Carson City fire chief: Closing Washoe Valley station not a big impact

Carson Fire Chief Sean Slamon said Washoe County’s decision to consolidate two Washoe Valley fire stations into one location shouldn’t be a major impact to his department.

The Washoe Board of Fire Commissioners approved the move this week to free up resources so they can improve staffing at under-served parts of the valley’s north of Reno.

“We’ve already had a conversation with Chief (Charles) Moore,” he said. “There’s no immediate impact to us.”

Slamon said having just one station at the south end might add a minute to response times in some areas but that, since the plan is to put the new station at the very southern tip of Washoe Lake, “it may actually improve times,” responding to fire reports at the north end of Carson City.

Washoe and Carson have a mutual aid agreement under which, if there is a fire at the north end of Carson, “they automatically send an engine for fires, any wildland or structure fire.”

That agreement works both ways.

At present, Washoe has one fire station on the east side of the lake and a second on the west side.

He said they have the same agreement with Douglas County at the south end of the capital because, when a serious fire erupts, everyone has to work together to protect people and property.

“We recognize we have to work together to provide better service to the community and safety to our firefighters,” he said.

Washoe County made the decision to move some services and personnel to the north valleys, saying they get an average of seven calls a day for Sun Valley compared to just one a day in Washoe Valley.

The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District says the move will allow the district to convert volunteer fire stations at Silver Lake and Lemmon Valley to full-time stations staffed 24/seven.