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Coconino NF tentative prescribed fire plans for next week
Flagstaff, AZ – This weekend’s weather will determine what and where fire managers choose to burn next week, depending on the amount of moisture this storm provides. Fire managers are tentatively planning for both broadcast burn and pile burn projects across the forest. No burning will take place Monday.
Drier conditions may allow for continued broadcast burning, applying low intensity fire across the forest floor to consume small debris and ground litter. Frequent low intensity fires are natural and necessary components of a healthy forest. This ecosystem depends on fire to promote new vegetation, enhance habitat and reduce the threat of catastrophic fire – which also and improves public and firefighter safety – by reducing the accumulated fuels that could otherwise contribute to more intense fire behavior under hotter/drier conditions.
Alternately, if the forest receives adequate rain and snow, fire mangers may switch to pile burning efforts – burning piles of debris left over from thinning projects. Pile burning requires considerable amount of moisture in the surrounding vegetation to help keep fire from creeping. Pile burning typically produces much lighter smoke than broadcast burning.
For Tuesday, October 13
Other projects fire managers are considering for next week:
All prescribed fire activity is dependent on personnel availability, weather – including winds and ventilation, and approval from the ADEQ (www.azdeq.gov).
Fire managers make every effort to minimize smoke impacts to the communities while continuing to address the critical need to reduce the risk of severe wildfires around those communities. Tactics to keep smoke impacts as minimal as possible include canceling approved burns when conditions aren’t favorable, finding alternative uses for the debris in slash piles, timing daytime ignitions to allow the majority of smoke time to disperse prior to settling overnight, and burning larger sections at a time when conditions are favorable to reduce the overall number of days smoke is in the area.
In addition, the Coconino National Forest coordinates prescribed fire plans with our partners in the Ponderosa Fire Advisory Council, as well as neighboring forests, to reduce the impact of smoke on the communities.
The public can obtain additional prescribed fire information via the following:
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