Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Bill to provide Mount Charleston emergency service funds advances

A congressional bill that would provide $750,000 in emergency alert services in the Mount Charleston area advanced another step on Thursday.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the money as part of the Interior Department's budget bill. If President Bush signs the bill, the funds will be available in October.

There is currently no comprehensive avalanche or fire warning system in place to warn people of threatening conditions, officials said. An emergency warning system would help alert Mount Charleston's 1,000 residents and the 3 million visitors a year if a fire, flood or avalanche occurred.

In February, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., listened to a barrage of problems including heavy traffic and poor communications during a summit on Mount Charleston.

"This funding is critical to ensuring the safety of the Spring Mountains' residents and visitors," Ensign said Thursday after the bill passed.

The funds would go to the U.S. Forest Service. That federal agency is directed to work with local law enforcement and governments in Clark and Nye counties to design and implement the warning system.

"We're thrilled that the funding has become available to assist the communities in the mountains," Forest Service spokeswoman Beth Short said.

However, she credited mountain residents working with a variety of agencies to bring attention to problems in the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area.

The plan for the warning system includes an alert siren, reader boards along roadsides, public education and fuel reduction by removing sick or dead trees near cabins, said Duffy Grismanauskas, a veteran Clark County firefighter who has retired to his mountain home.

Grismanauskas credited the Mount Charleston Visitors Impact Task Force, Nevada Fire Safety Council, Nevada Highway Patrol, Metro Police, Clark County Fire Department, Nevada Department of Transportation, the Forest Service, the Nevada Division of Forestry and volunteers for helping to secure the funds.

"None of this probably would have happened without concerned citizens pitching in," Grismanauskas said.

The Nevada Fire Safety Council also received $1.5 million from the Nevada Legislature to help prevent and fight wildland fires.

"It's another step toward safety for the Southern Nevada community," he said.

Becky Grismanauskas, his wife, who served on the Visitors Impact Task Force, said ordinary citizens as well as emergency service agencies were concerned about a potential disaster in the Kyle Canyon because there is only one road, Kyle Canyon Road.

"If there was a catastrophic fire on the mountain on a weekend there would be thousands of people up here," she said. "Where are they going to go?"

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