Fire spurs Mount Charleston residents to protect homes

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

Last week's fire on Mount Charleston has made many of the mountain's residents more interested in taking action to protect their homes, retired Clark County firefighter and mountain resident Duffy Grismanauskas said.

He and others are assisting and advising some of the 400 homeowners living in Kyle Canyon on clearing their property of flammable materials.

"It's neighbor helping neighbor," Grismanauskas, a member of the Nevada Fire Safety Council, said Monday night after the local fire safety council met.

"Everybody knows what they have to do," said his wife, Becky, who also serves on the Mount Charleston Town Board. "Each homeowner has a responsibility to clear private property."

Federal and state agencies can go only so far in protection efforts.

"My advice to newcomers is to adopt the western spirit of self-reliance and accept the responsibility for protecting their homes from wildfire," said Ed Smith, state chairman of the Fire Safety Council.

Besides clearing brush, dry grass and dead trees from the property, clearing underneath wooden decks and removing trash from the sides of a home increase the building's likelihood of surviving a fire, Smith said.

"The Mount Charleston area is considered by many fire experts to be the No. 1 fire hazard in the state, because of the one way in and out," Smith said. The canyon has a great potential to trap people during a wildfire, he said.

When the Robber's Fire flared about 12:30 p.m. on July 26 after a truck overturned and exploded in flames, Kyle Canyon residents watched and waited to see if sparks or embers would jump Fletcher's Peak. The fire was named for the Robber's Roost Trail nearby.

Flames from the Robber's Fire came close enough for eight homes in Deer Creek Canyon to be evacuated.

The key to protecting homes nestled in wildlands is "defensible space," U.S. Forest Service Public Information Officer Rob Deyerberg said.

While federal and state agencies such as the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada Division of Forestry have a very good record of keeping the public alive during a wildland fire, Deyerberg said, "We don't swap firefighters for property."

It is crucial that homeowners who choose to live in or near wildlands take the responsibility to clear their property at least once a year, Deyerberg said.

By designing and maintaining a fire-resistant landscape, firefighters have an easier job when flames devour forests, grasslands or wetlands, Deyerberg said.

Since Clark County is the fastest-growing area in the state, a fire-hazard map is in preparation, Smith said.