildfire data sheet
Carson City's housing is about as old as the national average, with 48.6% of homes built before 1980 against 22.0% across Nevada, and the USDA Forest Service ranks its wildfire risk to homes higher th
Open the sheetReno tree and wildfire data sheet
Reno is the largest place on any of our sheets, with 114,322 households, and the one where the nearest weather stations disagree most: three stations within 4 miles report between 20.9 and 33.3 inches
Open the sheetSparks tree and wildfire data sheet
Sparks has the lowest wildfire risk ranking of the Washoe County places on our sheets, above 95% of US communities and above 54.1% of Nevada communities, and almost no wood heat, 0.1% of households. I
Open the sheetSpanish Springs tree and wildfire data sheet
Spanish Springs is one of the newest places we serve, with a median build year of 2002, and also one of the most exposed: the Forest Service rates 32.0% of its 8,142 counted buildings as directly expo
Open the sheetSun Valley tree and wildfire data sheet
More than half of Sun Valley's homes, 51.5%, are mobile homes, the highest share of any place on our sheets, and 83.9% of its buildings fall in the indirect wildfire-exposure zone. Lots here are small
Open the sheetCold Springs tree and wildfire data sheet
Two of every three Cold Springs homes, 67.5%, were built in 2000 or later, and one household in five, 20.3%, heats mainly with bottled gas, the highest share on any Washoe County sheet. It also has th
Open the sheetIncline Village tree and wildfire data sheet
Incline Village is the highest place on our Washoe County sheets, at 6,437 feet, and 61.0% of its 4,749 counted buildings are in the Forest Service's direct wildfire-exposure zone, nearly four times t
Open the sheetGardnerville tree and wildfire data sheet
Gardnerville's wildfire numbers sit well below the rest of Douglas County: 91.7% of its buildings fall in the Forest Service's minimal-exposure zone, against 11.5% for the county. About half its homes
Open the sheetGardnerville Ranchos tree and wildfire data sheet
Gardnerville Ranchos is the largest of the Douglas County towns on our sheets by households, 4,837, and four of its fire records within about 10 miles date from 2017 or later, including Numbers in 202
Open the sheetIndian Hills tree and wildfire data sheet
Indian Hills is in Douglas County but its weather comes from Carson City: the Carson City station is 2.8 miles away and 17 feet below it. One in three of its buildings, 33.5%, is in the Forest Service
Open the sheetJohnson Lane tree and wildfire data sheet
Johnson Lane is the most owner-occupied place on our sheets, 94.0%, with no mobile homes at all and a median home value of $764,100, and the Forest Service ranks its wildfire risk to homes above 98.3%
Open the sheetDayton tree and wildfire data sheet
Dayton's housing is among the newest we serve, with a median build year of 2002 and only 10.4% of homes built before 1980, yet the Forest Service ranks its wildfire risk to homes above 98.9% of US com
Open the sheetSilver Springs tree and wildfire data sheet
In Silver Springs, 14.8% of households heat mainly with wood and 32.3% with bottled gas, the highest shares on any of our town sheets, and 67.3% of buildings are in the Forest Service's direct wildfir
Open the sheetFernley tree and wildfire data sheet
Fernley is the largest place in Lyon County, with 8,789 households, and one of the youngest: 55.3% of its homes were built in 2000 or later. Its national wildfire rank, above 89.2% of US communities,
Open the sheetFallon tree and wildfire data sheet
Fallon is the quiet end of our fire data: its wildfire risk to homes ranks above only 30.8% of US communities and 5.7% of Nevada communities, 96.4% of its buildings are in the minimal-exposure zone, a
Open the sheetData sheets by county
Washoe County tree and wildfire data sheet
Washoe County has more places on our sheets than any other county, 25, and the widest spread of housing age among them, from a median build year of 1972 at Crystal Bay to 2007 in South Reno. The count
Open the sheetDouglas County tree and wildfire data sheet
Douglas County has 38.4% of its buildings in the Forest Service's direct wildfire-exposure zone, more than twice Washoe County's 16.3%, and an elevation range of 2,400 feet from the Carson Valley floo
Open the sheetLyon County tree and wildfire data sheet
Lyon County looks ordinary for Nevada on housing age, with 22.2% of homes built before 1980 against 22.0% statewide, but 17.8% of its housing is mobile homes, more than three times the state share, an
Open the sheetStorey County tree and wildfire data sheet
Storey County is small, 1,892 households, and the most owner-occupied county we cover at 96.1%. Bottled gas is the main heating fuel for 43.0% of households, and 56.2% of its buildings fall in the For
Open the sheetChurchill County tree and wildfire data sheet
Churchill County has the lowest wildfire ranking of the counties we cover, above 74.1% of US communities and 12.5% of Nevada communities, and the second-smallest share of new housing, 24.8% built sinc
Open the sheetMineral County tree and wildfire data sheet
Mineral County has the oldest housing of any county we cover, with 68.9% of homes built before 1980 and a median build year of 1971, and the highest bottled-gas share, 48.8% of households. Its median
Open the sheetHow to read these pages
Each page has a chart, the full table and a CSV download. Small towns have small samples, so their Census figures are approximate. Wildfire percentiles compare communities with each other and do not describe any single property.
What does each data page show?
Each data page shows one set of public figures, such as wildfire risk, housing age, climate, elevation, wood heat, tree care wages or tree rules, with its source named. The table below gives the source and one example from each.
| Page | Source | One thing it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire risk to homes by community | USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities, April 2026 data | Carson City's risk to homes is higher than 98.5% of US communities. Fallon sits near the 31st percentile. |
| Large wildfires since 1980 | National Interagency Fire Center perimeters | 299 mapped fires of 300 acres or more in the box around our service area, 1980 to 2026. |
| Housing age by town | Census ACS 2020-2024 | About 83% of Hawthorne homes were built before 1980, against about 4% in Spanish Springs. |
| Climate normals by station | NOAA 1991-2020 normals | 9.34 inches of precipitation a year at the Carson City station, 4.77 at the Fallon Experiment Station, 18.46 at Glenbrook. |
| Elevation and hardiness zones | USGS 3DEP, USDA 2023 map | About 3,965 feet at Fallon to about 7,126 feet at Kingsbury, in zones 6b to 7b. |
| Who heats with wood | Census ACS table B25040 | About 28% of households in ZIP 89510 (Palomino Valley) and about 26% in Virginia City heat mainly with wood. Nevada as a whole is 1.0%. |
| Tree care wages and businesses | BLS occupational wages, Census County Business Patterns 2023 | Nevada has about 190 people employed as tree trimmers and pruners. These are wages, not job prices. |
| Tree rules by jurisdiction | TRPA, City of Reno, Carson City and others | Where a permit applies: the Tahoe Basin's 14-inch rule and Reno's right-of-way permit. |
How does a homeowner use this?
To decide what to do first. If your community ranks high for wildfire risk, defensible space around the house comes before anything cosmetic. If your street was built before 1980, the trees are likely large and mature, and dead wooding, cabling and large removals are the usual conversations. If you live where it rains 5 inches a year, a tree that loses its irrigation is a tree in trouble.
The numbers also help with questions for an insurer, an HOA board or a fire district. Each table carries its source link so you can check the original.
What are the limits of the data?
The figures are estimates and rankings, not statements about one house or one tree. Survey margins, ZIP-wide numbers, station-based climate data, mapped fire perimeters and no-traffic drive times each have limits, listed below.
- Census figures are survey estimates. In places under about 2,000 people the margins are wide, so we round and say about.
- ZIP-based neighborhoods, such as South Reno (89521) or West Carson City (89703), use figures for the whole ZIP code. They have no wildfire record of their own, so the page points to the parent city.
- Climate normals belong to a weather station, not a town. Elevation changes the numbers quickly on the Sierra front.
- Fire acreage is the mapped perimeter. Distances are measured to the center of a perimeter, not its edge. Figures for 2026 may not be final.
- Drive times are estimates without traffic from our yard at 6301 US Highway 50 East. They are not an arrival promise.
- A percentile ranks a community against others. It says nothing about one house, one lot or one tree.
Sources
- USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities (April 2026 data)
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 (retrieved October 1, 2026)
- NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (retrieved October 1, 2026)
- National Interagency Fire Center: fire perimeter history (retrieved October 1, 2026)
- USGS 3DEP elevation point query (retrieved October 1, 2026)
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (retrieved October 1, 2026)
Straight answers
Questions people ask
Still have a question? Call 775.232.8243. Phones are answered seven days a week.
Where do these numbers come from?
Federal sources: the USDA Forest Service, the National Interagency Fire Center, the U.S. Census Bureau, NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each page names its source and links to it.
How current is the data?
Each page shows the date we retrieved the data and the period it covers, such as the 2020-2024 Census estimates, the 1991-2020 climate normals and the April 2026 wildfire risk data.
Can I download or reuse the tables?
Yes. Every data page has a CSV download. The figures are public government data, so please credit the original source named on the page.
Does a high wildfire ranking mean my house is at risk?
Not by itself. The ranking compares whole communities. What matters for one house is the fuel around it, which is what a defensible space assessment looks at.
Why does a tree company publish data?
Because the numbers explain the work. Housing age tells you how big the trees are, precipitation tells you which trees depend on irrigation, and wildfire rankings tell you where defensible space matters most.
Free estimates
Get a free, detailed estimate
A certified arborist looks at the job before any work starts. Tell us what you have and our office will set up a time.
- 4.8 out of 5 on Google from 44 reviews (October 17, 2026)
- Best of Carson City, Best Tree Service, first place 2018 through 2025 (Nevada Appeal readers' poll)
- ISA Certified Arborist WE-11728A on staff
- BBB accredited since 2015, A+ rating
- Carson City based since October 2013
Phones answered seven days a week. 24-hour emergency service.