The Williams and Tusayan Ranger Districts have accomplished their fall prescribed fire goals and objectives for the 2023 year successfully treating a total of 16,251 acres in the month of October.
Operations concluded on the 6700 acre Pine Flat Rx Fire yesterday afternoon. Some smoke is expected to linger for the next two days but will diminish rapidly as daytime winds lift and transport the majority of smoke away from the burn area.
Fire managers acknowledge that communities adjacent to these prescribed fires can be impacted by smoke, but always use strategies to limit the amount and duration. Prescribed fires with shorter-term impacts to air quality far outweigh the hazards of wildfires that often produce long-lasting smoke that potentially impact communities for weeks.
Of the four projects that were initially scheduled, the Three Sisters Rx Project was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions that at this time, would not have met objectives or mitigated smoke sufficiently away from sensitive features in and around the community of Williams. This project may resume in the spring of 2024 when conditions improve.
Fuels Specialists will continue to seek opportunities in the later months of the year to apply more treatments in the forest but these decisions will be dependent on amiable weather conditions that correlate with burn plan objectives. Some pile burning will occur in the winter months but these burns typically produce very little smoke with little to no impacts as piles consume rapidly and thoroughly.
Goals of prescribed fire treatments include decreasing the threat of unnatural severe wildfire and potential negative consequences to the community, improving forest health, and reintroducing fire to an ecosystem that relies on frequent fire to maintain resilience. Prescribed fires help reduce hazardous fuels that have accumulated due to drought, climate change, insects and disease, and decades of fire suppression. Fire also recycles nutrients back to the soil, promotes the growth of trees, wildflowers, and other plants, and improves habitat for threatened and endangered species. Our land management strategy is centered on long-term forest health, including reducing forest fuels and using prescribed fire on the landscape. These efforts align with the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy which aims to increase prescribed fire and other treatments to improve forest resiliency for generations to come.
All prescribed fires are subject to approval by an agency administrator and by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The department’s Air Quality Division: Smoke Management webpage provides details about its air quality program.
To learn more about smoke and public health, visit bit.ly/SmokeHealthAwareness.
The Kaibab National Forest remains committed to providing the public with ongoing updates with as much advance notice as possible. Sign up to receive Kaibab NF news releases in your email.
Additional information can be found on the Kaibab NF website, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or by calling the Fire Information Recorded Hotline at (928) 635-8311 or local ranger stations.
An aerial view of the Pine Flat prescribed fire at the top of Sycamore Canyon