Heated and publicly released opinions have preceded a contentious Feb. 6 meeting to discuss current and future regional fire efforts, amid escalating pro and con arguments to get fire services back together again, a dozen years after a nasty divorce.
The open meeting is scheduled to take place starting at 8 a.m. in the Washoe County Commission chambers, with utility companies, city government staff, infrastructure experts, and different fire officials expected to be present.
Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve has been pushing for reconsolidating.
“We must act now with a coordinated approach to prevent and respond to catastrophic fire events,” she wrote last month in an RGJ opinion piece.
“Twelve years ago, a significant decision — sometimes referred to as the "fire divorce" — altered the regional approach to wildfire mitigation and response. It’s time to forge a united front with all regional partners,” she added, calling for collaboration including water availability during emergencies through partnerships with the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.
A few days before, in an email leaked to media, the now retired fire chief for Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, Charles Moore, had written in a farewell salvo: “It is my belief that the City will use the LA Fires to drive discussions and over-emotionalize the tragedy there so it can drive conversations about creating a single fire agency. The analysis suggests a significant tax increase would be needed because the City of Reno wants to divest itself of its expensive fire department and open up more financial capacity with its budget. A strategy of “let’s regionalize and figure out the details later” is a recipe for failure.”
One commenter on our Facebook post related to Moore’s outgoing views, Trevor Alt, a former firefighter at the Reno Fire Department, didn’t mince words: “Chuckie Moore has always been a boy trying to do a man’s job,” he wrote. “In a better world with less fools like him, TM would never have separated from Reno Fire… We’d all be better off if Chuckie never showed up near Reno.”
The comment said reconsolidation would save money and provide locals with better service.
Sparks has been mostly on the sidelines of this back and forth, with Mayor Ed Lawson saying he doesn’t want his city to pay for any of the regionalization, but would be on board.
Moore retired on January 24th, after serving for 12 years in the Truckee Meadows and 45 years in fire service.
Under his watch, the paramedic program was expanded, a new wildland fuels division was created, and the personnel of TMFR doubled.
Dale Way was named as the interim chief until a permanent chief can be named later this year.
The divorce dates back to the early 2010s, after the Great Recession, when budgets dependent on property taxes crashed and the county refused to comply with a Reno demand to cover a $2.1 million deficit.
There were then a series of lawsuits, countersuits and settlements, with acrimonious statements all along.