Working Together to Keep Our Families, Our Homes, and Our Forest, Safe


Welcome to the Galena Forest Community (GFC) website, your communication hub for all things relating to wildfire safety in our neighborhood! On this Home Page, you will find news on upcoming neighborhood fire safety activities and projects when they are planned. Using the menu buttons above, you will find educational material to help you plan your own defensible-space projects, information regarding evacuation preparedness and procedures, and the latest fire-safety information prepared by our local, state, and national partners.

*** Autumn 2026 Update — Curbside Chipping! ***


Some great news — TMFR has been allotted some time for curbside chipping strictly for the Galena Forest Community, scheduled to take place October 10th and 11th. All requests for chipping MUST be received by the GFC no later than October 8th. Please utilize the Contact Us page to request your chipping request. Note that the GFC will be the sole contact for our program. (TMFR has a separate, county-wide program that has been a source of confusion in the past, so please send all your requests and questions regarding our special program only to the GFC.)

As always, TMFR can only do this type of community work when they don't have their official duties taking precedence. We will work with them to create contingency plans, if needed.

To make it as easy as possible for TMFR to provide this service, here is a refresher for the few guidelines we are required to adhere to (a small consolation for such a huge dividend):
  1. A hold-harmless agreement signed by the property owner is required for TMFR to enter your property to access your material to be chipped. The work crew will provide you with the paperwork. Chipping from the street does not require a signed agreement.
  2. All chips will be left on your property for you to use as mulch, or dispose of. (Sorry, this is non-negotiable as our chipping crew loses too much valuable time by the need to drive to a green-waste dumpsite when their truck reaches capacity.) If there is a reachable spot for the chipper to broadcast the chips, that is the favored option. We highly encourage utilizing your green-waste chips for weed control, soil amendment, and soil moisture retention. Our pine trees need the protection and nutrients that wood-chip mulch and pine needles provide. Chips, needles and leaves are NOT dangerous wildfire fuel if they are spread among our properly limbed-up trees.
  3. Piles to be chipped should be close to the road or driveway for easy access.
  4. Please keep in mind that your scheduled date and time for chipping could be delayed due to unforeseen TMFR firefighting duty. In anticipation of a “worst-case scenario” delay, create your pile(s) in a location you can live with for at least a couple weeks past the proposed scheduled chipping dates.
  5. Branches or trunks must be no more than 8” in diameter. The mouth of the chipper can’t handle material any larger than that.
  6. No root balls or construction debris can be chipped.
  7. Piles must be free of dirt, rocks and metal. These will damage the chipper blades.
  8. Piles must be free of all non-vegetative materials, such as household trash, plastic, pet waste, and textiles. These items contaminate the chips.
  9. The chipper cannot handle bulk quantities of leaves, pine needles, pine cones or lawn clippings. These items merely clog the machine.
For any questions or clarifications regarding these limitations, please contact the GFC directly.

Please document on a "Volunteer Hourly Worksheet" your own time spent, and/or your expenses in clearing wildfire fuels and preparing your piles. Submit your worksheets to the GFC so we can document everyone’s participation. Proof of an involved community will help TMFR obtain future funding to continue this program. Access the worksheet HERE. You can print out a blank worksheet and fill it out by hand, or fill it out online then print it out. Submit it by email or by dropping it in the mailbox at 1740 Green Ash Road.

Thank you in advance for your engagement in keeping our neighborhood safe. Remember—The more participation we have for these programs, the more often TMFR will be able to justify helping us out!


** Together, we can make Galena Forest safer and more prepared to withstand a wildfire's approach. **

— FORMATION
The GFC was formed by neighborhood volunteers with the help of Truckee Meadows Fire & Rescue, Nevada Division of Forestry, the Fire Adaptaded Nevada department of NDF, and the National Fire Protection Association/Firewise USA. The boundaries of our Community as approximated on our Boundaries Map, were defined by our professional firefighters. They consider the GFC to be a geographically homogeneous wildfire-risk zone and manage it as such. With all the various HOA's and hundreds of independent properties now included under one Firewise USA umbrella, we can efficiently coordinate everything pertaining to wildfire in one place for all of our residents.

Please note that being a part of the GFC is like being a part of your Zip Code; no need to opt-in as you're included by your physical location.
— COST
There is no cost to us for all the help and materials provided by the agencies mentioned above. All they ask is that everybody in the GFC do their part to help mitigate our man-made and naturally occuring wildfire risks. To that end, if asked, they will gladly help identify wildfire risks on our individual properties. Use the Contact Us page to make a request for a free, non-binding risk assessment.
— DONATIONS
The GFC is formed as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Although we operate with 100% volunteer labor, there are still minimal operating expenses in operating any non-profit corporation (such as liability insurance, website presence, and incendental expenses). These unavoidable expenses will be covered with tax-deductible donations. Our pledge to you is that all donated funds are designated for only expenditures that benefit our community as a whole.

Donations of any amount can be made using Zelle. Our account is gfcwildfire. You can use this QR code:
Donations can also be mailed by check made out to GFC Wildfire Mitigation, Inc. at 1740 Green Ash Rd, Reno, NV 89511. Whichever method you use, a receipt for your tax records will be promptly issued.

Please consider GFC Wildfire Mitigation for a qualified charitable distribution, if you're eligible. (Consult your tax advisor if you're not familiar with QCD's.) The GFC will always provide you with documentation for your tax records.

Our request to cover our expenses is a mere $25 per year per property owner. Some of our residents will respond with a larger donation than $25 (as we have already seen), but big or small, every donation will be put to good use for our Community as a whole.
— COMMUNICATIONS
As email is no-cost, it will be our primary method of contact. If you have not already done so, please use the Contact Us page to provide your communicaions information. Your information will be kept strictly confidential — never shared nor abused.

That same Contact Us page and form is designed to be used for all of your general communications with the GFC Committee. Questions and suggestions are always encouraged.
— VOLUNTEERING:
The GFC Committee will welcome your participation as a member of the Committee and/or as a Neighborhood Ambassador. Even though every resident of the GFC will receive all Community communications, we are going to strive to have at least one point of contact for each street or block in the Community. Neighborly, personal contact will further extend our communications network in a zero-cost way. Please consider showing your support and enthusiasm for the GFC as an Ambassador, as the more individuals we have, the easier each one's job will be. Request information via the Contact Us page.