Virginia City Highlands to Get a Taste of Wildfire Wranglin’

It appears that the wise heads down at Storey County Emergency Management, along with the fire-eaters at the Fire Protection District and the badge-wearers at the Sheriff’s Office, have come together in rare harmony to put on a wildfire evacuation drill up yonder in the Virginia City Highlands. This grand spectacle’s goin’ to take place Saturday, June 14th — provided the wind don’t blow the whole county into next week beforehand.

Before the stampede begins, they’re holding an Informational Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, May 6th, from six o’clock sharp to six forty-five — not a minute more, mind you — at the Virginia City Highlands Community Center, at 2610 Cartwright Road. That’s where they’ll lay out the evacuation routes, the emergency squawk-box alerts, and what a body needs to do besides wringing their hands and hollerin’ at the dog when trouble comes knocking.

“This drill is an important part of keeping our community safe,” quoth Adam Wilson, the Emergency Management Director, with all the solemnity of a man warning folks off thin ice.

He reckons wildfire season’s stretching out longer than a preacher’s Sunday sermon these days and that practice might save a heap of misery later on. He says he wants every soul in the Highlands to feel “confident and informed” before the hills light up like a Fourth of July sky.

Good folks are heartily encouraged to drag themselves down to the Town Hall, show up bright and early for the June 14th drill, and make sure their kinfolk, critters, and valuables are ready for whatever Nature throws at them. Not that the regular Virginia City weekly will tell you a blessed thing about it.