Pile burning planned on Verde Ranger District Oct. 9-12

Fire managers on the Verde Ranger District are planning to burn piles Tuesday through Friday, Oct. 9-12, pending favorable weather conditions.

Plans include:

Cherry Piles - Approximately 2 acres of piles near the community of Cherry; and,

Mingus Piles – Approximately 50 acres of piles on Mingus Mountain, just north and east of Mingus Springs Ranch.

These are brush and slash piles that have been generated from recently completed fuels reduction projects and mechanical thinning that has occurred over the past year, according to a news release. Smoke will be visible in the immediate area of the burn activity.

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

The purpose of burning piles is to reduce hazardous fuels following thinning and fuelwood removal activities. Reducing hazardous fuels will help reduce the threat of high severity, high intensity wildfire to the public, adjacent private property and communities. Burning of debris left over from brush-crush and thinning projects require moisture in the surrounding vegetation and typically produces much lighter smoke than broadcast burning.

All prescribed fires activity is dependent on the availability of personnel and equipment, weather, fuels and conditions that minimize smoke impacts as best as possible and approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (www.azdeq.gov).

The public can obtain additional fire information via the following: Prescott NF Forest website, www.fs.usda.gov/prescott; Twitter: @PrescottNF; Facebook: www.facebook.com/PrescottNF; or call 928-567-4121.


Donate Report a Typo Contact
Most Read