Forest Service nearly finished with pile burning north of Carson City along I-580
Submitted by editor on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 7:48am
Fire crews from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s Carson Ranger District are wrapping up pile burning in the North Washoe Valley Fuels Reduction Project area, north of Carson City.
The piles are located between the Nevada Department of Transportation sand shed and the Chocolate Nugget Candy Factory, west of I-580.
“We have finished igniting all the piles for this phase of the project for areas along the highway, but some piles will continue to smolder for several days to meet the project objectives,” said Fuels Specialist Steve Howell. “We will continue to monitor and mop up piles until they are extinguished.”
Due to its proximity to Interstate 580, the burning operation is highly visible and there has been an elevated interest from the public. The U.S. Forest Service has been working closely with the National Weather Service to monitor weather patterns and also keeps local fire agencies aware of what was occurring.
The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District did receive calls early this morning that one of the piles had burned 100 feet into the surrounding cheatgrass.
“All the burning activity has remained entirely within the prescription area,” said Howell. “We selected the time to burn based on snow levels, fuel moisture, and temperatures. Our fire staff regularly monitor these burning operations and if anything is out of prescription or there are unsafe conditions we will immediately halt the operation.”
Upon receiving the phone call Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District staff checked on the piles. After arriving at the site, they extinguished the fire where it had gone outside of the pile and communicated their finding with the Forest Service fire staff.
“Seeing flames and smoke, even after dark, is part of normal pile burning operations,” noted Howell. “Burning is one way that we can help reduce the buildup of fuels on the landscape to reduce the threat of wildfire to reduce the threat to surrounding communities."
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