BLM and USWFS Launch Prescribed Burn Season in Central California

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. - The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Wildland Fire Service will begin prescribed fire operations throughout Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties as weather, fuel, and air quality become favorable. Operations will start as early as Nov. 10 and will continue throughout the fall and winter. These treatments are carefully planned to reduce hazardous fuels, protect nearby communities, and restore native ecosystems. Information about specific upcoming and active burns is available online.

Techniques range from broadcast burning, which is the application of fire to an entire area, to hand and machine pile ignitions. These burns focus on increasing safety in the wildland-urban interface and restoring ecological function to the landscape. Targeting built-up fuels and residual materials from previous thinning operations decreases the load of dead trees, branches, and underbrush that pose significant wildfire risks.

What the public should know

• Smoke may be visible from nearby communities and to motorists traveling near project areas while prescribed fire operations are underway.
• Smoke may settle in low-lying areas overnight.
• Residents are encouraged to close windows at night to avoid smoke impacts.
• When driving in smoky areas, drivers should slow down and turn on headlights.
• People with heart or lung disease, asthma or other chronic conditions should ask their doctors about protecting themselves from smoke and monitor their local air quality map.
• Burns are conducted only when weather, fuel and air quality conditions are within established parameters.
• Firefighters use natural features and constructed control lines to keep prescribed fire contained and minimize smoke impacts on nearby communities.

All burns are carried out when weather, fuel conditions, and air quality are within specific parameters. Firefighters use a combination of natural features and constructed control lines to keep the fire contained, with protocols in place to minimize smoke impacts on nearby communities.

For more information, contact the BLM Mother Lode Field Office at (916) 941-3101, [email protected].