Two Prescribe Burns To Put Smoke In The Skies Over Forest

Monitored fire

Sonora, CA – The Stanislaus National Forest has scheduled two prescribed fires to begin next week on the Summit and Mi-Wok Ranger Districts and last into spring.

Forest officials report the plan is to set the blazes on Monday, May 21st in an effort to burn down fuels in a preventative move to protect the public from wildfires. The prescribed Dry Meadow Underburn on the Summit Ranger District is located about six miles northeast of Pinecrest, along Forest Road 5N02, in the vicinity of Dry Meadow Fire Station, Township 5N, Range 17E. It is slated to run through June if conditions allow with up to 1,090 acres to be burned. Crews will ignite between 50 to150 acres daily, according to forest officials.

The Crandall Underburn on the Mi-Wok Ranger District will take place along Forest Road 3N24, off Italian Bar Road (Forest Road 2N63) south of Deer Creek.  Township 3 North, Range 16 East, Section 29. Its duration will depend on conditions, but forest officials hope to burn well into June.  Up to 140 acres will be treated with low-intensity fire with various size blocks of acreage set ablaze each day.

Forest officials detail that the goal of the burns are to enhance public and firefighter safety by reducing the build-up of dead and down fuels and to reduce the threat of high-intensity wildfire while protecting watershed values and wildlife habitat by creating a mosaic pattern of vegetation. They ask if smoke is seen in the skies not to report it as a wildland fire.