Elko County fire staff described plans to conduct multiple prescribed burns intended to create fuel breaks near the Spring Creek Association gun range, the Jiggs area and near Soldier Canyon.

Andrew, a fire department staff member, said the burns are intended to reduce the likelihood that a wildfire starting at the gun range would spread: "We put a a fire break around it with a road last year. We improved the road and then mowed on it, and then we're gonna put a black line around it of we're gonna burn probably, 50 or more feet around there. So then it creates a larger buffer to put a, if a fire runs into it." He said similar work is planned for Jiggs, though that burn may be pushed to the fall if the seasonal window is missed, and a Lemoyne-area burn by Soldier Canyon is "touch and go" depending on timing.

Staff said open burning is expected to remain allowed at least through June, after which officials will evaluate openings or closures on a day-by-day basis. When asked whether the burns would cause weed problems, staff replied that herbicide treatments will be applied concurrently: "So as we burn, we'll be doing herbicide treatments at the same time."

The board recorded these updates during the commissioner and staff comments portion of the meeting. The transcript records no public comments on the burns, and no formal board action authorizing or approving a specific burn schedule was recorded during the meeting. The meeting also noted that Commissioner Brian Gale was absent from the session.