Small pile burn on Bill Williams Mountain will occur Monday Feb. 22

An 18-acre unit of hand piles is scheduled to be burned on Monday February 22, near the top of Bill Williams Mountain adjacent to the city of Williams.

Deep snow still present after a recent storm has presented Fire managers on the south zone on the Kaibab National Forest a perfect opportunity to remove these slash piles located in steep terrain with very little risk of spread or control problems. The burning will take place on the upper 1/3 of the mountain near forest road 111, also known as the Bill Williams Lookout Road.

Smoke may be visible from various locations around the mountain, however, is not expected to impact any residential or developed areas in the lower elevations as it lifts and disperses quickly to the southeast. This operation is expected to be completed in one day.

Snowy weather conditions throughout the winter provide ideal conditions to burn slash piles on the forest. Pile burns will be ongoing whenever opportunities arise after snowstorms when woody debris can be burned safely with no potential for spread on the snow-covered surfaces. Additional units scheduled to be burned this winter include piles near Marteen Tank, Cougar Park, and Round Mountain.

All prescribed burns are subject to approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Members of the public may view approved prescribed fires at smoke.azdeq.gov/

To learn more about smoke and public health, visit http://bit.ly/SmokeHealthAwareness

Notifications of upcoming prescribed fire projects are provided regularly by news releases throughout the year and through the following sources:

Kaibab National Forest Website: www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab
Twitter: www.twitter.com/KaibabNF  Facebook: www.facebook.com/KaibabNF
Fire Information Recorded Hotline: (928) 635-8311