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June 15, 2005
BURNING ISSUE State of emergencyNYE COUNTY COMMISSION TO DEDICATE $750,000 FOR ABATEMENT, COMMUNITY OUTREACH
By DOUG McMURDO
The money in part will be used to purchase equipment needed by emergency responders from both the town and county. Nye County Emergency Services Director Brent Jones, who has and will continue to meet with local, state and federal agencies regarding the issue, is compiling a detailed list. Jones should have a plan to present when the commissioners meet Tuesday in Pahrump, but County Manager Michael Maher was granted authority to appropriate specific funds prior to that date once Jones and top managers from other agencies consult and come up with a plan. A portion of the funding will be set aside to launch a mass-media campaign designed to alert tourists and motorists on their way through town of the risk. Local media outlets will participate in the effort and road signs warning of the fire risk could be planted at the entrances to town. Three major brushfires and roughly 100 minor blazes have kept Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue, Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service crews busy for the past month. With the valley poised to experience its first triple-digit temperatures this week, local officials are bracing for the worst - and not just in Pahrump. All areas north of the valley, including Beatty, Tonopah, Ione, Smoky Valley and Gabbs, Sunnyside, Manhattan and Amargosa Valley will also become tinderboxes once the hotter weather reaches the higher elevations. Commissioners discussed the need to declare an emergency since doing so comes with strings attached. When formal declarations of an emergency are made by political subdivisions, a process begins in which applications for aid could be made to state and federal agencies. Chairwoman Candice Trummell and Commissioner Midge Carver were reluctant to make the declaration, but not because they don't believe the fire risk is real. The funds could come from Payments Equal to Taxes the Department of Energy pays Nye County for its use of Yucca Mountain, the nation's proposed storage facility for its high-level radioactive waste. Over the years the Energy Department has paid millions of dollars to Nye County, but there are strict guidelines as to where the money could be spent. According to Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent, PETT funds could be used to mitigate unforeseen disasters. Trummell argued against making the declaration, as did Carver, since this summer's fire risk was, to their minds, foreseeable. Trummell said the county should have put a plan in place earlier this spring, and said she, too, was remiss. Carver was similarly concerned; both she and Trummell worried the declaration would set an unwanted precedent. In the end commissioners voted 4-1 to make the formal declaration with Trummell voting nay. Commissioner Patricia Cox called for Friday's special meeting, saying the county needed to be proactive rather than reactive. "We have a (potential) bonfire on our hands," she said in pushing for the emergency declaration. "I don't want to see lives or property lost." Carver said there was a law on the books that puts the onus on property owners to clear their land of fire and other hazards. She noted the potential for fire hazards is greater in rural Nevada since fewer people landscape, and Carver wanted to know how involved everyday citizens would be in clearing their own land. Carver pointed out that people responsible for starting fires that impact their neighbors' would he held liable for any damages incurred. Carver ultimately made the motion to formally declare Pahrump in a state of emergency. Following Commissioner Joni Eastley's second, Trummell voiced her concerns regarding the need to do so. "We're being reactive," she said, adding, "We've known about this but haven't done anything, the town hasn't done anything and certain property owners haven't done anything ... I know tragedies have occurred, but how does this constitute an emergency?" Cox said the agencies involved in fire suppression and prevention believe the dry, hot conditions combined with thick vegetation pose an extreme fire risk in Pahrump - not to mention the fact fireworks can be heard exploding in all parts of the valley - all of which constitute a crisis. "If we don't take emergency action we'll have more loss of life and property," Cox said. The comment prompted Trummell to question whether PETT funds could be used, saying the evidence of the risk has been plain to see. "This is not unforeseen circumstances; we knew of the potential hazards and we let that get out of control." Emergency Services Director Jones said talk of having to use PETT was premature. Instead, he suggested the county tap into available state resources. Another concern of Jones' involved weed abatement and the difficulty the county would have accessing private property in need of redress. "We can't just go run tractors through their land," he said. "Once the declaration is made it comes to me to approach state emergency management to see what the state could provide. What they don't (give us) then we can come to the county." Trummell wasn't willing to delay action and suggested the county use PETT funds, but Jones mirrored her own concerns when he questioned whether the fire risk constituted a "catastrophic, unforeseen incident." Commissioner Gary Hollis argued the fire risk was unforeseen. "I don't think this board realized we were going to get our annual rainfall in 45 days. We didn't know Mother Nature would do this. We could not foresee that weeds would be three and four times bigger than usual." "I can't say we haven't watched the weeds grow," countered Trummell. "I'm not abdicating responsibility. I should have had this on an agenda a month ago. We could have been doing things (like) contacting absentee landowners." Kent said his reading of the definition of an emergency - as it pertains to PETT funds - met the criteria; and he advised commissioners there was merit to the formal declaration of an emergency. Resident Sally Devlin said the onus was on Nye County to remedy the problem. She said the county should "mow down the weeds and bill the owners." Pahrump Town Board member Paul Willis addressed commissioners just moments after the town declared its own emergency. Speaking as a resident and not necessarily as an official, Willis said the county's failure to act earlier should not be the citizens' burden to bear. "The cows are out of the barn," he said. "Something needs to be done." Town Manager Dave Richards also urged commissioners to make the declaration. Echoing Jones' sentiments, Richards said the emergency would set in motion funding, resources, and manpower from the state. More important, the declaration would pave the way for mitigation of private property and allow the local government to charge the homeowner. Dan Simmons, a member of a regional conservation district said making the declaration would provide statutory authority to perform weed abatement, noting the $30,000 to $40,000 the Southern Nye County Conservation District has already spent on mitigation was "a drop in the bucket" compared to what is required today in Pahrump - and tomorrow in the remainder of the county. |
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