The main mission of the Battle Mountain Field Office, Fire Program is to protect life, property, and natural resources from wildland fire. Our office has primary fire suppression responsibility for protecting approximately 13 million acres of land from wildfire. This includes public lands managed by Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), State, Tribal and privately owned land. 

 

The Fire Preparedness program operates the Battle Mountain Air Attack Base, several SEAT bases, a fire cache, and three fire stations located in Eureka, Austin, and Battle Mountain.

 

The Air Attack Base, located at the Battle Mountain airport, provides air tanker support for fires across northern Nevada. Single Engine Air Tankers (SEAT) are also operated from bases set-up at airports at Austin, Eureka, and occasionally, Tonopah and Beatty.

 

Austin Fire Station is an interagency station with the BLM and USFS and is located at the Austin Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Battle Mountain Fire Station is located at the Battle Mountain Field Office, along with the fire cache, which supports the fire program with necessary supplies and equipment. Eureka Fire Station includes a small fire cache to support fire operations in their area of responsibility.

 

Most of our fires are caused by summer lightning storms, mostly during June through September. The fire crews also have responsibility for initial attack on fires on the Austin and Tonopah Ranger Districts of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest as well as portions of four adjacent BLM districts.

 

The Fire Program has a very challenging fuels management program. The fuels program is responsible for Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) projects and hazard fuels reduction/ecosystem improvements across the public lands managed by the BLM. The fuels crew is based out of the Battle Mountain Field Office. Fire is a fundamental part of many natural ecosystems. Without fire, the health of some forests and rangeland ecosystems can be jeopardized. For this reason, prescribed burns” are carefully planned and conducted by fuels program staff to benefit specific areas. Prescribed burns can improve habitat for wildlife and domestic livestock, help trees and other vegetation regenerate, and prevent the accumulations of excess vegetation that may fuel catastrophic wildland fires.

 

The Fire Program also has a very active Prevention/Education/Mitigation program. The prevention/education/mitigation program is responsible for working with communities using outreach programs to help protect themselves from wildland fires, educating the public of wildland fire hazards, and for supporting the suppression program in wildland fire cause determination and investigation. To help prevent wildland fires, we join the USFS and other agencies to present various fire prevention messages, including the Smokey Bear program.

 

 

Our fire staff consists of 17 permanent employees. During the fire season our work force rises to about 34, including engine crews, air attack base personnel, dispatch personnel, and a fuels crew. We accept job applications for temporary fire positions in December long before fire season starts. Besides our staff, other employees of the BLM support the fire program in many ways, from providing necessary administrative support to firefighting.

 

The Battle Mountain Field Office works cooperatively with many other federal, state, and county agencies and fire departments. Besides providing immediate assistance on fires in Lander, Eureka, Nye, and Esmeralda counties, BLM fire fighters and equipment are dispatched throughout the United States, wherever and whenever assistance is needed to fight wildland fires. Our dispatch center, Central Nevada Interagency Dispatch Center (CNIDC), is located in Winnemucca. The dispatch center is open year round, and during fire season it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as needed.