Not Enough Fire Stations!
Fire and emergency medical response is poor in the central part of the Sierra Fire Protection District (SFPD) of Washoe County and in that part of the adjacent Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District west of South Virginia Street. The area served has grown quickly, and there are not enough well-located fire stations. Response time depends on where the fire station is in relation to where your house is. And most of the area is either in REMSA's 20 minute or "best efforts" zones, where the ambulance usually arrives well after the fire engine.
The "central" part of the SFPD runs from Fieldcreek and Arrowcreek on the north, through Saddlehorn, to Montreux, Galena Forest Estates, and St. James's Village on the south.It includes Callahan, Galena Country Estates, The Estates at Mt. Rose, and Rolling Hills. The central-west part of Truckee Meadows FPD runs from the Sierra FPD on the south to Huffaker Lane on the north. You probably live there!
Who We Are
We are a group of citizens dedicated to improving fire and emergency medical response in our community. We are the volunteers behind the yearly evacuation drills. We develop and maintain fire and neighborhood watch phone trees, and work with the SFPD to improve defensible space around our homes. We hope you will join us.
Results from the Board of Adjustment Meeting on July 7th
The Washoe County Board of Adjustment, which must approve all public safety facilities, voted unanimously today to approve the Special Use Permit for the Thomas Creek Fire Station. This means that the Fire District can submit its request for Federal Stimulus Funding and meet the July 10th deadline for the application. If the Government grants the funds, local residents will not have to pay for the fire station.
Upcoming Meetings
On July 14th, the SFPD goes before the Board of County Commissioners, sitting as the Sierra Fire Board, to seek retroactive approval to submit the application for a stimulus grant, and also approval to spend money to adapt the County's standard fire station design to the Thomas Creek Road site. This is part of the regular Commission meeting at the County Complex, beginning at 10 am.
On July 20th, the Joint Fire Advisory Board (JFAB) meets at the South Valleys Library on Wedge Parkway at 3:30pm. Part of the agenda is a joint presentation involving Sierra FPD and Reno Fire, acting as the Truckee Meadows FPD, on the Thomas Creek station and other issues surrounding it.
Help Us Build Another Fire Station
Studies have shown that the SFPD needs an additional fire station serving the Fieldcreek, Saddlehorn, and Arrowcreek neighborhoods. This station would be located on a surplus piece of county property at Thomas Creek Road and Arrowcreek Parkway. Having this station would allow the SFPD to move crews around to substantially reduce response times throughout the core area of the fire district. Adding the station and re-positioning staff and equipment would bring initial emergency response times, now seriously too long, down to within state and national standards in all areas. And it would also serve an adjacent underserved portion of Truckee Meadows FPD, significantly reducing response times there as well.Should stimulus money not be available, there are a number of different options. One is a special improvement district to build the fire station that is needed now. Some funds may be available from a surplus that the adjacent fire district, Truckee Meadows FPD, has accumulated, but more might be needed--thus the district. The special improvement district would collect a property tax only from those properties that would benefit from the station. After the station is built it would dissolve and no further taxes would be collected for this purpose.
When the new fire station is built, the crew that presently staffs the station on Mt. Rose Highway (SFPD 38) would move to it, and crew from other Sierra stations would staff the station on Joy Lake Road (SFPD 39), thus giving two properly positioned staffed stations in the core area. Station 38 would then be staffed by the Galena Volunteer Fire Department (which owns it!), and the Washoe County Sheriff has indicated that he would like to place a substation there as well.
To see where the present stations are and for a short discussion of REMSA, click on Current Resources. To see the area that will be served by this new station, click on Map. To understand the current and improved response times, neighborhood by neighborhood, click on Response Times. To understand exactly what is proposed and what it would cost each of us click on What It Will Cost. For common questions and the answers to them, click on Q&A. To see how you could help us help you, click on How To Help.
NOTICE: This web site is designed and maintained by a group of private citizen volunteers without funding from Washoe County, the Nevada Division of Forestry, Sierra Fire, Truckee Meadows Fire, Reno Fire, or REMSA.
