North Lyon County Fire Protection District Chief Brian Bunn asked the Fernley City Council during its March 4 meeting to reconsider supporting the district with revenues for staffing.
Bunn was speaking to the council during an agenda item for reports from various public entities.
He began his presentation by thanking Mayor Neal McIntyre for recent meetings that he said have been fruitful. He said the fire district is looking forward to finalizing some of the verbal agreements with the city as far as one-time monies, and for deeding the new fire station, which will be built on Duffy Road by Mark IV Capital as a requirement of a development agreement, to the district upon the issuance of its certificate of occupancy.
Bunn also said the fire district is in negotiations with a public-private agreement to house a medical transport helicopter in Fernley. He said the district has secured donations for concrete and labor for a helipad behind the Main Street Fire Station.
He then got emotional, referring to a fatal house fire earlier that day in which one person was killed.
“Today was a long day,” Bunn said. “I feel like a broken record. I talk about our call volume. In 2025, we had over 4,000 overlapping calls, with no resources. We had it today with the fire.”
Bunn then placed a pressurized water can on the table next to the podium where he was speaking.
“We had one captain available to show up and try to save a life; 1,200 degrees, he got pushed out and we lost a citizen of this community,” Bunn said. “We're underfunded. We're understaffed. The community should worry.”
Last April, Bunn said he had asked the city, through meetings with McIntyre and City Councilwoman Felicity Zoberski, for a cooperative agreement where the city would provide the fire district with $1.7 million, the amount he said the district is losing from property tax abatements.
During the council’s tentative budget hearing on April 3 last year, Zoberski proposed adding a line item to the city’s budget to help the fire department. She didn’t request a specific amount, saying the council could decide what amount it might want to earmark. During a second budget hearing on May 8, Zoberski and Councilman Joe Mendoza asked that the city include a line item in its final budget for public safety.
Then-City Manager Ben Marchant said the item wasn’t included in the budget because he had not been given a specific request, and added that the same tax formula that costs the fire district $1.7 million per year in abatements costs the city $4 million per year. City Treasurer Robert Carson also told the council the city can’t allocate money for public safety to a specific fund because it doesn’t have a public safety function.
Bunn concluded his report at last week’s meeting by renewing his request for the council to help the fire department.
“I'm going to ask you, Mr. Mayor and City Council, can you reconsider supporting us with revenues for staff?” he said. “It is very much needed.”
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