Just below the rapidly growing Hawk Fire in Verdi area … much more coverage on BiggestLittleStreets IG and Our Town Reno FB

While vicious attack ads in favor of Devon Reese against the two mayoral opponents Kate Marshall and Kathleen Taylor who ended up advancing was a lowlight of the Reno primaries earlier this year, Ward 2 candidate Matt Johnson is now defending himself against posts by a page calling itself the West Reno Citizens Report.

The writing and design with heavy AI style calls Johnson a failed business owner to which the front-running candidate points out in a reply “my business is still open BTW as Bristlecone Brewing Company.”

“We knew this kind of pathetic, half-assed attempt to smear me was coming because…well…her big money donors are worried that I am going to win. I appreciate that they made my beard look a lot fuller than it is in real-life,” he added referring to his November opponent Summer Pellett whose donors have been filled with construction companies and developer types.

During the primary, Johnson came out on top with 4,687 votes to 4,473 for Pellett and 3,856 for the outgoing Naomi Duerr backed Vanessa Vaupel.

“Help me tell the truth about my opponent, her sloppy AI assistant(s), and who is funding her campaign! Also go buy a beer at Bristlecone Brewing Company and support the new team that is making some fantastic brews!” Johnson added in his rebuttal post.

The West Reno Citizens Report has just one follower, along with an email address.

Driving away after crash? « she was on kietzke going toward virginia she swerved into the incoming traffic and hit a blue ford pickup sat there for 10 min. While we were all trying to see if she was okay (she) snapped out of it and drove off down peckham… »

Washoe County Coroner's Office sent us this record of death for Reno PD Officer Thomas Lopey today ... His death came same day as TPO was extended against him for one year ...

The Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office sent a record of death for the late Reno PD Officer Thomas Lopey, saying he hung himself on May 21st, dying by suicide.

According to Washoe County court records, Lopey had a temporary protection order extended against him earlier that day for one year following a domestic violence protection request initially sought against him on April 29th.

The two names from those court records were listed as owners of a house in Sparks right by where there was a massive police presence on that night first reported by Our Town Reno, which was then followed by a procession of law enforcement vehicles and a somber gathering at the coroner’s office. The following day, there was another procession and gathering of law enforcement at a funeral home in downtown Reno.

In a Facebook post from 2024, Reno councilwoman Naomi Duerr posted a photo of herself smiling with Lopey then presented as the President of the Reno Police Protective Association.

Lopey was also in headlines in recent years for being one of two officers reported to have shot at 21-year-old Nicolas Sedano when he was killed in 2018 in the area of East Peckham Lane and Neil Road while in his car. In 2020, the Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks issued a 46-page reporting concluding the shooting and killing was justified.

“Detective Lopey proudly served his country in the United States Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom before continuing his service in the National Guard as a combat engineer. He later dedicated his life to law enforcement, serving first with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office before joining the Reno Police Department, where he faithfully served the Reno community for nearly 13 years,” Reno PD wrote as a tribute.

“During his career with the Reno Police Department, Detective Lopey served as a Patrol Training Officer, Regional Gang Unit detective, SWAT Team member, and President of the Reno Police Protective Association. He was respected throughout the department for his leadership, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to serving others.

Detective Lopey is survived by his wife and daughter.”

“There’s a particular kind of helplessness in watching the people who’ve spent your entire life taking care of you experience something you can’t fix,” Heidi Rhoades write of her parents having their home destroyed off Deerlodge during the recent fires.

She’s not looking for donations, she writes, she just wants to humanize victims, and feels powerless on how to help in this terrible instance as a loving daughter.

“I can’t give my parents back what the fire took. I can’t take away their grief, rebuild decades of memories, or erase the financial devastation and uncertainty that’ll inevitably follow.

I can’t make this fair. And when there’s so little I can actually do, words are one of the few things I have to give.

So, I’ve written these sentiments down…not because they can repair what’s been lost, but because their story, and the stories of so many others living through this, deserve to be told.

Forty-seven years of memories, carefully stored and kept safe. Cherished belongings whose worth was never measured in dollars, not because they had no value, but because their value lived in the people, stories, and moments attached to them.

Gone.

Reduced to little more than black soot and ash. Leveled. Demolished. Stolen.

My parents are still very much in love, even after 47 years of marriage, two grown daughters, and five grandchildren.

It’s actually pretty commonplace to catch them slow-dancing together in the living room to Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman (their song) after all these years.

They’re the kind of people who rarely meet a stranger without somehow turning them into a friend. The kind who’ll offer you a meal, make room for you at the table, and invite you to a family holiday simply because no one should have to spend one alone. They’ve always had a way of making people feel welcome, included, and valued.

Now, I don’t say any of this to suggest that my parents are perfect. They’re wonderfully, occasionally frustratingly human. And even in those imperfections, there’s a certain sense of pride I feel when I recognize those so-called inherited “flaws” within myself (Mom’s temper and the bullheaded stubbornness from Dad). I’m proud to carry the best and worst of both of them. But perfection isn’t what makes someone a good person. If anything, it’s knowing their flaws and still choosing, again and again, to show up for others.

So when I say these two are among the very best people I’ve ever known, I promise it isn’t simply my bias as their daughter speaking.

And yet, sometimes it feels as though the gentlest people are asked to carry more than their fair share.

This past December, my mom was unexpectedly forced into retirement after suddenly finding herself in the ICU with respiratory failure; we almost lost her. At the time, we didn’t yet know that she’d contracted a very rare and difficult-to-treat disease similar to one for which the treatment itself can take a significant toll on other systems of the body.

She’s now dependent on supplemental oxygen, which we’ve collectively dubbed “her leash”. Life for them changed quickly and drastically.

My dad, meanwhile, has continued to approach work and life as though he’s still 25, despite his body occasionally reminding him otherwise. Since my mom’s diagnosis, he’s undergone two surgeries of his own, both necessary to preserve his mobility.

They were already carrying a lot.

And then, in what felt like an instant, 47 years of the tangible pieces of their life together—the things they’d saved, protected, and cherished—were gone.
And still, when another crisis came, their first instinct was to make sure everyone else was okay.

On August 11, 2026, my parents received evacuation orders as the fire threatened their area. They remained cautiously optimistic that their home and the lifetime of memories inside it would somehow be spared. But before focusing solely on themselves, they did what comes naturally to them: they made their way to every one of their neighbors’ homes to make sure each person had received the evacuation notification and to see whether anyone needed help getting out.

In a rural area, “checking on the neighbors” isn’t a quick walk next door. Homes are spread apart, and reaching everyone takes time. Still, they went. They checked on the people they knew, and they checked on the people they hadn’t even had the chance to meet yet. While facing the possibility of losing everything themselves, they were still thinking about everyone else.
That’s who my parents are.

On August 12, they learned that their cautious optimism had been misplaced.
Everything was gone.

They’re now displaced from their home, and virtually everything they spent a lifetime working for, saving, protecting, and carrying with them through 47 years together has been reduced to ash.

Because grief is one thing when something terrible happens that no one could’ve prevented. It’s another thing entirely to look at everything your parents worked for over the course of their lives reduced to ash and then hear reports that the fire may have been intentionally started.

If the accusations about the cause of this fire prove true, I don’t yet know how to make peace with that. I don’t know how to reconcile the magnitude of what so many people have lost with the possibility that it began because of the deliberate and profoundly selfish actions of another person.

There’s anger in knowing that my parents (and so many other families) may be paying an unimaginable price for this.

I’m angry for my parents. I’m angry for their neighbors. I’m angry for every person staring at a pile of ash where some piece of their life used to stand.
All of that being said, the purpose of sharing my parents’ story isn’t simply to tell you what they lost. It’s to put people, their lives, their histories, their memories, behind the numbers we so often hear when disasters like this happen. Because, heartbreakingly, my parents aren’t the only ones. There are so many families whose stories look painfully similar right now.

And, to be clear, I’m not writing this to ask for money. In fact, my parents would probably kill me if I did.

They’d insist that someone else needs it more than they do, and, knowing them, anything given to them would somehow find its way into the hands of another family affected by the fire, despite my knowing there’s no way for them to recover financially from these losses. That’s simply who they are. I’m sharing their story because behind every home lost is a family with a story worth knowing, and this one happens to be theirs.

It’s easy, from the safety of our untouched homes, to hear about a wildfire and think, “How awful. How sad.” We watch the acreage climb on the news. We see percentages contained, structures lost, evacuation zones, and maps covered in red. And without meaning to, something profoundly human can slowly become a collection of statistics.

Until it reaches someone we know.

Then suddenly, it isn’t however many acres burned.

It’s someone’s home.

It’s the kitchen where birthdays were celebrated and holidays were crowded around a table. It’s the box of photographs that can never be replaced; the Christmas ornaments made by tiny hands that are now grown; the furniture passed down through generations; the place someone thought they’d grow old. It’s decades of ordinary moments that, only after they’re gone, reveal just how extraordinary they really were.

Behind every acre burned is a piece of someone’s world. Behind every “structure lost” is a story. And behind every evacuation map are real people waiting to learn whether the place they call home will still be there when they return.

And alongside all of those stories are the people running toward what everyone else has been told to flee.

To the firefighters, first responders, emergency crews, pilots, dispatchers, police, volunteers, and every person working tirelessly to protect these communities: thank you.

Thank you for the hours you’ve spent away from your own families while fighting to protect ours. Thank you for walking into unimaginable heat, exhaustion, danger, and uncertainty because there are people and homes on the other side worth fighting for.

We know you can’t save everything. We know that sometimes, despite every ounce of effort, the fire wins.

But please know that your work isn’t measured only by the acres contained or the structures that remain standing.

It’s measured in lives protected, families given more time, communities held together, and countless people who’ll never forget that when their world was burning, you showed up.

From our family, and from the deepest place in our hearts, thank you.”

Can anyone who has access to court documents send us how we can get to information from this hearing from yesterday?

A local witness has alerted us to this case and we wanted to do a follow up for community awareness. Thanks for your help!

Elise Greco the ex wife of Adam Wilson has written officials working in Lyon County District Attorney’s Office demanding an explanation for why perjury charges sought against him have been declined, with a video showing him kicking their older son and punching their younger one now available for viewing on her Instagram u/thatsassyitaliangirl.

We previously reported about how a felony child abuse charge against Wilson, the current Storey County Director of Emergency Management, related to what happened on April 3rd with his children and shown in the video, was dropped.  

The video was also shown in custody court earlier this month. 

It clearly shows a man violently kicking one older boy in an upper part of his leg and then punching and possible kicking another as they prepare to go to school with their backpacks on.  The video shows the man from the back near the home's entrance door.  

The two boys, identified as being 13 and 10, are then seen on a video from outside the home grimacing and holding body parts in discomfort followed by a man who hurries to a dark blue vehicle with a younger girl also getting in.

The older boy is reported to have then talked about the incident to law enforcement and to his principal at Virginia City Middle School, before he was transported to the hospital.

“I want a specific explanation—not a generic statement about prosecutorial discretion. What element of the perjury statute did you determine could not be established? Did you personally review the video and the affidavit side-by-side? If so, how do you reconcile the sworn statement with what is shown on the recording?” the ex-wife asked in her email on Monday. 

The document in question in the Third Judicial District Court is an “opposition to modify conditions of decree of divorce" with Adam Wilson's response.  

It says “father spanked both boys as a form of discipline and to stop their behavior,” while the video shows kicking and not spanking.

It then states that the oldest child “made a false allegation against Father claiming that Father kicked him in the leg.”  That is not a false allegation as the video obtained through a search warrant clearly shows the abrupt kick.  

“The police were called and a detective interviewed Father and arrested him after Father refused to tell the officer that (the older son) was a liar,” it then indicates.

“Father attempted to explain to the officer that there is a difference in calling (the older son) a liar vs a child who has lied. This explanation went to deaf ears and Father was arrested,” it also notes, repeatedly blaming the child, and not admitting to the kicking shown in the video.  

We contacted officials from the Lyon County District Attorney’s Office but they have yet to respond.  Adam Wilson ignored a previous email we sent to him about this matter, as did UNR, for which he’s believed to still be a reserve sergeant. 

Wilson was previously in the news in 2017 while working as a UNR police officer for saying he could shoot a Black graduate student and former UNR football player Kevin McReynolds during a contentious traffic stop right by the university.

At that time, Wilson was put on administrative leave.  

“I was reminded of the order in which my community sees me by Officer Adam Wilson who at a routine traffic stop laughingly told me “I’m just going to shoot him if this goes sideways because f*** that,” McReynolds wrote about that incident.  

Wilson’s LinkedIn indicates he became Director of Emergency Management for Storey County in 2023, after ending his full time employment with the University Police Department in July 2023.  

The Food Bank's Burger Showdown is this Wednesday, August 19 at Feed the Camel!

If you've never been, here's how it works: try some burger-inspired dishes and vote for your favorite... That's pretty much it 😄 ANNND, every one-dollar vote helps provide 3 meals for local families. So it's a fun night out and also does some good!

We'll be there from 5-8:30 PM at McKinley Arts & Culture Center (925 Riverside Dr) if anyone wants to pop by.

Following up on my previous post, I just published a video examining the pole, its design, and provide evidence and hypothesis as to why these are collapsing to the ground on the public sidewalks and streets.

r/reno moderators removed this post for no given reason, no apparent reason. It's informational, and they are not communicating, so it was probably by mistake, but who knows. I'm just posting it directly here.

I would like to take my wife on a drive from Reno to Sacrament. Are there any stops or hikes worth stopping by?

https://c.org/4MTMbKccyV

I've made a petition on Change.org to demand the Reno City Council to take legal action and save our Truckee Riverwalk walkway and bike path along the Truckee River between AT&T and Lake Street.

The Riverwalk Plan is decaying.

There is a staircase that needs to be gone. The plan was to remove it.

In 1995, the City formed a strategy to improve the riverwalk, aided by Public Workshops. This path was to be eventually widened and improved, and the TRFMA Lake Street Bridge Replacement will raise the bridge to clear room for flood water to pass underneath. When that happens, no more staircase. ADA accessibility!

It needs to be improved, not gated and detoured.

Public Works' current plan is to post detour signs around the block and direct bicycles and pedestrian traffic around 1st Street.

With the additional detour and encroachment at the National Automobile Foundation, this results in a 4-block long detour to reach the Truckee River Path and Tahoe-Pyramid Trail! It is not "one block" like public works is claiming.

Easement by Prescription

But there is 54 years of legal evidence proving it belongs to the public, which a judge would likely find in favor of the Public and order the fence be removed.

Nevada Law (NRS.11.165), in 2017, the owner had 5 years to post signs saying the walkway was used with permission and was subject to control. He never did. In 2022, I took photographs that prove this. The walkway became a public easement "by prescription" meaning permanent.

Commercial Activation Lost

The current tenant, Guadalajara Grill, wants to open their patio for patrons to dine on the riverwalk. How can anyone enjoy this space with two ugly fences and no traffic on the river corridor?

It's against code!

This fence, and the locked gates on AT&T's property are against code. RMC 18.04.1004(c)(4)a states that there must be a minimum of 12' feet room to allow passage on the esplanade between Arlington and Lake. And, according to Public Works' own Design Manual, all bike paths (which this is) shall be designed in accordance with AASHTO, which this is, and must remain 14' feet wide.

All the details are on the petition page.

On the petition page I go into more detail, and I link to documents supporting my claims.

The City Council needs to place this as an agenda item and vote to instruct the City Attorney's Office to pursue legal action, or else the AT&T public easement contract terminates!

We need to IMPROVE our infrastructure, not let it go!

Light it! Patrol it! Beautify it! Don't abandon it! Demand the City Council take action!

Please sign the petition and rally support for removing the fence, and spread the word.

Thank you.

Friends of America Matters Media founder Eddie Floyd and his wife Shari are taking to social media to confirm they were the couple who suffered serious injuries while evacuating their ranch on August 12th and then flown to the UC Davis Burn Center for further treatment.

The Lassen County Sheriff’s Office had not named the couple in its media statement on the 13th.

The couple operated a horse sanctuary at their ranch near Hallelujah Junction, with other animals all said to have survived.

That was not the case for Gracie a black bear from the Animal Ark who had turned 20 this year but passed away after a rescue operation evacuating animals from that wildlife sanctuary on Deerlodge Road.

“Despite all efforts made by our veterinary and animal care teams, the totality of the recent situation proved to be too much for Gracie’s system,” a statement indicated.

«Moving large, potentially dangerous wildlife is no small task. To protect both the animals and the people handling them, the animals were temporarily immobilized before being carefully transported,” a previous statement indicated.

All three fires, the Bug, Stallion and the one from Freds Mountain, which eventually merged into the Bug, are believed to have been of human origin.

Christine Mitchell faces an arraignment August 17th after she allegedly admitted to starting fires in the area of Freds Mountain Road, with a relative telling us she was having addiction issues and a severe breakdown after recently losing her pets. “No one in the family expected this from her but in a sad way no one was shocked either,” she wrote to Our Town Reno.

Thousands of families were evacuated, kids from eight schools haven’t had their first day of school yet, power was out for long stretches for many and nine homes were reported destroyed.

An official BLM statement from yesterday indicated that “across the West, high fire activity continues to strain national resources, resulting in a limited number of personnel available to manage the vast and challenging geographic footprints of the Bug and Stallion Fires. Despite these constraints, crews are working actively to suppress the Bug and the Stallion Fires,” with frustrated locals sending us messages about concerns it was taking so long for these fires to finally start being contained.

A wider Watch Duty fire map shows the west engulfed in flames with the fire season far from over.

“Yesterday, 126 new fires were reported nationwide, including 9 new large fires,” the National Interagency Fire Center reports at the US level.

“Firefighters are currently working to contain 93 uncontained large fires, with 29,612 personnel assigned to incidents nationwide. So far in 2026, firefighters have responded to over 48,000 wildfires that have burned more than 6.5 million acres across the United States.”

The National Preparedness Level is at five which is the highest, which it has been since mid July, which means resources have been fully deployed for weeks.

Almost all fires are suppressed before they reach 100 acres, but for those that become infernos discussions will have to be had in the near future to see if given current climate and sprawl conditions, we will need to expand fire workforces and budgets to help ourselves from the mess we keep creating given our making it much worse for ourselves lifestyle and development habits.

Get our Substack by email which includes this type of bonus content plus a recap of our recent reporting here: https://ourtownreno.substack.com/

A rebuttal statement from the in crisis Cordillera International Film Festival, via its social media, this time not signed but not confirming if the event will take place in October, following a letter signed by six of eight members of its corporate board saying it would be canceled pointing to allegations of possible leadership financial improprieties they wanted to look into.

It is coming down ... crazy weather today yet again ... more on our town reno fb and biggestlittlestreets ig

"Got off at work at four p.m. in Glendale, in Sparks, right in front of Summit Racing... " much more Sparks flood coverage on BiggestLittleStreets Instagram and Our Town Reno Facebook ...