In a story you’ll only see on 2 News Nevada, we got an exclusive opportunity to tag along with Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo on his tour of efforts to fight off the Bug and Stallion fires.
Both fires collectively have burned more than 134,000 acres north of Reno. Several thousand people were in evacuation zones.
The tour showed just how many people are needed for a firefighting effort like this, even after the heightened chaos of the fires at their peak, with hundreds of firefighters and police out in the field navigating the dangers.
The Governor is the highest elected state official and helps secure federal funds and assistance, so crews showed him how it all came together.
Lombardo made four stops on his visit.
The Incident Command Post
From local to state to federal agencies, fighting the fires was a team effort.
“There's a lot of moving parts in something of this magnitude,” Lombardo said.
The Incident Command Post was first assigned at the North Valleys Community Center, before being moved to Rancho San Rafael Park due to the bigger space to fit the influx of firefighters.
Lombardo was shown firsthand all the operations at the ICP. From the finance group to the people in charge of the maps.
This portion finished with the governor asking the command staff some questions while also giving his gratitude.
“I have to thank the first responders, man,” he said. “They kick butt out there for a long period of time.”
Learning from past mistakes
The second stop was the Regional Emergency Operations Center. This is where the daily press briefings were given.
"That's where you're receiving all the information,” Lombardo said. “You're bringing it together. You're publicizing it for public awareness and also for your commanders on the ground.”
Washoe County Emergency Management walked the Governor through all the efforts and systems.
One of the conversations was focused on the lessons learned from the Davis Fire, the fire that burned almost 6,000 acres in Washoe Valley and had about 14,000 people in evacuation zones.
“The communication was robust, and we knew exactly what our deployment strategy would be,” the governor said in regard to what improved from the Davis Fire to the Bug and Stallion fires.
Lombardo says whenever a fire of this magnitude occurs, that’s when you realize how limited resources can be.
So, he says his greatest lesson learned is finding better ways to get more helping hands.
“How can I leverage my relationship with the surrounding jurisdictions to draw on their resources?" he said.
One of the ways the governor can do that is by declaring a state of emergency. This helps get those federal dollars and resources, while also getting reimbursement after the fact.
Recognizing the National Guard
The governor then moved from the EOC to the National Guard Aviation Base.
Lombardo talked with members of the Guard about their efforts in the firefight, both on the ground and in the air.
"With the experience that we have here locally and the support of the Nevada National Guard, where we are ready and their air assets and the troops on the ground providing security for our local residents and their residences so they don't incur further crime and harm,” Lombardo said. “That's the awareness that is needed, especially on my level.”
Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam, who joined the tour, also sang praises for the Guard.
"If we didn't have that ability to reach out to the Guard for our security, on the law enforcement side, helping us lock down those neighborhoods, because, again, what we dealt with in the evacuation was people don't want to leave their homes,” Sheriff Balaam said.
Bird’s eye view of the fires
On the Guard’s aviation base, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office RAVEN helicopter arrived and picked up the governor, the sheriff, Brett Compston, who is the Chief of the Nevada Office of Emergency Management, and 2 News Nevada reporter Jaden Urban.
The helicopter provides an aerial view of the burn scar from the Bug and Stallion fires.
The experience was remarkable for a lot of reasons. The scope, the size of the burn scar, and seeing how close the flames got to communities, while seeing the devastation to some of the homes.
"It's the magnitude, right?” Lombardo said in his reaction to the ride. “134,000 acres, approximately (burned between the two fires). You can't see it from the ground."
“It was a way to take in how much devastation truly occurred within our community, which is horrible,” Sheriff Balaam said.
The sheriff says this visit is important to bring the governor along for.
"When the commission signs that declaration, the disaster declaration, and the governor signs off and brings in the federal assets and resources, that's important for our governor to see what that effect is,” Balaam said.
In Washoe County, 10 homes and one accessory dwelling unit were burned down. However, when you’re looking at things from the sky, the damage could’ve been much worse.
“The biggest observation is the proximity to property lines,” Lombardo said.
Several homes are surrounded by burn scars, but the houses are still completely unscathed. Some of that is attributed to the firefighting efforts.
“They were heroes, and they did a fantastic job, and the calming effect is when we took the flight to see how much they have it under control now," the governor said.
Some of the praise also goes to the homeowners.
"The other thing I learned from this that we need to share with our community is defensible space,” Sheriff Balaam said. “We saw houses where the fire went all the way around, but because they heeded those warnings from fire over the years and made that defensible space, it saved their properties."
Balaam says they will continue to work with those people who lost their homes.
