Local News

Spring Prescribed Burning Continues on Methow Valley Ranger District

By NCBI
May 17, 2012

Forest Service firefighters plan to complete a prescribed burn in the Eightmile Creek drainage, about 12 miles northwest of Winthrop Washington today.

Depending on weather and fuel conditions, the next areas planned for treatment include another unit in the Eightmile creek drainage, then an area southeast of Leecher Mountain, and a unit in the Fawn Creek area, about nine miles northwest of Winthrop.

Crews are patrolling all of the units that were lit over the past month and will continue to do so over the weekend.

These burns are part of the comprehensive Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Restoration Strategy. Forest Service managers began implementing the strategy in 1999 to reduce the threat of uncharacteristically severe fires and bring resiliency to unhealthy forest ecosystems.

All Okanogan-Wenatchee N.F. controlled burns are weather-dependent and fire specialists will cease burning as soon as possible if objectives are not being met or weather conditions are unfavorable. Their primary concerns include favorable winds that can minimize smoke impacts to public health and the risk of fire escape.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources regulates smoke management and must approve all controlled burns on national forests within the state. Okanogan-Wenatchee N.F. fire specialists closely coordinate with the state's air quality managers, after they receive burn approval.

For more information about the prescribed burning program on the Methow Valley Ranger District, please call 509-996-4040.

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