Conditions look favorable for fire staff to begin burning in the County Line Prescribed Burn Area on Wednesday November 10.  Updates will be posted to InciWeb.  Please check back often!

Elkins, W.Va., October 4, 2021 – Monongahela National Forest plans to conduct prescribed burns on about 1,100 acres in Greenbrier, Pendleton, Pocahontas, and Randolph counties from October through December, weather permitting. The purposes of these burns are to re-establish fire’s natural role in the forest ecosystem, improve forest health and wildlife habitat, and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.

Project areas planned for prescribed burns this fall include:

• Big Mountain – west of Cherry Grove in Pendleton County
• County Line – north of Sue and Camp Wood in Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties
• North Fork – north of Neola in Greenbrier County

Monongahela fire staff also plan to burn brush piles at various locations in Pendleton, Pocahontas and Randolph counties to enhance grazing allotments, improve wildlife habitat and reduce hazardous fuels. Pile burning may take place at any time of the year when conditions permit.

Each burn area will be closed to the public on the day of the burn, and may be closed for several days after, to ensure public safety. Signs will be posted on roads near all prescribed burn areas before and during burning. Residents and Forest visitors may see and smell smoke for several days. If you encounter smoke on the highway, slow down, turn on your vehicle’s lights and drive appropriately for the conditions.

Prescribed fires are conducted under specific weather conditions and are designed to accomplish pre-determined forest management goals. Monongahela National Forest follows strict guidelines for conducting prescribed burns, and takes into consideration environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and wind. If any environmental conditions are not within limits, the burns will be postponed.

Local radio stations will be alerted to burn activities ahead of time. When burning begins, information, photos, and maps will be available at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/.

Firefighters from the #KlamathNF are still hard at work this week burning piles across the Forest. So far this week, 25 acres of piles have been burned along Elk Creek, south of Happy Camp. Salmon/Scott River District fire personnel have burned 55 acres so far this week in the areas of Cabin Meadows, South of Cecilville, Coats Creek and Indian Creek Baldy.Additional pile burning is planned for this week on the far north side of the Happy Camp/Oak Knoll District in the Copper Butte area near Cook and Green Pass. The Scott/Salmon District will continue to burn piles south of the community of Cecilville. Pile burn operations will pause for Thanksgiving week, but patrolling will continue on units that have been burned in recent weeks. This fall firefighters have burned approximately 1,360 acres of piles on the Klamath National Forest.

Thanks to continued favorable weather conditions, #pileburning activities have been in full swing on the #KlamathNF this week.

Pile burning is one way that land managers use to reduce fuels on the Klamath National Forest. Smaller trees and brush that can serve as ladder fuels are cut and then piled. Once the piles dry out, or ‘cure’, firefighters use drip torches to burn them when it is moist enough that they won’t creep out of their footprints.

Firefighters from the Klamath NF have been hard at work for the past several weeks burning pile units across the Forest. This week, pile burning has been continuing in the following areas:

•South of Happy Camp, Klamath National Forest firefighters have been joined by personnel from the Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) to knock out over 350 acres of pile burning along Elk Creek.
•In the Humbug Creek area, south of Craggy Mountain, firefighters from Oak Knoll are targeting up to 70 acres.
•On the east side of the Forest, fire personnel from the Goosenest District are burning piles in the Black Rock Project, north of Martin’s Dairy Campground.
•On the Scott/Salmon River Ranger District, pile burning is occurring on 3 separate projects. 30 acres on the RRR project in the Music Creek drainage; roughly 50 acres west of Yreka, on the McKinnley Project; and 19 acres in the Gun PCT Project, also west of Yreka.

This fall, Klamath National Forest fire personnel have burned roughly 1,240 acres of piles. After ignition, pile units are patrolled on a regular basis until they can be called 'out.'

Elkins, W.Va., November 22, 2021 – This month Monongahela National Forest successfully completed three prescribed burns on about 1,000 acres in Greenbrier, Pendleton and Pocahontas counties. These prescribed burns are helping to re-establish fire’s natural role in the forest ecosystem, improve forest health and wildlife habitat, and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.

“Fall is a good time to do a prescribed burn,” said Aaron Kendall, fire management officer for Monongahela National Forest. “Prescribed burning when conditions are right produces a slower moving burn and, in addition to providing ecological benefits, helps to reduce leaf litter and other hazardous fuels.”

Prescribed burns in the Big Mountain area help maintain the oak forest, promote oak regeneration, and will eventually increase mast that is crucial for wildlife.

The County Line and North Fork burns, in the southern part of the national forest, help create conditions that favor oak-hickory and oak-pine communities and reduce vegetation in the understory resulting in increased wildlife habitat diversity, increased mast, and ultimately a healthier forest. Many species also prefer a more open forest floor for breeding and foraging, which can result from periodic prescribed burning. In addition, the County Line and North Fork prescribed burns benefit the endangered Indiana bat by providing snags for roosting and encouraging flowering plants which attract bugs the bats like to eat.

Maps and photos of the prescribed burns can be found on InciWeb:

• Big Mountain – https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7888/
• County Line – https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7890/
• North Fork – https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7892/

Firefighters from Monongahela National Forest were assisted by several other organizations during prescribed burning this fall. Many thanks to the following groups:

• Bureau of Land Management, Rock Springs District (Wyoming)
• Bureau of Land Management, Southern Nevada District (Nevada)
• Cimarron Hills Fire Protection District (Colorado)
• Harpers Ferry Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center (West Virginia)
• National Park Service, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve (West Virginia)
• South Arkansas Fire Protection District (Colorado)
• USDA Forest Service, Klamath National Forest (California)
• USDA Forest Service, Olympic National Forest (Washington)

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Fire staff completed the Big Mountain Prescribed Burn today (total = 257 acres). Everything went well! Personnel will continue to mop up any areas that need attention today.  Then they will patrol the fire lines, if needed, for the next few days until forecasted rain arrives later this week.

The test fire was successful.  Fire staff are continuing with the prescribed burn in the Big Mountain area southwest of Circleville in Pendleton County. The burn area is closed to the public. Residents and visitors may see or smell smoke for several days.

Please check back for additional updates throughout the day.

Conditions are looking favorable for fire staff to burn Unit 3 in the Big Mountain Prescribed Burn area today, Tuesday, Nov. 9.  The burn area is southwest of Circleville in Pendleton County.  Fire staff are briefing on site this morning.  If conditions are favorable, they will ignite a test burn.  If the test burn is successful, they will continue with fire operations.

Elkins, W.Va., October 4, 2021 – Monongahela National Forest plans to conduct prescribed burns on about 1,100 acres in Greenbrier, Pendleton, Pocahontas, and Randolph counties from October through December, weather permitting. The purposes of these burns are to re-establish fire’s natural role in the forest ecosystem, improve forest health and wildlife habitat, and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.

Project areas planned for prescribed burns this fall include:

• Big Mountain – west of Cherry Grove in Pendleton County

• County Line – north of Sue and Camp Wood in Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties

• North Fork – north of Neola in Greenbrier County

  Monongahela fire staff also plan to burn brush piles at various locations in Pendleton, Pocahontas and Randolph counties to enhance grazing allotments, improve wildlife habitat and reduce hazardous fuels. Pile burning may take place at any time of the year when conditions permit.

  Each burn area will be closed to the public on the day of the burn, and may be closed for several days after, to ensure public safety. Signs will be posted on roads near all prescribed burn areas before and during burning. Residents and Forest visitors may see and smell smoke for several days. If you encounter smoke on the highway, slow down, turn on your vehicle’s lights and drive appropriately for the conditions.

  Prescribed fires are conducted under specific weather conditions and are designed to accomplish pre-determined forest management goals. Monongahela National Forest follows strict guidelines for conducting prescribed burns, and takes into consideration environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and wind. If any environmental conditions are not within limits, the burns will be postponed.

  Local radio stations will be alerted to burn activities ahead of time. When burning begins, information, photos, and maps will be available at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/.

Conditions look favorable for fire staff to burn in the Big Mountain Prescribed Burn Area on Tuesday, November 9.  Please keep checking InciWeb for further updates.