February 10, 2021 - The San Bernardino Mountaintop Ranger District will be conducting pile burning operations today weather and environmental conditions allowed. There is approximately 100 acres of burning planned. This will be occurring in the area on the west side of Lake Arrowhead Community. It will begin around 9:00am and continued through 2:00pm. Residents in the area will be able to see flames and smoke visible throughout the day and evening. Firefighters will be monitoring the areal until all piles are extinguished.  

Prescribed fire plays an important role in forest health and reducing extreme wildfires and their negative impact. These fires also help reduce heavy fuel loads while simultaneously opening the conifer forest structure and maintaining the health of meadow habitats. Fire is also used to enhance native plant communities and cultural landscapes and improve wildlife habitats. Another goal is to provide defensible space for communities and developed areas within and surrounding the ENF. With all fire comes smoke, the U.S. Forest Service work to mitigate smoke impacts from prescribed fires on the communities in the area.  

#PrescribedBurn #PrescribedFire #ForestHealth 

February 17, 2023 - The San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) Front Country Ranger District will be conducting a prescribed pile burn today from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm weather and environmental conditions allowed. There is approximately 10 acres of burning planned. This will be occurring in the Angelus Oaks Community near the north of unit 5.  Residents and visitors will see flames and smoke visible throughout the day and evening. Firefighters will be monitoring the area until all piles are extinguished.

Prescribed fire plays an important role in forest health and reducing extreme wildfires and their negative impact. These fires also help reduce heavy fuel loads while simultaneously opening the conifer forest structure and maintaining the health of meadow habitats. Fire is also used to enhance native plant communities and cultural landscapes and improve wildlife habitats. Another goal is to provide defensible space for communities and developed areas within and surrounding the SBNF. With all fire comes smoke, the U.S. Forest Service work to mitigate smoke impacts from prescribed fires on the communities in the area.

#PrescribedBurn #PrescribedFire #ForestHealth #angeleusoaksprescribedburn

With more winter storms hitting Northern New Mexico, fire crews are planning to continue ignitions on the Willow Piles Prescribed Fire project on Wed., Feb. 15. A fresh layer of snow has fallen and breezy winds will help loft and disperse smoke. Piles from 150 acres of forest thinning remain on site and would be burned if forecasted conditions remain steady.

Fire crews last Thursday burned piles from 350 acres of forest thinning. Those piles have been smoldering with minimal fire behavior and light smoke. Heat signatures from satellite monitoring, which were visible Thursday and Friday, dissipated Saturday. Crews will continue to maintain regular patrols and monitoring until the prescribed fire is declared out.

The Willow Piles Prescribed Fire project is on the Tres Piedras Ranger District of the Carson National Forest. The site is about 10 miles west of Tres Piedras, NM, and about a mile east of Hopewell Lake. Piles from 95 acres of thinning were burned last year. More area piles will be treated in future years.

Due to windy conditions in the Westshore Unit 8 and Pillsbury Homesites project areas on the Upper Lake Ranger District, pile burning has been suspended for today.  Weather conditions are expected to remain the same, so no burning is expected for tomorrow.

Conditions are evaluated on a daily basis. Operations will resume when conditions allow.

No firing operations took place this week on either the Upper Lake Ranger District or the Grindstone Ranger District.

On the Upper Lake Ranger District, a crew monitored previously ignited burn units daily. After an inch of rain last weekend, no smoke or heat was observed in any of the locations.

Next week Upper Lake fuels crews will attempt approximately 30 acres of pile burning in the Westshore project or the Pillsbury homesites area between Tuesday, Feb. 14 and Thursday, Feb. 17, weather permitting.

Grindstone Ranger District is not planning pile burning next week.

Carson National Forest fire crews began ignitions on the Willow Piles Prescribed Fire at about 10:15 a.m. Numerous large piles of debris from 500 acres of thinning will continue to be ignited throughout the day and potentially into the weekend if conditions are favorable.

The burn boss conducted an on-site review of all requirements, including wind and crew fatigue, before proceeding. A storm system is moving through the project area bringing with it breezy winds, snow and colder temperatures. The increased winds will ventilate the smoke, lofting and dispersing it, which should minimize impacts downwind south and southeast of the project site, which is located about 10 miles west of Tres Piedras, NM, and near Hopewell Lake (see map).

Once ignitions are complete, the piles will burn down over a two- to three-week period, when smoke will be minimal. Crews will monitor the piles regularly during this time, and will continue to patrol the area until the prescribed fire is declared completely out.

53 inches of snow have fallen in the area so far this season, according to the latest data from National Water and Climate Center. Crewmembers snowmobiled in to the piles and are using snowshoes to move around the area.

Crews ignited piles from 95 acres of forest thinning in 2022. More piles will be addressed in future years as thinning operations continue.

Fire crews are waiting for improved conditions to begin ignitions. Current weather modeling shows low chances of smoke ventilation on Feb. 7, the first day of potential ignitions. Another update will be posted after fire management leadership meets with meteorologists to evaluate the possibility of proceeding later this week, when there are higher chances of smoke moving out of the area and dispersing.

On the Upper Lake Ranger District, 10.5 acres of hand piles were completed this week. Several days of unfavorable weather conditions hampered operations resulting in fewer acres being burned than planned.

All ignitions will continue to be monitored until fully out. Less than 1/2" of rain fell overnight according to the Soda Creek RAWS weather station, and the project area will remain in patrol status over the weekend.

Ten acres of hand piles in Unit 8 of the Westshore Pile Burning Project near Lake Pillsbury was attempted today. The area remains in patrol status until smoke and hot spots are no longer observed.

On Monday, five acres was attempted though ignitions were cut short when relative humidity dropped and was no longer within the burn plan parameters. Only 1/2 an acre of low fire intensity was completed with no visible smoke and no heat observed by the end of the day.