Good morning, everyone.

I will call this board of fire commissioners meeting to order.

It is 10 01.

We'll start with a salute to the flag.

If uh Commissioner Clark can lead us in the pledge.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

Thank you very much.

We'll now move into our roll call.

Madam Clerk.

Chair Alexis Hill.

Here.

Vice Chair Jeannie Herman.

Michael Clark.

President.

Mayor Lee's Garcia is absent today.

Clara Andriola.

Present.

Fire Chief Richard Edwards.

Present.

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gustifson.

Present.

And I'm Kathy Smith, Chief Deputy Clerk, you have a quorum.

Thank you so much.

We'll now move into item three, which is our public comment.

Chief Edwards can help us with that.

Yes.

Public comment.

Comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the Board of Fire Commissioners agenda.

However, action may not be taken on any matter raised during the this public comment period until the matter is specifically listed on an agenda as an action item.

The board will also hear public comment during individual action items with comment limited to three minutes per person.

Comments are to be made to the Board of Fire Commissioners as a whole.

Okay, Madam Clerk, any public comment?

No one is signed in.

Okay, thank you.

We'll now move into item four, Chief Edwards.

Item four, Commissioner or Fire Chief's announcements, request for information and topics for future agendas.

Okay, do you have anything for us, Chief?

I do not.

All right, Vice Chair Herman.

Okay, and Commissioner Andriola.

Uh just a quick reminder that today, November 4th through November 11th, is Operation Greenlight to support and show um appreciation for all veterans.

So if you can help light up our community green, that would be great.

Thank you so great.

Thanks for that reminder.

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh I want to take this opportunity to recognize a uh fire captain uh with Trucking Meadows Fire, uh John Sabin.

Am I pronouncing that correctly?

Seban.

Uh he saved someone's life last uh Thursday night at the Elks.

They had a dinner there on uh uh there at the Elks, and someone was choking on a piece of meat, and uh lady thought she was gonna die for sure, and uh nobody in the audience seemed to know how to um perform the high-like maneuver with and he did.

The it happened just happened, he was there off duty uh as a uh a participant in the dinner and was able to save a lady.

So um that just uh shows that you never know when something like that could happen.

And uh this man uh came came to uh her aid and saved a life.

But uh just you know you never know when it's gonna happen.

You're out of having a dinner and enjoying friends, and uh next thing you know you're uh about ready to die.

And uh she's she was saved by him.

So uh I think we should have a recommendation or something for him in the future if we could do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we'll now move into our consent items.

Do any board members want to pull a consent item?

I'm not seeing that anyone does.

Madam Clerk, is there any public comment on consent?

No one is sending in.

Okay, I'm looking for a motion on the consent.

Move to approve.

Thank you, Commissioner Andriola.

Thank you, Vice Chair Herman.

We have a motion and a second, and we to we have no public comment.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much.

And now we'll move into our presentations.

Item six, uh, Chief Edwards.

Yes, so item six, is the presenter here from the National Weather Service.

I'm not seeing him.

Madam Chair, if we could maybe push that down the agenda.

Yes, of course.

Absolutely.

We'll move into item seven, Chief Edwards.

And Madam Chair, if I may uh join the rest of the team down at the podium for these awards, it's very exciting.

And then maybe afterwards we can get all the commissioners together for a picture.

We love it.

Thank you.

Fantastic, thank you.

Uh good morning.

Uh, for the record, Joe Shum, Division Chief Operations for Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue.

Uh, this morning we have a number of awards for employees and citizens uh to recognize some outstanding service uh to the community.

We have four clinical excellence awards today.

This award is for an employee of the district who, while on duty, was principally involved in exceptional clinical medicine that prevented the patient from succumbing to critical life threats during their care.

And today we're going to start with a crew from Engine 40, dated May 19th.

Can I have Captain Randy Gates, Engineer Shiro, Firefighter Paramedic Rudder, and Firefighter Paramedic Miller.

I don't believe Blake was able.

Oh, Blake's right there.

Come on down.

While uh Firefighter Miller makes his way down.

Um, like I said, this incident occurred on May 19th.

Uh engine 40, located in Verdeye Mogul, along with Reno Engine 11, were dispatched to a cardiac arrest on the Truckee River Trail near Durockstar Park.

Initially, engine 40 was canceled because engine 11 was closer, but our captain continued responding due to the location and his knowledge of the difficult to access area.

Both the engine companies and REMSA arrived at the park and made their way approximately 400 yards down the trail to find a CPR CPR in progress by a bystander.

Engine 4X crew applied the Lucas device, which is mechanical compressions.

The crews worked quickly and cooperatively together to render appropriate aid and collectively agreed to carry the patient with a mega mover to the ambulance while resuscitation continued with shocks and medications.

Two of our firefighter paramedics rode in with Remsa as they transported the patient to the hospital, continuing care.

While at the hospital, the patient was removed from the Lucas device and began breathing spontaneously.

We've heard that the patient was walking and talking days later later, but has a long road to recovery.

With only one engine company, the chance of carrying the patient out while simultaneously providing care would have been immensely more difficult, if not impossible.

This scenario represents a wonderful outcome through multiple agencies working together and close cooperation and teamwork.

So for that, uh we have the Clinical Excellence Award for Captain Gates, Engineer Shiro, Firefighter Rutter, and Firefighter Miller.

Wow, great.

That's amazing work.

Thank you.

Saving lives.

It's amazing.

Next, could we have Engineer Higman if he's here?

I don't think he made it.

Engine 33 responded to a medical call in District 33, and upon arrival, found the patient lying in the street near a sidewalk in cardiac arrest.

Once again, a bystander was administering CPR.

Crews were able to provide life caving life-saving care and achieve return of spontaneous circulation, which stabilized the patient's heart rate.

The patient was loaded into the ambulance and transported with both firefighters assisting.

Absolutely.

So for this, we had uh acting Captain Mike Lambert, who's not with us today, Engineer Geno Higman, and again, firefighter John Williams and firefighter uh Jeff Bowdy that were able to deliver the patient with with pulses to the hospital.

Wow, thank you.

What a tough job you guys had.

Uh next for clinical excellence.

We have Captain Noe Henry, Engineer Shad Vatrock, Firefighter Paramedic Andrew Mann, Firefighter Paramedic Brian Keller, and Firefighter EMT Austin Fotinos.

Some of those members make their way here.

On July 17th, engine 46 and Medic 46 were dispatched to a call involving a self-inflicted gunshot in Hungry Valley.

The crew was able to treat and initiate transport of the patient in just six minutes after arriving on scene.

Paramedics Keller and Mann, along with firefighter EMT Fatinos, initiated care measures while en route to renowned medical center in Medic 46.

Captain Henry drove the ambulance, with the three working as a team in the back.

Engineer Vetrock then followed the medic in the engine, and the patient was transitioned to a higher level of care with a pulse and an outcome that was directly retired tied to their rapid assessment, focused interventions, and seamless execution by our team.

So for that, uh we give them the Clinical Excellence Award.

Here today we have Captain Henry and Firefighter Mann.

Wow, thank you.

Okay, and our fourth occurrence of clinical excellence today, Captain David Kearns, Engineer Travis Johnson, firefighter paramedic Reynolds, and Firefighter Paramedic uh Cameron Chappelle.

Unfortunately, not everybody can be with us every time.

Um July 17th, uh engine 33 was dispatched uh to a reported cardiac arrest.

Upon arrival, the crew was directed by a family member to the patient who was in cardiac arrest.

Uh Washa Karen, the sheriff's officer was performing chest compressions when they arrived, and they immediately took over CPR and initiated ALS interventions.

Ramsa arrived shortly thereafter and assisted, and thanks to their quick action and training, the patient regained a pulse before being transported to the hospital.

Once again, unfortunately, uh the later the patient later passed away, but we are grateful for the swift and compassionate actions and actions of our first responders, and once again send condolences to the family.

Yes.

With us today is Firefighter Chappelle.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh next, we have uh firefighter EMT Yuris Voskowski.

Today, firefighter Voskowski is receiving a meritorious conduct commendation.

This is another level that we recognize our employees with.

For someone who performs a notable act or active distinction in the course of duty, reflecting integrity and devotion to duty or service to the public safety.

On September 7th, Engine 40 was in the Mulverdai area when they were dispatched to a vehicle fire.

The vehicle was on fire that was on fire, was on the second level of a car carrier hauling eight passenger vehicles.

As the engine arrived, the driver of the semi was seen standing on the second level in the smoke, attempting to put the fire out with water bottles.

Oh God.

This is where it gets interesting.

The only firefighter who speaks Russian on our fire department happens to be firefighter Voskowski.

And as luck would have it, the driver only spoke Russian.

So Firefighter Voskowski was a part of that crew that immediately prevented any further uh damage due to the language barrier.

Voskowski stepped in, guided the driver to safety, gathered necessary documentation and information, and allowed the crew, the rest of the crew to focus on putting out the fire and managing traffic on Interstate 80.

We're happy to report that the fire resulted in no injuries or loss of life, and because of firefighters Voskowski's actions, uh he is being awarded with a meritorious conduct commendation.

Wow, that's so great.

I know.

Okay, our next sets of awards uh involve some citizens.

I would like to invite Chris Paggett and Brian McPhail uh to join us.

Uh they're here with their spouses today.

Um today they're receiving the Chief's Medal of Commendation, which is a civilian award given to citizens who render initial and spontaneous valuable assistance to an incident that we respond to.

The aider assistance in this case uh certainly resulted in reduction of injury or loss to the victim.

Uh the morning of seven September fifteenth, twenty twenty-five, uh Pinnacle landscape owner Chris Paggett and his employee Brian McPhail were working in the Dolores Drive area of Spanish Springs when they heard a loud pop, followed by a significant amount of smoke near a residence.

They went into action, uh, locating the smoke and finding a found a vehicle on fire under a carport.

It was actively threatening the home and extension into the home.

So unlike a lot of citizens and a lot of times folks uh pause, uh, these gentlemen jumped into action, obtained a towing strap, hooked it to the back of the vehicle, and were able to pull it out from under the carport.

Once the vehicle was outside the carport, they began suppressing the fire with their portable extinguishers.

This reduced the threat of spread to the wildland and to the home until the arrival of engine forty six.

So for this reason, we recognize Mr.

Paggett and Mr.

McPhail uh with the chief's medal of commendation.

Uh and it's more important, I think that uh they took action.

Oftentimes folks will will video and stand back, but um they really did a solid for us and and making it so that we didn't have to go into full action and suppress a house fire in addition to a car fire.

So thank you, John.

Wow, that's leadership right there.

Thank you so much.

Sometimes we don't hear about it.

Uh our folks are incredibly humble, but they are um pro professionals and uh certainly all deserve uh recognition for what they do each day.

So we want uh Truckie Meadows uh staff member in all of our neighborhoods throughout our community because of the incredible work you do.

So um thank you so much.

We'll give you another round of applause.

We'll take a quick break for a photo.

Wow, maybe how much we're gonna do it.

It's been a whirlwind.

Yeah.

Okay.

We'll now move in to item eight, Chief.

Madam Chair, if I may.

Can we go back to item six?

We do have our presenter here.

Great.

If that's all right.

Yes.

And we'll move into item six then.

Some item six is a presentation by the National Weather Service regarding the winter weather outlook and how it pertains to fire.

Wonderful.

We love these presentations.

Welcome.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Tim Bardsley.

Thanks for the invitation to be here.

I'm the senior service hydrologist at the National Weather Service and Reno Office.

Can I advance my own slides here?

Yes.

Perfect.

We're mostly talk about the winter outlook and how that looks for our area.

I have just one slide here on what's going on currently.

I think most people here are probably on our email briefings.

If not, you can contact me to get connected to those.

But we have a uh uh basically a lot of wind coming through, ramping up tonight into tomorrow morning uh and with some wetting rains.

Uh mostly the rains are mostly focused on Tahoe North.

Uh the winds are going to be throughout the area.

We've actually issued a uh a high wind warning starting at 1 a.m.

uh tomorrow through the day tomorrow, uh for basically the Reno Carson area, Tahoe down through Mono County.

The rest of our service area is under uh high wind advisory.

So we're expecting high winds kind of throughout uh the area.

Uh while we've had a pretty good start to the water year, uh October 1st is the start of our water year.

Uh we these high winds are do have some fire concerns, especially down in southern end of Mono County.

But we're gonna have very strong downslope winds, you know, we've had pretty dry conditions over the past week, so uh definitely not something uh to be ignored.

Uh it's probably a little difficult in the back to to see some of those numbers, but uh as far as the precipitation or kind of half inch to an inch and a half uh in the high Sierra and to northeastern California taper over into uh western Nevada, those numbers are more in the order of uh uh 15 hundredths of an inch, maybe uh quarter inch uh type of ranges.

Uh but uh very high chances 40 to 70 percent of having damaging winds of 60 miles an hour more, especially in the wind prone locations, uh uh 580, 395 quarter, uh up to 100 mile an hour winds up high uh along the crest.

Uh going more in the outlook, I'll first talk about the drought status.

Uh we're in pretty good shape here, especially in northern Nevada.

Uh most of our area is actually drought free.

The yellow on that map indicates what's called abnormally dry, which asn't isn't really uh a drought classification, it's just like moving uh it it's it's nearing drought.

And we've actually in the process of the past month or so uh with the kind of good start to our water year, we've been seeing that area shrink, and we may see additional shrinkage of that uh abnormally dry, but uh our region right here actually is in uh no no drought at all.

You can see on the right hand side of the uh uh graphic is the drought outlook.

So basically southern Nevada, south east and southeastern Nevada uh and far eastern Nevada, sorry, are expected to continue to stay in drought uh where uh drought conditions are not expected uh to worsen in in our area and the in the through the seasonal outlook here.

Um the soil moisture conditions are quite favorable.

This is a modeled product looking especially at uh the whole country, but focused here on on Nevada.

You can see northern Nevada in quite good shape against southern Nevada, uh the soil moisture anomalies is uh measuring the top meter of the soil uh is is quite dry though in southern Nevada, but uh good in the north and and kind of near normal, slightly above normal here in our area.

Uh looking at it from a different way.

This is the uh snow tell network, so this is a measure budget measurement stations that are up in the mountains.

They measure snowpack and precipitation and soil moisture.

The black line on this graphic is a uh the current water year.

So starting on October 1st, that black line's tracing where we are now.

The the kind of bluish green line you see on that graphic is last year at this time, and there's a light green line that's hard to see that is the median for these sites.

So uh we're in pretty good shape.

We're not anywhere near record conditions, but we're well above normal soil moisture in the mountains right now.

Uh it's very good timing for that, uh, as you know, we haven't really had any significant snow accumulation.

It's nice to get some moisture in those soils before you build a snow pack so you have more efficient uh chance of better efficient runoff in the springtime.

Uh as far as the uh significant fire outlook, these just came out yesterday from the uh National Internet Agency Fire Center.

The upper left is the November outlook, and the bottom right is for December.

So basically for our area showing the kind of normal uh normal conditions.

And uh certainly uh want to monitor any long dry periods, and then of course the strong wind events as well going forward.

As I'm sure everyone in this room knows, we've definitely had some events this time of year in November and around Thanksgiving even with strong wind events, so uh not to be uh rolled out, although we're in better shape than some of those other years with the moisture.

Okay, so what do we have?

What was our actual outlook look like and and uh uh outlooks for our area are are uh we do quite a good job uh uh on the short-term weather when we get out to seasonal, it's really challenging.

There's a lot going on in our area.

There's some parts of the country that have more skillful forecasts than ours, but to be completely honest, it's not the best here.

So we kind of joke about the the eight ball or the or the dice, uh, but we have a bit better science than that, but it's uh uh not as strong a signal as we would like.

So we always talk about ENSO, which is the uh uh the uh I'm sorry, I'm talking about it's the El Niño Southern Oscillation Index.

Uh and what that is and how it's measured, it's uh the ocean temperatures of the equatorial Pacific.

And on the right graph, you can kind of see those blue colors indicating cooler than normal uh temperatures there.

They uh impact uh wind currents, ocean currents, and weather patterns.

The upper left graphic, there's several indices that we use to kind of say, okay, what are these temperatures and what is how does it rank in terms of La Niña, which is the cooler temperatures, El Niño, which is the warmer temperatures, or neutral, which is more near normal uh conditions.

And on this graphic, the plot on the left is kind of showing you kind of where we have been uh over the past uh year.

It starts on December 2024.

So you can see last winter we were in a weak to moderate La Niña.

Uh we popped up in kind of neutral conditions, and then we're going back in, and again, we're kind of in these weak La Niña conditions right now.

The graphic on the right is on more of the forecast mode, and these are each uh three-month period.

So on the left side, we're looking at September, October, November, November, then October, November, December, and so on.

Now the core winter months, December, January, February, and January, February, March.

So December, January, February, we're saying well, there's a 55% chance we'll be in these uh uh weak La Niña conditions and then shifting uh into neutral conditions for the later part of the winter.

Uh so most probably weak La Niña into new into neutral.

Well, what does that mean for our areas is the big question.

And so generally speaking, this is by the graphic, uh similar graphic folks have seen uh uh what happens when you have a La Niña.

It tends to be drier in the south, wetter in the northwest, and then colder up in the uh into Canada.

And this is typical uh conditions, but as I'll show you in the next slide, we have a lot of variability in our area, and this is why the predictability uh is not as great as we might like it to be.

Um so a couple more graphics of of typical, and here is for uh ENSO neutral case, which is like I said, we're aiming towards sort of later part of the winter into spring, and the precipitation mean on the left and the temperature mean on the right.

And basically it's saying on the precipitation on the neutral conditions, leaning a little bit on the dry side along the Sierra, it's actually a little bit more favorable as you get into western Nevada, but not too far off from normal conditions on average.

Then temperatures are it's a this is a little bit washed out with the the lighting, but uh close to normal, you know, a little cooler in the mountains and northwestern Nevada, and then a little bit warmer in more uh uh central Nevada.

Uh in contrast to weak La Niña case on the precipitation, it's a little bit stronger signal for that little bit wetter into northwestern Nevada, but still a little bit dry uh in the Sierra, and then kind of cool to normal uh temperatures.

Again, these are the average, and this is based off of 12 week La Niñas since 1950.

But this, I think this graphic actually tells a bigger story.

This is looking at the winter precipitation, December through February prime winter months, uh, with the blue in the center indicating neutral conditions, the green La Niña on the right, and the red El Niño on the left.

You can see whatever happens, there's a wide amount of variability.

We can have wet years and dry years in all three cases.

And we've kind of circled where we're expect to be this year.

When you've seen it, we've seen extremely wet and extremely dry conditions in the neutral, and in the weak La Niña, we've seen wet quite wet and quite dry, not quite the extremes we've seen in the uh the neutral conditions.

The one thing we have noticed that uh uh that we don't have a lot of science behind this, but there's a lot of data that shows that on our our biggest flow years in this area have occurred in weak La Niña and neutral year.

So on the left graphic here, we're looking at the peak flow uh for the Truckee River at Farad, and on the right, we're looking at the peak at the West Fork of the Carson near Woodfords.

And you can see this tendency on both this graphics to the highest.

One is a sit on that white to blue interface, which is that weak La Niña neutral line.

So we've seen quite a bit of our biggest floods, very most of our big floods historically in the last hundred or so years in these kinds of events.

Um this is only looking at 1950 to 2024.

Um said that, you can see in the same my pointer, I'm not sure if it works very well.

I know the people the council up front can't see it, there's a lot of normal years, and there's a lot of uh dry years in there.

Yes, we have six or eight that that poke up as uh uh extreme years, but there are more that are normal and even below normal.

So nothing to freak out about, but something to certainly pay attention to in terms of the uh flood potential.

Okay, so our seasonal outlooks.

I already kind of alluded to this.

Here's the uh uh uh what we had as observed temperature last year.

So uh I want to compare this to what we our seasonal outlooks look like.

So uh the this time of year we're saying, okay, it's gonna be uh warm in the uh southwest and and kind of cooler to the northwest, and on the right hand side, we're saying it's gonna be uh dry down in Arizona, New Mexico, wet uh up in Northern California and uh and Oregon.

This is what we got.

So not horrible, but not exactly a slam dunk, right?

Uh and then that picking to these forecasts, we we kind of have joke in our office, these are too good to ignore, but not quite good enough to use.

Uh they are they are making headway and a lot of smart people working on them, but it's a challenging problem.

That said, let's look at what our my colleagues over at the climate prediction center are predicting for this winter, and this is November, December, January, with precipitation on the left side.

And you can see a slight lean, that's light green up top, you're seeing a slight lean towards wetter to the north, uh the northern third of Nevada, uh, and then kind of the equal chances for the rest of Nevada.

Uh, and on temperature, a slight lean uh uh for warmer conditions for this uh November through January period.

And then uh if you break this down for Reno, this is kind of the breakdown of the probabilities, and it says on the temperature, we're 40% uh light more likely to have warmer than normal conditions.

But there we're 33%, which is you know, one one-third chance uh of these three bins to have normal and 27% have seven percent have cooler.

So it's really just a slight tilt in the odds, more than a this is gonna be a warm warm season, right?

And then you look at the precipitation, there's basically uh no signal at all there.

Uh those bins are all pretty equal size.

And then if you take a quick look at the December, January, February, kind of the core winter months on the precipitation again on the left, uh we have we've had nothing, right?

This is uh equal chances.

Uh some people like to cynically say equally clueless, uh, but it's uh uh kind of anything, anything could happen there.

We don't have any good signal, and again, a weak uh signal uh for the warmer temperatures, and when you break those down uh for the Reno area, uh you see those probabilities aren't aren't telling you much.

That's the very, very slight lean towards warm and and and nothing, uh giving you a good indication one way or another on the precipitation.

Uh talking about our predictability spectrum, I alluded to this a little bit earlier.

Seven to fourteen days, we can generally tell you these broad patterns.

You know, we are we heading into a uh wet or versus dry period, uh are we expecting uh some uh bigger wind event types of things, but not specific days, even uh just general trends.

And then in the two to five time period, we can say, and on that seven to fourteen, and when we had the big storms, people here probably all remember our uh flooding in 2017, for example.

We were talking about that event like at least 10 days out, right?

We couldn't say this is gonna be a big flood event, but this is something to watch, and as we as it ramped close, we're like, yeah, this you know, uh this is something to really pay attention to.

So there's big strong events we can see at quite quite always out, but the details is it going to be all wind?

What is the rain snow elevation going to be?

Uh is it gonna be a flood concern or a huge snow snow load and uh uh transportation issue?

That's more coming into this two to five day uh window.

And then the uh kind of six to forty-eight hour kind of the smaller scale features.

Uh we you know, we have inside sliders or cold frontal passages.

I remember I don't know if it was uh new uh New Year's Eve a couple years ago, right?

We had a really wet system that was transitioned from a big flood risk to a big snow load and transportation problem in a very short period of time, right?

And and those that was on the sub six hour predictability.

I remember going in at 5 30 in the morning thinking we'd blown the river forecasts, and watching a Tonopa low uh come in and transition that to snow at like 7 30, right?

But that was super short lead time.

So this example on the right is the Thomas Burn in uh Southern California when we had the 2018 Montecito debris flows.

They knew there was a big atmospheric river coming.

They were talking about that for uh seven, eight days, but they saw this narrow cold frontal rainbow coming about four or five hours out, and that was what triggered those uh debris flows.

So uh we issue uh watches, warnings, and advisories, uh how that works.

You know, we kind of think of ready set go.

Uh ready is uh our briefing emails, which hopefully most of you all get.

Like I said, uh contact me if you don't.

Um that's uh looking out seven days and looking at potential for uh hazards to life and property, and it's kind of in the planning and planning stage uh to take action.

The set is watches.

Uh and we had actually high wind watches this week in advance of this event, they tend to be two to five days out.

There usually we have about 50% confidence uh or more that this event's gonna happen and it's gonna be impactful.

That's when a watch is issued, and then it's gonna it's happening or going to happen is the go.

And the advisory is like this is an is a problem, it's nuisance, it's inconvenience, uh kind of impacts, whether that's flooding or snow or whichever, and then the warning is uh a higher level impact uh to take take protection to protect life and property.

So uh analogy is that the taco watch versus the taco warning, taco watches of all the ingredients.

So when when the watch, when we have the watch, we have all the ingredients for a snowstorm or a flood or everything, but it's not happening yet.

The taco warning is the talkers are ready, time time to chow.

Um I wanted to point out some of our our resources.

This web web page resources you can get these digital forecasts for any area you want, any time you want, and you can save uh bookmark your errors.

There's a QR code here to scan, but if you search for NWS IDSS forecast, you're gonna get this page.

There's some customization you can get.

There's lots of different graphics.

You can look at snow levels, uh, temperatures, winds, wind gusts, probability, uh, precipitation, precipitation type.

Uh there's a lot of information on this page.

Uh so uh you you can kind of get a semi-custom forecast from this.

Um these are another pages here.

This is our winter weather page for NWS Reno, and there's uh inflation of probabilistic forecast uh snowfall amounts.

Uh they're available here, and uh snowfall totals by uh location, and this is a different page through our partners at the What Weather Prediction Center.

Again, the links are on each of these.

And this is a great tool, especially here along the Chucky.

We have several forecast points in the truck in Carson.

But these are forecasts that are at a very uh well-calibrated uh model that uh it sees uh attention from a uh hydrologist every day.

Uh you get these deterministic plots like this that are updated now as of today, twice a day.

They usually go just once a day in the off season.

Uh and then there's probabilistic forecasts like this that give a range of of potential probabilities instead of just that deterministic number.

These utilize a range in and in the in the precipitation, potential precipitation.

They do not take into account hydrologic uncertainty.

So there's actually a little bit uh of uncertainty still included in these.

And these are what our emails look like for those who are not getting them.

Uh we kind of highlight the highest risks out that the through the next week and and a general statement to the week beyond that.

Uh point out the uh uh they're broken down now by region where they used to be broken down by hazard.

And we're using uh we've switched from a uh uh email server to this NWS Connect.

So if you've lost your emails, we have to get you connected with that.

People always ask about our app.

And the Weather Service doesn't have an app.

We've kind of been prohibited from having app for various reasons.

Uh but there is a weather service person who decided that they were on their own going to develop an app.

So this app here, which is called Everything Weather, if you do need an app, does use weather service data, does allow you to get alerts uh uh of watches, wordings, and advisories, and it is all weather service data.

We're some apps you're not quite sure what the source is, so I just wanted to mention that.

Uh and with that, that is all I have, and happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

This is very helpful and informative, and we'll definitely be watching out for those wins.

Um Vice Chair Herman, do you have anything?

Okay.

Commissioner Andreola.

I just want to say thank you.

And obviously, all the data that you I look at, you have a great sense of humor.

You all have a great sense.

It must be fun working in your office.

I can just see it right now.

I like that last or the previous slide where it's like this is where you freak out.

So you've you know, the eight ball and the dice, and you you all have uh quite a sense of humor.

So thank you.

We do we do try to keep it real and uh uh during times like this.

Uh right.

It's uh nice to have some humor to go along.

Thank you.

Well, thank you for all your hard work.

Commissioner Clark, do you have anything?

Thank you, madam chair, and thank you for your report.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I we appreciate your work, especially with the shutdown, and you're continuing to keep us informed.

So thank you so much, and I hope you're getting the support you need.

You're welcome.

I'll pass that along to the rest of my crew.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Um we will now move into item eight, Chief Edwards.

Yes, item eight is the International Association of Firefighters Local 2487 report.

All right, welcome.

Haven't seen you in a while.

Yeah, I was just gonna say for the record, Jim Clauser, president local 2487.

Great seeing you all again.

Um I hope Jamie or whoever spoke for me in my absence did a good job.

Yeah, sure.

Absolutely well represented.

He's always a pleasure, isn't he?

Yeah.

Um good news to report from our foundation.

Our numbers are in from the Reno Rodeo.

Again, they raised over $60,000 for the foundation.

That partnership continues to grow.

Um, it's just fantastic for both sides and really everybody involved.

So that's going like gangbusters.

Our Christmas Toy Drive is already started.

So you can go by any one of the stations.

This is for everyone on webland listening as well.

Go by any one of the stations.

Uh, we're looking for new toys in their original packaging, not wrapped.

Please don't put them in Christmas wrapping.

Um, any one of the stations will take those toys.

We also have a special event, November 29th and 30th at the Walmart in Spanish Springs called Fill the Engine.

So we've even made it easier.

You can just go right in, get something from Walmart, come outside, stuff it in the engine, and that goes to families who could really use some extra joy in their life during Christmas.

So Toy Drive goes until December 15th.

And that's it from the foundation.

Uh we've done some really good work together with Chief Edwards, um, recognizing kind of the financial quandary that everybody's in.

And um just want to show my appreciation to him.

Um the collaboration between us all has been really, really productive and will continue to grow as we move forward with other challenges as we face them and figure them out.

Um so I just want to say publicly to the chief, this has been great.

He's been great so far, if you want to know.

He's he's awesome.

Good choice.

Um, personal note, uh, this is gonna be my last meeting.

Uh huh.

So I'm not running again.

I'm gonna be retiring uh somewhere in the second quarter of next year.

So I just want to say personally, it's been a pleasure.

It's been a privilege.

Uh I've learned a lot working with each of you.

I've seen a tremendous amount of passion and dedication.

And from this position, I can tell you I have a whole other level of understanding and appreciating just how hard you work and the the sacrifices you make.

So uh I'm very appreciative of those and very thankful.

And I hope everybody realizes we may not all look at problems the same way, but I think our hearts are all in the right place in trying to find solutions.

And I think it's in those differences that the the more creative solutions come out of that.

Um so I appreciate all of you for the lessons I've learned and for what you've done for this community.

So thank you.

Thank you for your service, and thank you for your leadership as well, especially these are unprecedented times.

So thank you for you know working with this board and Chief Edwards, and you know, um, it's been a pleasure.

So, and I'm so excited for you to retire because you can do your next chapter.

What will that entail?

You may see me again.

All right, yeah.

That sounds good.

Yeah, can't wait.

Got some ideas cooking.

All right, we want you to continue that public service.

So that's awesome.

Thank you.

Okay, any board members have questions?

Okay.

Right.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Yes.

All right, thank you.

All right, we're now moving into item nine, Chief.

All right, the fire chiefs report.

Uh, a couple updates.

Um, the construction projects continue across the district.

Uh station 35 has been buttoned up for the the winter, so they can start working on the inside of that, and that project is still on on track to be done sometime uh late spring, early summer next year.

Um station 37 is complete.

We're working on getting our final inspection tomorrow, so very excited.

Um, and then we also have a ribbon cutting ceremony planned for next Wednesday, November 12th at 10 a.m.

So look forward to seeing everyone out there and to celebrate the the reopening, I guess, of that firehouse.

Um we also took delivery of a new type three fire engine, which we have here out front today.

Uh so hopefully after our meeting we can go out and get a picture and kind of show you that apparatus and give you a tour of that.

Um and then the the call statistics for September, um, as the weather's changed, the temperatures are a little bit cooler.

We got some precipitation back in September.

Uh our calls decreased by 207 calls.

Um, and our fires decreased by more than 90 percent.

We had 21 fires in the month of September.

So incredible.

Yeah.

Um, so super super happy for that as well.

But uh that concludes my update.

Thank you so much.

Any questions for the Chief?

Vice Chair Herman.

Okay, Commissioner Andrew, Commissioner Clark.

Okay, thank you.

All right, we're now going to move into item 10.

Our favorite report.

So item 10 is a financial presentation on the status of the fiscal year 2526, uh general fund and capital project funds as of September 30th, 2025.

This is a non-action item.

Welcome.

Good morning.

Cindy Vance, Chief Fiscal Officer for Chucky Meadows for the record.

So for September 30th, um, just because of the timing of our board meeting, so we run a little bit delayed, and next month you'll actually get to see through November because of it being delayed.

But um, this is now a month old.

Um, for our revenues, our revenues usually track a little slower than our expenditures, just because like uh consolidated taxes and all those tax revenues and even charges for services are coming in a few months after the events occur.

So consolidated taxes, you don't see until the first payment in um September.

And then same with charges and services.

We don't really start seeing those until we're able to start charging for them.

So the revenues or the money coming in in July and August are usually for the prior fiscal year.

Uh however, currently we are sorry, our taxes are at about 36.3% of budget, and we average is about 34.8.

So for the first quarter, we are slightly above budget.

Um, but that's just one quarter out of four.

So we don't want to project that yet to the whole year.

And I have seen what came in through October is a little bit down.

So yeah, and it's a weird tracking words.

Yeah, with the new system, right?

Well, this is property taxes, so this one isn't quite as impacted by the state stuff.

Okay.

But consolidated taxes, that was with the state being having their IT issue.

We saw a very small payment in September, which was only 840,000.

I did look though, it they did say they were going to make up for that, and our our October payment was much larger.

So that actually, if you looked at it, we were running under budget, but now when we include the next payment, which will be on the next presentation, we are actually above budget for C tax.

Okay.

So that should start to actually be more consistent after their meeting that they had.

Um they are taking about 45 days to reconcile their consolidated taxes.

So what we see should be a little bit um more accurate than we had seen towards the end of last fiscal year and the beginning of this fiscal year and smooth out to be consistent with our budgets.

Um so total revenues right now are just slightly under budget, but that is more timing than anything else.

Okay.

Uh general fund expenditures.

Now our expenditures, they happen um timely, unlike the revenues coming in.

So a lot of times we're spending the money that we haven't received revenues yet for.

And that's part of our our next item, which would be our fiscal our fund balance is why we need a healthy fund balance.

Um our salaries and wages are slightly above budget, but employee benefits are slightly below for that.

So right now we're really running right where we should be.

Um I know we did adopt the resolution or the the item that was in part of consent for some changes.

So in next month, we'll present um when we show the detail, it'll include those adjustments so that we can see how we're running with the changes that we just adopted.

Right.

That's great.

Um, and that's just a simple presentation.

I will let the rest stand, but there is the detailed by department included and also our capital projects, which are not consistent, they're not timing, they're just how we are.

And again, it is about a month past, and I know that station 37 is almost complete now.

Great.

Any questions from the board on our fiscal report?

I'm not seeing any.

All right.

Thank you so much for keeping us informed.

And uh this is we'll we'll see what this looks like next year, but um we appreciate the diligent watching and um making sure we're keeping up with our cash flows.

Yes, thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you.

All right, we'll now move in.

Oh, um, our chief had uh come up with a block vote.

If um that is okay with the board, Chief, what was your recommended block vote?

Uh the recommendation would be for items 11 through 14 block vote.

And and I think that that that works for me.

Um I look to the vice chair.

Do you want to make that motion?

I'm sorry, it's 11 to 15.

15.

Okay.

Are you okay with 15, 11 to 15?

All right, thank you.

And I'll make the second.

Madam Clerk, any public comment on 11 through 15?

Okay, we have a motion and a second on the block vote.

No public comment.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And I think that passes unanimously, but it will probably come up on our screen here.

There we go.

All right, that motion passes unanimously.

We'll now move into item 16, Chief.

Yeah, item 16 is commissioners or fire chief's announcements, requests for information and topics for future agendas.

Okay, do you have anything else for us, Chief?

I do.

I did want to uh send out a quick thank you uh to the Aero Creek Homeowners Association, our partners from NDF and the U.S.

Forest Service for those grants.

That's gonna make a big difference in our fuels reduction programs in that area.

So very thankful for them and uh their partnership.

Um I also wanted to say thank you to local 2487.

Um we're making some tough decisions right now within the district to live more within our fiscal means.

Um and it really starts with partnership and and everyone come together to recognize the the significance and the challenges that would face ahead.

Um, and I'm appreciative for that the partnership and everyone coming together to recognize that so that we can stay fiscally solvent as we move into the future.

So very appreciative for that.

Um big thing too is we have open burning that's open so that uh we can reduce some of the fuel loading across uh our district so they can go anyone can go to our website um to get a permit and see when that burning is allowed.

Uh we opened that on November 3rd.

I think today is a non-burn day because of the weather and the the projected winds.

Um but we've opened this up now through April 3rd, so there's a larger window of folks to be able to burn their uh green waste.

Um and so hopefully there's more opportunities for them to do that in the future.

And then my last item is just a big special uh thank you to our veterans as uh next Tuesday is Veterans Day, and so we're very appreciative of all of our veterans and I know we have many that work for us at Truckee Meadows as well.

So thankful for their service.

Absolutely, thank you, Chief.

Vice Chair Herman, do you have anything?

Okay, and Commissioner Andrew.

I'll just follow up with thank you for again all the veterans and maybe next year just in light of Operation Green Light, we can think about having all the fire stations be green on the well, fourth through the eleventh this year.

Um I know that the sheriff's office has been doing it for five years.

This is a program that was started by the National Association of Counties, and it's really great that Washoe County is embracing this.

So maybe there'll be an opportunity for us to really essentially make the paint the tower community green to show our support for all veterans.

So thank you.

Absolutely.

And Commissioner Clark.

Nothing further from me, thank you.

Okay, and I just have a quick announcement.

The Nevada Peers Support Network, who helps us with all of our major fires, is having um some open house um opportunities if you want to check out their great work.

They their address is 4583 Longley Lane, and they'll have um an open house 11 to 2 on November 11th, 13th, and 15th.

So if you want to check that out, I recommend it.

They do great work for us and our team.

And now we'll move into item 17, Chief.

Item 17 is public comment.

Comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the Board of Fire Commissioners agenda.

Comments are to be made to the Board of Fire Commissioners as a whole.

Okay, Madam Clerk.

And no one is signed in.

Okay, well, thank you everyone.

It's 1058 and we are adjourned.

We're gonna go check out that fire truck though.