Pile Burning planned in the Prescott Basin on the Bradshaw Ranger District

Fire Managers on the Bradshaw Ranger District plan to burn piles of debris in and around the Prescott Basin. Ignitions are planned to start on Monday January 27 and continue through March 31 as favorable weather conditions allow. Fire managers expect smoke impacts to be light and visible from multiple locations including Prescott, Chino Valley, and surrounding areas.

In the interest of safety, forest visitors are reminded to obey all traffic signs and use caution when traveling in the vicinity of the pile burns as firefighters and fire-related traffic will be in the area.

The purpose of this project is to reduce hazardous fuels in the wildland urban interface and increase ecosystem and community resilience following thinning and fuelwood removal activities. Reducing hazardous fuels helps reduce the threat of high-severity, high-intensity wildfire to the public, adjacent private property, and area communities.

All prescribed fire activity is dependent on several different factors which fire managers closely monitor prior to and during prescribed fire implementation.  These factors include availability of personnel and equipment; weather, fuels and conditions that minimize smoke impacts as much as possible; and approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (www.azdeq.gov).

For fire information please call Prescott National Forest at (928) 443-8000; or stay up to date on Prescott National Forest news by checking the Prescott NF website and following us on Facebook and Twitter.