John Potter
Channel 2 News
After Reno's biggest fire, recovery and restoration is going to be tough. The long road back started in the morning cold, as the first steps were taken to restore the land burned in this month's devastating Caughlin Fire. We watched as crews at Bartley Ranch studied the scorched land inch by inch.
Down by the grandstand, Lynda Nelson, the Washoe County Planning Manager for Parks and Open Space told us, "We'll be working the Windy Hill area, we'll be going up Ridgeview, and surveying Evans Creek..." Hundreds of yards away, John Copeland of the Nevada Division of Forestry walked the burnt ground with a multi-agency crew of 6, telling them at one point, "There isn't any of that juniper that'll come back..."
If there's anyone who can bring any area back, it's John Copeland. After over 20 years, he still says no fire is the same. This one had the biggest embers. As he told us, "I noticed some the other day, 2 days ago, that were charcoal briquette-sized! And they were 500, 600 yards away from any point of ignition."
We found several of those big embers John was talking about, one over 100 feet away from a burned structure at Bartley. It's a telltale sign of why most of the burned homes in Reno were not directly in the path of the fire. High winds took these burning pieces, and the fire, to other places.
The pattern, as seen nearby on Pioneer Drive, was scattershot. One house burned to the ground, between 2 left untouched and still standing. Homeowners there have begun their repair work, and it's about to begin back at Bartley Ranch, where the next step after taking inventory will be reseeding, replanting and weed control. The first step is a small one…John's crew is still working to bring back land where Carson City's Waterfall Fire burned 7 years ago. "We're still in some areas going back and looking at what we can do for long-term erosion."
And with the budget, there are worries about funding Caughlin Fire restoration. They're applying for grants everywhere. But they did find a good sign. John says the vegetation could grow back on its own. He thinks most of the seeds here survived, because he found stubble. "And that stubble being left here indicates that it burned hot, quick, and just kept going. There wasn't a lot of heat on the ground at any one location. And that's great."
Otherwise there would be cheat grass, a primary carrier…of fire.
