Cold Springs tree and wildfire data sheet

Cold Springs sits at 5,057 feet, about 550 feet above the Reno town point. This sheet compares its Census figures with Washoe County, Nevada and the United States and shows the Forest Service wildfire ranking, the three nearest NOAA stations and the large fires mapped within about 10 miles. The households figure, 3,618, is large enough to publish but small enough to carry real error bars.

A new community with an unusual heating mix

The median home was built in 2004. Just 7.4% of homes predate 1980 and 0.2% predate 1960. Owner-occupancy is 91.8%, and 90.0% of homes are single-family detached. Mobile homes are 10.0%, twice the county's 5.1%.

Heating is where Cold Springs stands apart. Bottled gas is the main fuel for 20.3% of households, against 3.6% for Washoe County and 4.9% for the nation, and wood is the main fuel for 5.6%, five times the county's 1.1%. Together, wood and bottled gas are the main fuel for 25.9% of households.

Rank, exposure and a very full fire list

The Forest Service ranks risk to homes above 98.4% of US communities and above 85.2% of Nevada communities. Of 4,043 buildings counted, 12.3% are in the direct zone and 87.7% in the indirect zone, with none in the minimal zone.

Thirty-six records lie within about 10 miles, more than any other town on our sheets. Several are huge: the Bug fire of 2026 (93,733 mapped acres, 9.9 miles), Loyalton in 2020 (47,029 acres, 7.3 miles), Bedell in 1984 (22,922 acres) and Hawk in 2026 (15,083 acres, 6.9 miles). The nearest centers are small and recent: a 2004 record of 351 acres 2.1 miles out, and the Cold Springs fire of 2017 (1,525 acres) 2.9 miles out.

What it means for trees at this elevation

At 5,057 feet and in hardiness zone 7a, Cold Springs sits in higher, cooler ground than the valley floor. The Stead station, 6.2 miles away at 5,101 feet, is the one to use: 10.97 inches of precipitation, 16.7 inches of snow and a mean temperature of 51.0 F.

A community built since 2000 has young trees. The jobs the numbers suggest are structural pruning, defensible space, lot clearing and, for the homes that burn wood, firewood; call the office for availability and pricing. Cold Springs is 49.6 miles from our yard, about 59 minutes without traffic.

Cautions

Many of the largest fires on this list are centered 7 to 10 miles away. A center point 9.9 miles out does not mean the fire reached Cold Springs. The Census figures here are survey estimates, and the file does not say which household uses bottled gas for what.

Verdi 2W, the second station, is in California, 11.3 miles away and 370 feet higher than the town; its 25.71 inches of precipitation is not a Cold Springs number.