An active wildfire season has sent Carson City Fire Department personnel on more than 20 assignments this year, including the Rim Fire burning near Yosemite National Park.
On Saturday Carson City Fire Department Capt. Matt Donnelly was assigned as a strike team leader with other area engines to the fire, which has chewed nearly 180,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest in Tuolumne County. Thick smoke from the Rim Fire continues to push through Carson City, Carson Valley, Lyon County and much of Northern Nevada.
Five management personnel firefighters and two engines with Carson City Fire Department were also sent to the Spring Peak fire burning 30 miles southwest of Hawthorne near Bodie. The crews have since returned and the fire is 100 percent contained. Other Carson City fire crews have been assigned to fires in Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Idaho.
The mutual aide provided by Carson City's Fire Department team is a built-in philosophy among fire departments throughout the West. When fires ignite and get out of control, firefighters will need all the help they can get.
"No single government agency, whether it is federal, state or local has all the resources necessary to extinguish these fires so we have to cooperate with each other and provide assistance whenever we can in order for us to gain control of these wildland fires," said Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi.
Mutual aide from outside agencies around the region and from other states have responded en mass to Carson City when needed, Giomi said, noting most recently the 200-plus acre fire at the Carson City landfill a couple years ago.