Lot clearing and brush mowing in Topaz Ranch Estates, NV

Topaz Ranch Estates is in the far south of Douglas County, about 43 miles from our yard and about 63 minutes without traffic. With that drive, the work is planned so the mower, the hand crew and any tree work arrive together.

At a glance

• 53.6% of buildings in the direct wildfire exposure zone
• About 60% of homes are manufactured homes
• About one household in four heats mainly with wood
• 5.92 inches of precipitation a year at Topaz Lake

What is different about clearing around a manufactured home?

The ground right beside it counts for more. About 60% of the housing units in Topaz Ranch Estates are manufactured homes (ACS 2020-2024; a small community, so approximate). Dry weeds and tumbleweeds that collect against the base of a home are the first thing to remove.

Our part is the vegetation and debris. We cut and haul the weeds, brush and dead material from the first 5 feet, then thin and mow outward. Skirting, vents, decks and steps are the owner's to look after.

Wood heat means woodpiles

About 26% of households here heat mainly with wood, one of the highest shares in our service area. UNR Extension's Living With Fire guide lists woodpiles among the things to remove from the first 5 feet around a house.

When we mow, we can clear a patch for the stack farther out and cut the brush around it so the pile is not sitting in sage. If you are thinking about fuel for next winter, see firewood and wood chips and call the office for availability.

How much of the lot should be mowed?

Not all of it. The Census Bureau's area for the community is about 14.4 square miles for about 790 housing units, close to 12 acres of land per unit with open desert included. Nobody needs that scraped bare, and the Living With Fire guide warns that removing all vegetation can bring in more weeds and cheatgrass.

A sensible plan is the 100 feet around the home, a band around each outbuilding, the driveway edges and the fence line facing open country.

• 0 to 5 feet: bare of weeds and flammable shrubs
• 5 to 30 feet: plants thinned into separate islands
• 30 to 100 feet: dead brush out, shrubs separated, grass mowed
• Driveway and fence line: a mowed strip on each

A dry place where brush grows back slowly

The Topaz Lake weather station, half a mile from the community's center point, averages 5.92 inches of precipitation a year in NOAA's 1991-2020 normals. Sagebrush that has been mowed stays down for years in a climate like that. Annual weeds still come up after a wet spring, so the area near the home deserves a look every year.

Fires mapped close to home

Eighteen perimeter records of 300 acres or more since 1980 have a mapped center within about 10 miles. Two are centered about 3 miles away: the Holbrook Fire of 1994 (7,444 acres) and the TRE Fire of 2012 (7,073 acres). The Forest Service ranks risk to homes here higher than 98% of US communities.