Up To 4,000 Acres Set To Ignite In Long Term Burn Project
Sonora, CA – Forest officials say several prescribed pile-burns within the Summit Ranger District are in the works.
According to Stanislaus National Forest spokesperson Diana Fredlund, plans are, beginning Monday, to ignite up to 4,000 acres, focusing on areas of 50 to 500 acres per day. The pile-burning will continue as conditions allow through June 2020.
Smoke may be visible from communities along the Highway 108 corridor with some down canyon drift smoke visible in the evening and early morning. As the project is a planned prescribed fire, the public is asked to please not report it as a wildfire.
Officials emphasize that all of the burning is monitored and conducted in accordance with state and county air quality guidelines and is closely coordinated with local county air quality control districts.
Daily burn areas will vary based on environmental conditions and smoke production and burn size may vary with weather and fuel moisture conditions.
Officials stress that the goals of prescribed burning operations are to enhance public and firefighter safety by reducing the build-up of dead and down fuels and residual slash generated from forest thinning projects, timber salvage projects, and fuel break construction/maintenance. Among the public benefits of these projects are the reduction of flammable forest fuels in an effective, cost-efficient way; improvement of firefighting capabilities; and reduction of large, uncontrolled damaging wildland fire impacts.
