Defensible space in West Carson City (89703)

ZIP 89703 runs from the older streets west of downtown up into the canyons. Half of its homes were built before 1980, so the trees and hedges around them have had decades to grow together.

At a glance

• Waterfall Fire (2004, 8,765 acres) centred about 1.4 miles away
• About half the homes in ZIP 89703 were built before 1980
• Mature trees over roofs: limbing up, dead wooding and thinning
• About 6 miles from our yard on US Highway 50 East

What is different about fire work on the west side?

Age. The American Community Survey puts the median home in ZIP 89703 at 1980, and about 13% of homes were built before 1960. A yard planted in the 1960s or 1970s now has full-size trees, and the shrubs set against the foundation back then have grown into the eaves.

On lots like that, defensible space is less about mowing brush and more about tree work: lifting the lower limbs, taking out dead wood, pulling branches back from the roof and chimney, and removing the tree that has died in the middle of a row.

How close did the Waterfall Fire come?

The mapped perimeter of the Waterfall Fire covers 8,765 acres, with its centre about 1.4 miles from the middle of the ZIP. The C-Hill and Kings Canyon fires of 1988, each mapped at about 1,800 acres, are centred at the same distance. Our guide to lessons from local wildfires goes through what homeowners can take from them.

The Forest Service does not publish a separate record for a ZIP code. For Carson City as a whole it ranks risk to homes higher than 98.5% of US communities.

Which trees stay and which go?

That is the arborist's call, made with you on site. A healthy tree with its lower limbs lifted and clear ground beneath it can stay inside the 30-foot zone. Dead trees, trees crowded trunk to trunk and anything leaning dead over the house are the usual candidates for removal. Where a large one stands over the roof, the crane may be the cleanest way to take it out, as described on the crane-assisted removal in Carson City page.

• Low limbs that let a ground fire climb into the crown
• Old junipers and other dense evergreen shrubs within 5 feet of the wall
• Needles and leaves piled on the roof, in the gutters and under decks
• Dead or dying trees anywhere within 100 feet

More water, more growth

A precipitation gauge on the northwest side of town (Carson City 2.1 NW, less than a mile from the centre of the ZIP) averages about 14.7 inches a year in NOAA's 1991-2020 normals. Wetter years grow more grass and brush on the slopes above the houses, and it all cures by late summer. Fuel work on the uphill side of a lot does not stay done. It needs a look every year.

How does a job start?

With a free estimate. One of our certified arborists walks the lot, marks what should be pruned, thinned or removed in each zone, and explains why. The west side checklist lists the same items so you can compare notes.