FREDONIA, Ariz. — Firefighters successfully completed a prescribed burn in an area of 1,200 acres near Jacob Lake in Kaibab National Forest.
The operation took place on the Jacob Ryan North prescribed fire Basin Unit, and smoke in the vicinity of Jacob Lake remained light.
Firefighters started the day’s operations with a morning test fire. Fire managers have various firing techniques at their disposal to accomplish burn objectives, requiring a test fire to be conducted daily before any mass firing ignitions commence. Additionally, firing techniques will vary from unit to unit based upon topography, fuel type, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, temperature, fuel moistures and atmospheric stability.
“The skillful application of fire to a small test area of wildland fuels will provide the burn boss with valuable information to include smoke behavior, fire behavior and fire intensity,” the U.S. Forest Service said in a news release.
The information gained from test fires is critical to determine whether to move forward with the day’s operational plan or postpone for a day when conditions are more ideal.
Following the test fire, firefighters resumed general ignitions by applying fire along Highway 89A, blacklining along the north end of the unit and continuing to utilize aerial ignitions to work interior portions of the burn unit. Winds along Highway 89A remained and ventilated smoke away from the highway.
Smoke is expected to continue dispersing away from sensitive areas. However, fire officials remind motorists to always use caution when driving on roadways where visibility could change and potentially impact travel on the highway.
Based on topography, down-slope-down-valley winds will continue to carry smoke away from the burn unit to the east-northeast this evening. Fire managers anticipate the potential for localized moderate-to-heavy impacts in the vicinity of Johnson Wash.
Additional fire information for the Kaibab National Forest can be obtained through the following sources:
- Fire Information Recorded Hotline: 928-635-8311.
- Facebook: @KaibabNF.
- Twitter: twitter.com/KaibabNF.
- Text ‘follow kaibabnf’ to 40404 to receive text messages.
- Kaibab website “News & Events”: fs.usda.gov/kaibab.
- InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5194/.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
“The skillful application of fire to a small test area of wildland fuels will provide the burn boss with valuable information” ….Yeah, don’t know how many times we went up to visit the North Rim only to find a “perscribed Burn” had gotten away from the firemen, so then we were stuck up there for hours and hours….so we wait now until the annual perscribed burns are finished before we ever visit