Prescribed Burn In Calaveras County To Produce Smoke

Prescribed burn with fire engine

San Andreas, CA—This weekend, motorists and community members in the Mokelumne Hill area of Calaveras County will see smoke in the skies due to a prescribed burn.

The Mokelumne Hill Cemetery District has teamed up with CAL Fire for a hazardous fuel reduction burn on Saturday, November 9, 2024. The goal is to burn about seven acres within the cemetery district to clear hazardous fuels and provide a cleared area on the site used for daily visitation and observance of memorial plots.

The burn will begin between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and is expected to last 6 to 8 hours. CAL Fire cautions that the public may see smoke or fire during the burn near the Highway 49 and Highway 26 intersection and the unincorporated community of Mokelumne Hill.

The purpose is also to enhance the established Mokelumne Hill Fuelbreak, which during the 2015 Butte Fire helped to protect the community. According to CAL Fire, the burn has secondary benefits, including training on live fire and utilizing various techniques with multiple cooperating fire agencies stationed near town. They added, “Control lines and established roadways will be used to prevent the spread of fire from areas outside the burn unit. Firefighters will remain at the scene until all hotspots are out.”

Resources assisting in the burn include the CAL Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit, Calaveras County Air Pollution Control District, and the Mokelumne Hill Fire Protection District.