Sun Valley tree and wildfire data sheet

Sun Valley is a compact community in the Truckee Meadows, 4,720 feet up. This sheet sets its Census figures beside Washoe County, Nevada and the United States, then adds the Forest Service ranking, the three nearest NOAA stations and the large fires mapped within about 10 miles. Where this sheet differs from its neighbors tells you most about how tree work goes here.

What the housing row tells you

Mobile homes are 51.5% of housing, against 5.1% for Washoe County. Single-family detached homes are 43.5%, well below the county's 58.9%. Owner-occupancy is 75.5%, higher than the county's 59.9%, so most of these homes are lived in by the people who own them. The median home value, $349,100, is the lowest on the Washoe County sheets and below the county's $539,900.

By age the housing is middling: the median year built is 1990, 32.5% of homes predate 1980 and 15.6% date from 2000 or later. Bottled gas heats 5.2% of households, higher than the county's 3.6%, and wood only 0.8%.

Fire exposure, building by building

Risk to homes ranks above 97.7% of US communities and 73.8% of Nevada communities, close to Reno's rank. The exposure rows differ: 16.1% of the 8,450 buildings are in the direct zone, in line with the county's 16.3%, but 83.9% are in the indirect zone and none in the minimal zone. In other words, almost no building falls in the lowest zone.

Of 29 fire records inside the 10-mile radius, the closest center is the Pyramid 2 fire of 2006 (427 acres, 1.4 miles). Jasper in 2019 (1,165 acres) is 3.1 miles away and Reservoir in 1999 (6,163 acres) 3.7 miles. The big ones are Sparks in 1983 (25,541 acres) and the Hawk fire of 2026 (15,083 acres), each roughly 8 to 9 miles out.

What this means for trees and for access

On smaller lots a tree is rarely far from a roof, a fence or a neighbor's property, so the question on a call is often how to take a tree down in pieces, or whether a crane makes the job easier. Where a lot meets open hillside, defensible space comes into it. Our tight backyard guide explains the options.

The yard is 37.2 miles away, about 46 minutes without traffic.

Where the data runs out

The nearest weather station is the Reno National Weather Service office, 2.2 miles away and about 270 feet above the Sun Valley point, with 8.09 inches of precipitation and 29.7 inches of snow. The Sparks station is 3.6 miles away and records far less snow. Choose between them with care.

Mobile-home counts in a five-year Census estimate carry margins of error, and the sheet cannot say which lots have trees, or what kind.