PRESCOTT- Fire managers on the Bradshaw Ranger District plan to take advantage of favorable conditions and continue treating the Groom Prescribed Burn beginning Friday, May 17th through Friday, May 24th.
A road sign warns of a prescribed burn area on public land in the high desert of Utah.
The treatment area is located 4 miles south of Prescott along Marapai Road (T13N, R2W, S33). Up to 158 acres will be treated. Vegetation consists mainly of ponderosa pine and brush. Fire manages recently completed 65 acres of the Groom RX on May 4th.
Fire mangers are aware of the special use event happening this weekend and will not be conducting any ignition operations on Saturday, May 18th. If conditions including wind direction, fuel moisture levels, and air quality are not favorable, the prescribed burn will be delayed. Fire managers do not anticipate smoke impacts to high use areas within the Prescott Basin.
In the interest of safety, forest visitors are reminded to obey all traffic signs and use caution when traveling in the vicinity of the prescribed fire burn units as firefighters and fire-related traffic will be in the area. Drivers should be prepared for short delays adjacent to the burns on FS roads.
Prescribed fires are one of the most effective tools available to resource managers for restoring fire-adapted ecosystems. These burns will mimic natural fires by reducing hazardous fuels accumulations, and reintroduce fire into a fire dependent system; recycling nutrients and increasing habitat diversity. Prescribed fires are managed with firefighter and public safety as the first priority.
All prescribed fire activity is dependent on the availability of personnel and equipment, weather forecasts, fuels moisture levels and conditions that minimize smoke impacts as best as possible and approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (www.azdeq.gov).
Messages will be posted to social media (Facebook and Twitter) when managed fires are ignited on the Prescott National Forest.
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