Defensible space in the North Valleys and Stead (89506)

ZIP 89506 mixes two kinds of neighborhood. About 30% of its homes were built before 1980 and about 49% in 2000 or later, and about 9% are manufactured homes. Each kind has its own fire work.

At a glance

• Reservoir Fire (1999, 6,163 acres) centred about 5.8 miles away
• About 30% of homes built before 1980, about 49% since 2000
• Stead station: about 11 inches of precipitation a year
• Brush mower and masticating head on our own Bobcat

Older lots and newer tracts: what differs?

Older lots mostly need dead wooding, limbing up and brush mowing, while newer tracts need shrub removal near the house and fence-line clearing. The arborist looks at what is actually on your lot.

The table is a general guide drawn from the housing ages in the Census data. Your lot may be either, or some of both. The arborist looks at what is there.

Why is grass a serious fuel?

Dry grass lights easily and fire moves through it quickly, so it carries flame to heavier fuel such as sagebrush, fences and shrubs against a house. Keeping grass and weeds cut near buildings, and breaking brush into separated clumps farther out, slows that down.

The Living With Fire guide asks that the zone from 30 to 100 feet hold no dead or dried vegetation. On open ground that means mowing. See lot clearing and brush mowing in the North Valleys.

What do the weather numbers say?

The Stead station is almost at the centre of the ZIP. It averages 10.97 inches of precipitation and 16.7 inches of snowfall a year, with an 85-degree average summer high (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). That is enough winter moisture to grow a grass crop each spring and enough summer heat to cure it.

Which fires are mapped nearby?

The National Interagency Fire Center maps the Reservoir Fire of 1999 at 6,163 acres, centred about 5.8 miles from the middle of the ZIP, the Verdi Fire of 2006 (5,662 acres) about 6 miles and the Mitchell Canyon Fire of 1984 (9,469 acres) about 6.1 miles. The Balls Canyon Fire of 2007 (4,555 acres) is centred about 10 miles out.

The Forest Service has no record for a ZIP code. Washoe County's risk to homes ranks higher than 97.2% of US counties, and the nearby community of Lemmon Valley ranks higher than 99.2% of US communities.

What about manufactured homes?

The zones are measured the same way whatever the house is built of. Around any home, the first 5 feet should be clear of weeds, dead leaves and flammable shrubs, and that includes the ground along skirting and under steps and decks. We remove the vegetation and debris. Changes to the structure itself are outside what we do.