Single Incident Information

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Prescribed fire is a tool that uses fire under planned ignitions to mimic the natural role of fire in the environment. Without fire, hazardous fuels can build up and carry wildfire from the forest floor to tree canopies, creating extreme fire behavior that poses risk to firefighters, surrounding communities and natural resources. Prescribed fire, including vegetation cutting, removal and burning of piles and low-intensity understory burning, is an important tool to meet the Forest Service’s management objectives for ecological restoration, creating habitat for plants and animals and reducing unwanted fuel loading.

Fire managers follow a risk-management approach when conducting these projects and mitigate impacts to local communities, residences and infrastructure. Fire managers will conduct prescribed fire activities during the safest possible “burn windows” in the coming months. Numerous factors including wind, humidity, air quality, fuel moisture and availability of fire crew personnel must be met before crews are authorized to move forward with burning.

Residents and visitors are asked to avoid areas where prescribed fires are being conducted. Some smoke may be visible. People should not be alarmed as the fires are carefully monitored. Local fire and government authorities are notified prior to burn days and kept informed throughout prescribed fire operations.

Additional updates on prescribed burning will be shared on Inciweb and the forest’s social media at https://twitter.com/MendocinoNF and https://www.facebook.com/MendocinoNF.