Spanish Springs tree and wildfire data sheet

Spanish Springs is a valley of subdivisions, mostly single-family homes. This sheet puts it next to Washoe County, Nevada and the United States, then adds the wildfire ranking, the three nearest NOAA stations and the large fires mapped within about 10 miles. The household count is large enough that the Census numbers here are fairly stable.

A very different mix from the rest of Washoe County

Homes built before 1980 are 4.4% of the total, against 35.0% for Washoe County. Homes from 2000 or later are 57.2%. None are old enough to appear in the pre-1960 row (0.0%). Owner-occupancy is 91.9% and single-family detached homes are 94.9%, tied with Johnson Lane for the highest on any sheet. The median home value is $623,900, above the county's $539,900.

Heating is also unusual for Washoe County. Wood is the main fuel for 3.2% of households, nearly three times the county's 1.1%, and bottled gas for 4.6%, against 3.6%.

Exposure measured in buildings, not just in rank

The Forest Service ranks risk to homes above 98.6% of US communities and 87.7% of Nevada communities, with wildfire likelihood at 98.8% nationally. The exposure split is the more revealing row: 32.0% of buildings are in the direct zone, 68.0% in the indirect zone, and none in the minimal zone. Like Sun Valley, Cold Springs and Dayton, it has no pocket of low-exposure housing in the count.

Of 26 fire records within about 10 miles, the nearest centers are Hungry Valley in 2007 (569 acres, 2.6 miles), Jasper in 2019 (1,165 acres, 3.2 miles) and Reservoir in 1999 (6,163 acres, 3.7 miles). The largest are Sparks in 1983 (25,541 acres) and Hungry Valley's 1985 fire (18,159 acres), both about 7 to 8 miles from the center.

What the numbers suggest for the yard

Young subdivisions mean young trees, so pruning for structure and clearance is usually a bigger part of the picture here than big removals. The fire rows point to defensible space and brush mowing on lots that border open ground. Wood heat in 3.2% of households makes the burn code a real question; see the Washoe County burn codes guide.

Spanish Springs is 42.8 miles from our yard, about 53 minutes without traffic.

Using the weather row

The Spanish Springs station is 0.8 miles from the town point at 4,489 feet and reports 9.18 inches of precipitation and a mean temperature of 52.0 F, but no snowfall normal. For snow, the nearest figures are the Sparks station (6.8 inches, 4,357 feet) and the Reno office (29.7 inches, 4,987 feet), and the valley sits between them in elevation. Treat any snow total for Spanish Springs as a range, not a number.

The ACS figures are survey estimates, and the fire list holds perimeters of 300 acres or more only.