WILLIAMS — Fuels reduction efforts on Bill Williams Mountain on the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest are set to commence next week after the Christmas holiday. Prescribed burning of several units of slash piles along forest road 111 on the north and east slopes of the mountain will begin taking place as weather conditions permit.
Crews will start by treating small blocks each day in order to minimize smoke production and reduce the potential for impacts to the surrounding roadways and adjacent community.
During ignition operations, smoke will be highly visible from the City of Williams and from the Interstate 40 corridor from both the east bound and west bound lanes approaching the city.
Minimal to light smoke impacts may occur, however winds are expected to transport smoke to the south away from the developed areas and be very short in duration.
These pile burns are just one of many ongoing forest restoration projects happening on Bill Williams Mountain that are critical to improving forest health and increasing the protection of vital watershed resources for the city.
Work will also be continuing in the weeks ahead between Parks and Spring Valley on the south side of Government Hill, where crews began pile burns earlier this month.
As with all prescribed burns, weather conditions will determine the day’s most suitable for ignitions that have the least amount of negative effects on air quality and the best possible ventilation.
The public can view approved prescribed fires for any given day on the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s website at smoke.azdeq.gov/.
To learn more about smoke and public health, visit bit.ly/SmokeHealthAwareness.
Notifications of upcoming prescribed fire projects are provided regularly throughout the year. Additional information can also be obtained through the following sources:
· Kaibab National Forest Website: www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab
· Twitter: www.twitter.com/KaibabNF
· Facebook: www.facebook.com/KaibabNF
· Fire Information Recorded Hotline: 928-635-8311
· InciWeb: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5922/