RENO, Nev. (AP) — The state of Nevada and members of Congress are again appealing to the U.S. government to reverse an earlier decision to deny disaster assistance to a remote rural area ravaged by a huge wildfire near the Idaho line.
Kacey KC, Nevada's state forester and fire warden, wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week for help recouping costs associated with the South Sugarloaf Fire that burned nearly 360 square miles.
The agency denied the initial request Aug. 24 for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant. Critics say the agency doesn't fully appreciate the damage fires inflict on lightly populated, rural communities.
KC told the Reno Gazette-Journalthat even when fires in rural areas don't destroy structures, they can be devastating to the landscape, which has a major economic impact that's difficult to quantify.