Coconino National Forest firefighters plan to conduct pile burns starting today in several areas taking advantage of today's wind changes to prevent smoke impacts on our communities.
These burns are part of the thinning projects planned on the Flagstaff Ranger District, Mogollon Rim Ranger District and the Red Rock Ranger District this fall and are part of a strategy to allow fire treatment to protect watersheds and improve the safety of the communities around them.
Fire specialists from the Tonto National Forest plan to burn 40 acres of vegetative debris piles on Thursday, March 7. This one-day prescribed fire treatment will occur north of Payson along the south side of the Beaver Valley area.
With steady precipitation in the immediate forecast over the next several days, fire crews will take advantage of favorable weather conditions and will burn machine piles around the Shiner Timber Sale area approximately 5 miles south of Williams.
These piles consist of left over slash from logging operations and are spread out over an area of about 1000 acres. The Shiner project is located just southwest of Dogtown Lake along the east side of county road 73. Fire Managers are hopeful that conditions will be remain suitable to remove these fuels over the next few days.
Fire specialists from the Tonto National Forest plan to burn approximately 75 acres of piles on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 12, and February 13, 2019. The piles are located on national forest near the Vista Verde subdivision from 136th Street to 170th Street, north of Rio Verde/Dynamite Drive.
Fire crews will begin burning wood piles from forest thinning on Mt. Lemmon February 11 through 15, weather permitting.
Burning will occur along the Catalina Highway, and in Marshall Gulch, Sabino Work Center, Summerhaven and Whitetail Campground. Approximately 100 acres will be burned.
“This project is intended to reduce hazardous fuels adjacent to local communities,” said Santa Catalina District Ranger Charles Woodard. “It’s part of an ongoing fuels reduction project to reduce the threat of wildfire.”
The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest’s Lakeside Ranger District will be burning slash piles February 5 through 8, if weather conditions allow. The piles are located within the Billy Timber Sale area just North of Pinetop Country Club along Forest Service Road 182, and are scattered across roughly 165 acres of forest land. Possible smoke impacts are anticipated along Highway 260 and within the Pinetop- Lakeside Community and Sky Hi Retreat.
Fuels reduction efforts on the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest will begin on Friday (2/1) of this week and continue into next week as weather conditions permit. Machine piles on two separate timber sale units on the district have been evaluated and are suitable for ignition at this time.
The Safford Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest plans to conduct wood pile burning activities on Mt. Graham in the Pinaleño Mountains over the next several weeks. Burning will be dependent upon weather conditions.
The project is intended to reduce excessive vegetation or “fuel” in and adjacent to the summer home area of Turkey Flat to create defensible space and restore a more fire resilient forest within the area.
Wood piles in the Noon Creek administrative site and Snow Flat areas may also be burned.
Fire managers will be conducting slash pile burns Thursday (Nov. 29) and Friday (Nov. 30) near Clints Well and Flagstaff.
Mogollon Rim Ranger District firefighters are planning to burn slash piles both Thursday and Friday near the intersection of state Routes 87 and 260 southwest of Clints Well. Smoke may be noticeable from these machine piles as wind speed decreases. Smoke will settle during evening hours in the West Clear Creek Wilderness and impact low lying areas near the burn site.
