The Coconino County Board of Supervisors enacted the Wildfire Defense Ordinance Stage 1 fire restrictions, for Coconino County, north of the Grand Canyon, during a special session Thursday.
Grand Canyon
The Kaibab National Forest will implement additional fire restrictions, also known as Stage II fire restrictions, across the entire Williams and Tusayan Ranger Districts beginning at 8 a.m. this Friday. These new restrictions limit the kinds of activities typically allowed on the forest and will remain in effect until significant and widespread moisture arrives.
Coconino County will be entering Stage Two Fire Restrictions at 8 a.m. on May 4. The restrictions will be enacted for all of Coconino County up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The Coconino County Board of Supervisors voted to further enact Stage 1 fire restrictions today during a special session. Restrictions will be for County lands up to the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon and begin at 8 a.m., Friday, April 27. Previous restrictions were in place for the part of the County below the Mogollon Rim only.
Fire crews with the Kaibab National Forest plan to implement a prescribed fire project near Tusayan starting tomorrow and continuing through Thursday in order to improve forest health and reduce the risk of unnaturally severe wildfire to the community.
Crews plan to continue working on the Reed Prescribed Fire project east of Tusayan over the next few days and will likely begin on Friday of this week. Burning may continue into the week ahead providing weather conditions remain favorable for meeting forest health objectives and desired smoke dispersion.
Ignitions are set to continue on a 289 acre block approximately 4 miles east of Tusayan and just south of the East Rim Drive in the Grand Canyon National Park.
State Route 67 between Jacob Lake (US 89A) and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park is scheduled to close for the winter season on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
ADOT doesn’t clear snow from SR 67 during the winter since North Rim visitor accommodations are closed. The highway reopens each spring, usually around mid-May. US 89A remains open during the winter.
ADOT reminds motorists heading into snow country to drive with caution and follow this advice:
As the year winds down, so will much of the fire management activity on the Kaibab National Forest and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. But for the North Zone Interagency Fire Management Program, one burning fact remains – the fall of 2017 yielded a busy and highly successful prescribed fire season, with more than 13,500 acres treated across the 1.6-million acres that the North Zone is responsible for in roughly four weeks.
Ignitions on the Thompson prescribed fire unit within the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park have been delayed due to unfavorable atmospheric conditions which would likely result in undesirable smoke dispersion.
Earlier this month, North Zone Fire managers announced big picture plans for the 2017-2018 prescribed fire season across the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
As conditions fell within prescriptive parameters over the past ten days, that focus has narrowed, and firefighters are ready to begin hazardous fuels reduction treatments within the Tipover East prescribed fire (Tipover Rx) unit as early as Tuesday.
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