Fall pile burning planned on the Bridger-Teton
by Bridger-Teton National Forest
October 20, 2015
With the onset of colder temperatures and snow conditions fast approaching in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Teton Interagency Fire crews will begin igniting piles of slash and wood debris created from fuels reduction projects, commercial timber sales, and fencing projects in the Big Piney and Pinedale Ranger Districts as early as this week.
Piles to be ignited are located in the North and South Cottonwood Creek drainages on the Big Piney Ranger District and the Red Cliff area on the Moose/Gypsum Road on the Pinedale Ranger District. This list is not comprehensive and additional areas with piles may be targeted for burning. Smoke will be visible in the vicinity of burning slash piles.
The material to be burned is the result of both timber sales and hazardous fuels reduction projects. These projects were implemented to provide greater defensible space and to lower the wildfire risk to homes and private property in the wildland urban interface. The fuel reduction projects have also created more open areas that will help moderate fire behavior during a wildfire, increasing firefighter and public safety.
Slash piles are created by thinning and removing lower limbs from trees, as well as removing dead wood and brush from the forest floor. Firefighters place the slash in tepee-shaped piles and leave them to cure before burning them. Typically, piles are burned the year after they are created.
Teton Interagency Fire crews plan on burning the piles during or after a significant moisture event to decrease the risk of fire creeping away from ignited piles and to minimize heat produced by piles and effects to trees remaining in fuel treatment areas. Ignitions will cease early in the afternoon each day to allow piles and fuels to burn down prior to evening inversions and reduce smoke impacts to the area. All piles will be monitored until they are declared out.
For more information on prescribed fire, fuels reduction projects and defensible space, visit www.tetonfires.com or call the Pinedale Ranger District at 307-367-4326.
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