Defensible space and fire mitigation in Mound House, NV

Mound House sits at about 4,920 feet on the Lyon County side of the line, between Carson City and Dayton. Two of the larger fires on the local map are centred within 2 miles of it.

At a glance

• Moundhouse Fire (1983, 2,345 acres) centred about 1 mile away
• Linehan Fire (2006, 5,863 acres) centred about 2 miles away
• 38% of Lyon County buildings are in the direct exposure zone
• About 2 miles from our yard

Why is this a brush job more than a tree job?

Look at the hills on either side of the highway: sagebrush and grass, with few tall trees. Where the fuel is brush, the tool is a mower. Our brush mower cuts sagebrush and weeds down across open ground, and the masticating head grinds heavier stems and small trees into chips where they stand.

Trees still matter where they exist. A row along a fence line or a single shade tree by a house gets its lower limbs lifted and its dead wood removed so a ground fire stays on the ground.

What does the fire record show?

The National Interagency Fire Center maps the Moundhouse Fire of 1983 at 2,345 acres, with its centre about 1.1 miles from the middle of the community. The Linehan Fire of 2006 is mapped at 5,863 acres and centred about 1.9 miles away. In all, 22 perimeter records of 300 acres or more fall within about 10 miles.

Mound House is not a Census place and has no Forest Service record of its own. For Lyon County as a whole, the Forest Service ranks risk to homes higher than 93% of US counties and puts 38.4% of buildings in the direct exposure zone, the type where flames can reach a structure from the vegetation next to it.

What about shops, yards and stored equipment?

The idea of a 5-foot ember-resistant zone applies to any building. If your property is a shop or a storage yard, the same questions apply: what is growing against the wall, what dead weeds have blown up along the fence, and what would carry fire from the hillside to the building.

We clear vegetation. Moving stored materials, pallets or vehicles is up to the owner, and it helps to have the fence line reachable before the machine arrives. Our page for commercial properties explains how we work around an operating business.

How is the work planned?

An arborist walks the property with you, you get a free estimate, the crew does machine work first and hand work near buildings, and the cut material is chipped or hauled.

1. A certified arborist walks the property with you and notes slopes, fences, wells, tanks and anything else the machine must avoid.
2. You get a free estimate that says what will be mowed, masticated, pruned or removed.
3. The crew does the machine work first, then the hand work near buildings.
4. Cut material is chipped or hauled, and the estimate says which.

Why does being 2 miles away matter?

It keeps the job simple. The Bobcat, the chipper and the dump trucks do not need a long haul to reach Mound House, so a small clearing job here is practical in a way it might not be an hour out. That is a statement about distance, and no promise of a date. For bigger ground, see lot clearing and brush mowing in Mound House.