Silver Springs tree and wildfire data sheet

Silver Springs is a Lyon County community at 4,196 feet, 31.1 miles from our yard. The tables set it beside Lyon County, Nevada and the United States, then show the wildfire ranking, the nearest NOAA stations and the large fires mapped within about 10 miles. It is a very different sheet from Dayton's.

Fuel, housing and value

Mobile homes are 56.4% of housing and single-family detached homes only 40.1%, against 73.3% for the county. Owner-occupancy is 84.8%. The median home value, $244,400, is well below the county's $366,100. The median year built is 1993, 31.7% of homes predate 1980 and 32.9% date from 2000 or later.

Heating sets the place apart. Wood is the main fuel for 14.8% of households, against 4.4% for Lyon County and 1.0% for Nevada. Bottled gas heats 32.3%, against 10.3% for the county. Together, almost half of households, 47.1%, rely on one of the two.

A high exposure share, a mid-level rank

Risk to homes ranks above 87.2% of US communities and above 41.0% of Nevada communities, lower than Lyon County's national rank of 93.0%. The building split is what stands out: 67.3% of the 3,914 counted buildings are directly exposed, 19.2% indirectly and 13.5% minimally. That is the largest direct share of any town on our sheets, on a rank that is merely middling. Rank and exposure are different measures.

The fire list is short: five records, none very close. Piper in 2018 (314 acres) is 3.1 miles away. Virginia in 2006 (4,602 acres, 7.7 miles), Ramsey in 2000 (7,621 acres, 7.8 miles), Micro in 2017 (1,549 acres) and Churchl Bt in 1986 (2,728 acres, 8.2 miles) follow.

What it means for the trees and the work

With this exposure split and heating mix, the jobs the numbers point to are defensible space, lot clearing and brush mowing, and, for the one household in seven that burns wood as its main heat, firewood; call the office for availability and pricing. For larger trees, removal and crane work are on the list.

The yard is 31.1 miles away, about 41 minutes without traffic.

The dry-climate rows

Lahontan Dam, 9.3 miles away at 4,167 feet, reports 4.8 inches of precipitation a year and a mean temperature of 56.5 F, with no snowfall normal. It is just past our 8-mile rule, so treat it as a regional guide, not a Silver Springs figure. The other two stations are 19.4 and 23.7 miles away.

The Census counts 2,300 households here, so its estimates are steadier than for a hamlet, but still carry margins of error.