Truckee Meadows fire station closest to Davis Fire origin closed permanently in 2022
WASHOE VALLEY, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — The fire station closest to where the Davis Fire sparked Saturday afternoon was shuttered permanently in 2022, meaning the first Truckee Meadows Fire & Rescue crews likely responded from the Eastlake station, which is several minutes farther away.
Officials closed the Bowers Mansion station — located roughly two miles from Davis Creek Park — because of a bat infestation and told News 4-Fox 11 at the time that rehabilitating the structure could've cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They decided to consolidate the two Washoe Valley fire stations into one — station 32 located on the east side of Washoe Lake. A more centrally located station in Washoe City is planned but has not been built yet.
Residents we spoke to Tuesday wondered how much faster the initial crews could've arrived on scene had they been coming from the old Bowers Mansion station.
News 4-Fox 11 compared the drive times to the scene Tuesday morning — it took about 5 and a half minutes to reach Davis Creek park from the Eastlake station compared to less than 2 minutes from the old Bowers station.
"We wish that Bowers Mansion was still open because actually about 4 weeks ago, down right in front of my entrance to my property, it caught fire. It took the fire department about 15 minutes to get here when they would've been here in 3," said Washoe Valley resident Wayne Barlow.
Resident Jose Garcia told News 4-Fox 11 that neighbors pushed back against the plan to shutter the station but couldn't halt the closure.
"Everybody was upset but they closed it and not much we can do," Garcia said. When asked if having a closer station could've helped in the Davis Fire, Garcia said 'big time.'
TMFR Chief Charles Moore acknowledged back in 2022 that the change would lengthen emergency response times by 5-7 minutes for calls on the west side of Washoe Lake.
"It's probably going to add somewhere around 5-7 minutes - best guess - of the distance between Eastlake and Bowers you know, we're not happy about closing the station but it's something that we just can't avoid right now," Moore said then.
TMFR officials weren't available Tuesday for an interview for this report amid the ongoing firefight.
In late 2022, officials said the Bowers station was the slowest in TMFR's jurisdiction, receiving around one call per day at most. Moore said the call volume wasn't high enough to support 2 stations.
The agency has a mutual aid agreement withthe Carson City Fire Department so Carson City crews can respond if needed — TMFR also added an ambulance to the Eastlake fire station.
The old Bowers Mansion station is now occupied by a Nevada Division of Forestry hand crew which was assigned to the Lake Mountain Fire outside Elko on Saturday.
Had the crew been in Washoe Valley, it would not have been the first crew assigned to investigate the 9-1-1 call because it is Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue's jurisdiction.
The hand crew returned from eastern Nevada and was assigned to the Davis Fire on Sunday, according to Nevada state forester Kacey KC.
Email reporter Ben Margiott at bjmargiott@sbgtv.com. Follow @BenMargiott on X and Ben Margiott KRNV on Facebook.