prescribed burn

Depending on weather conditions, Lake Mead National Recreation Area is planning a prescribed burn adjacent to the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) Lake Mead Fish Hatchery. Ignitions are planned to start on March 28, take 1 to 2 days to complete, and treat approximately 20 acres.  

Located along Lakeshore Road, west of Lake Mead, this project will reduce hazardous vegetation (fuel) build-up near NDOW’s facilities and reduce invasive species to improve habitat and biodiversity along the wash between the fish hatchery and the lake.  

Fire managers on the Bradshaw Ranger District plan to take advantage of the moisture received and predicted to burn debris piles in the Prescott Basin. Ignitions are planned to start tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21, 2023, and continue through Friday, March 31, 2023, as favorable weather conditions allow. Fire managers expect smoke impacts to be light and visible from multiple locations including Prescott, Williamson Valley, Chino Valley, and surrounding areas.

Tonto Basin fire specialists are planning a pile burn on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

Fire specialists will burn the community green waste pit near Punkin Center and west of State Route 188. Visitors and residents in the area may see smoke during ignitions but impacts are expected to be minimal to State Route 188 and the community of Tonto Basin. 

The Forest Service will post signs alerting the public that fire specialists will be burning. Officials urge motorists to slow down when driving through smoky areas for the safety of firefighters and the public. 

Tonto National Forest fire officials are planning to burn the community green waste pit in Gisela, Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

Fire specialists will be burning a pit containing brush, branches, and grass materials. Property owners who gather this dry fuel from around their homes and property can take it to the community green waste pit to have it burned. Removing this material creates defensible space around structures which increases the likelihood that a home will survive a wildfire.

Next week the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management in conjunction with Arizona State Parks and Trails begin a two-day pile burn project at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood. During the day, smoke off the project may be visible to the City of Cottonwood and immediate communities. Project managers expect
the smoke to settle into the Verde River overnight near Cottonwood down to Camp Verde. The project takes place within the state park, but will not affect park visitors.

To decrease the risk of future wildfires and protect cultural and natural resources, fire managers with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arizona Strip District plan to burn slash debris piles located in the Mt. Trumbull area. The treatments located 30 miles south of Fredonia, Arizona will take place along the BLM 1768 Road, south of County Road 5 and Potato Valley. Burning may occur over multiple days between February through March 2023.

Tonto National Forest fire officials are preparing to burn three piles on the Tonto Basin Ranger District, Monday, Jan. 30, 2023.

Fire specialists plan to move forward with burning three separate slash piles that were cancelled earlier this month. The three sites include: the Indian Point Community Green Waste site, Burnt Corral Campground (FS 49 Road and State Route 88) and the Crabtree Wash Pit near the Apache Lake Marina. Pile burns range from 1 acre to a quarter of an acre in size.

As part of continuing efforts to reduce hazardous fuels and prevent catastrophic wildfires, Kaibab National Forest firefighters are planning to conduct pile burns on about 700 acres near Williams on Friday. These piles are located near Clover Road and along I-40, and weather conditions are expected to result in some smoke impacts on the highway and in town.

The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests is currently working to begin multiple prescribed burn operations this week. The following prescribed fires will be initiated if conditions and approvals allow:

Black Mesa Ranger District