The Hawk Fire had cost $15.4 million to fight as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to wildfire incident tracking data, with containment holding at 98 percent and command of the 10 day old fire passing that morning from Great Basin Team 6 to a local incident commander.
No report reviewed for this article had measured that cost against what Nevada itself budgets to fight fires each year, or against how much of the bill the federal government is actually covering.
One Fire, Nearly Two Thirds of a Normal Season
The Nevada Division of Forestry runs on a base budget of about $4.5 million a year, State Forester Firewarden Ryan Shane told Carson Now on Aug. 24, with actual spending climbing to roughly $24 million in an average fire year once contingency funds and legislative advances are tapped.
The Hawk Fire’s own cost, for one 15,085 acre fire burning 10 days, comes to more than three times that base budget and about 64 percent of what the state typically spends fighting every wildfire combined in a full year, both figures calculated independently by comparing the fire’s tracked cost against Shane’s budget numbers.
“The state is really a relatively small player when it comes to actual assets,” Shane said, describing Nevada’s role as mostly aviation contracts and mutual aid agreements rather than its own crews and engines.
Who Actually Pays
Part of the bill falls on Washington. FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant for the Hawk Fire on Aug. 24, two days after Nevada requested it, when the fire was still zero percent contained, had burned 15,051 acres and threatened roughly 1,500 homes with about 3,500 people under mandatory evacuation.
That grant covers equipment and supply costs at a 75 percent federal share, the standard rate set in federal regulation for this type of assistance. Applying that 75 percent rate to the fire’s full $15.4 million tab, a calculation this publication performed rather than one stated by any agency, would put the federal share at roughly $11.55 million and leave Nevada and Washoe County covering about $3.85 million.
That math is illustrative, not final, since the grant covers only costs deemed eligible and no complete public accounting has been released.
A second, larger request remains unresolved. Gov. Joe Lombardo asked the White House on Aug. 28 for a broader presidential emergency declaration under the Stafford Act, which Nevada Office of Emergency Management Chief Brett Compston called crucial for long term recovery beyond firefighting itself. As of this writing, no source found confirms whether that request has been approved.
What’s Left When the Smoke Clears
The fire’s damage toll has held since Saturday, Aug. 29: 47 homes and one commercial building destroyed, 14 homes damaged, and one confirmed death, 83 year old Reno resident Hayde Medina-Valiente, whose death the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office tied to the fire on Aug. 27. Personnel assigned to the fire fell from 249 on Friday to 208 on Saturday and to just 136 by Tuesday morning, as crews shift from active suppression to mop up work.
| Cost Comparison | Amount | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Nevada Division of Forestry base budget | About $4.5 million | Per year, statewide |
| Nevada’s typical wildfire suppression spending | About $24 million | Per year, all fires statewide |
| Hawk Fire suppression cost | $15.4 million | 10 days, one fire |
The fire ignited on Peavine Mountain above the Somersett neighborhood on Aug. 22 and grew to its current 15,085 acres within days. With containment at 98 percent and command now local, the remaining question is not whether the Hawk Fire will be fully put out, but how much of its bill Nevada taxpayers, rather than Washington, end up paying once federal reimbursement is settled.
