Firefighters Set to Initiate Strategic Pile Burns on Grizzly Ridge for Dixie Fire Recovery

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Firefighters on the Plumas National Forest Mount Hough Ranger District plan to start pile burning on the Dixie Fire Suppression Repair Project on Grizzly Ridge this week, conditions permitting.

They intend to treat approximately 50acres of large machine piles on Grizzly Ridge in the area near Brady’s Camp and Argentine Lookout.  Ignitions are expected to start tomorrow and may continue through Friday.

Smoke is expected to be visible but not have significant long-term impacts to nearby communities, including Quincy,American Valley, Genesee Valley, and Indian Valley.  Smoke will be visible from California State Highways 70 and89 and Arlington Road.

Short duration, minor smoke impacts may occurin the area nearGrizzly Ridgeand neighboring forest roads.  Visibility on roads in the project area may be reduced, especially early in the morning and late evening as smoke settles.

A persistent high pressure system and forecasted light winds are expected to keep the area within prescription and beneficial for pile burning operations.  Despite ongoing dry weather, there is still snow on Grizzly Ridge, which is helpful when burning large machine piles.  Firefighters will be accessing the piles using tracked vehicles over the snow.

While the Plumas National Forest has several resources dispatched to fires in Southern California, there are firefighting resources remaining locally to provide initial attack coverage and support fuel reduction efforts including pile burning.

Prescribed burning and pile burning are important parts of critical fuel reduction work on the Plumas National Forest for community protection as well as post-wildfire recovery work.  The work on the Dixie Fire Suppression Repair Project is helping with both.  Firefighters are continuing to monitor conditions and identify units for treatment as conditions and resource availability allow.

If weather conditions become unfavorable, including increased or gusty winds in the area, burning will stop until conditions improve.  Firefighters will be monitoring conditions throughout the operations and will patrol the areas for the next several days.

For more information on the Plumas National Forest, visit www.fs.usda.gov/plumas or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/USFSPlumas.