- Black Hills National Forest Northern Hills fire (Spearfish, SD) will be burning a mix of hand and machine piles in Spearfish Canyon, starting this week and throughout the winter, as conditions permit. Crews are working to reduce surface fuels from past tornado events in the Canyon, with particular attention to important values at risk (homes, watersheds, etc.). The piles are located between Cheyenne Crossing and Savoy along HWY 14A.
- Mystic Fire (central Black Hills) will begin burning piles, if favorable conditions exist, tomorrow, Jan. 4, 2023 in the Whitetail, Lyons and Solomon timber sale areas located southeast of Black Fox campground & northwest of Deerfield Reservoir.
Pile Burning to begin soon on the Black Hills National Forest
Custer, S.D., January 3, 2023 — With the recent snowfall across the Black Hills National Forest, Ranger Districts will be focusing efforts on burning thousands of hand and machine slash piles. Piles are created from timber sale slash and tree thinning operations.
Piles are
only ignited when managers are confident that the project can be undertaken
safely with considerations to snow cover, wind, temperature, available
staffing, and smoke dispersal. Public and firefighter safety is always the
number-one priority in all burning operations. Firefighters continually monitor
and check the piles for several days after they have been lit.
“It is
very important to reduce fire and insect hazards by reducing fuel buildup,”
said Jason Virtue, Black Hills National Forest Fire Management Officer. “We
appreciate the support from the communities. Being able to reduce these fuels
this time of year makes fire suppression operations safer during the summer
months.
Smoke
will be visible and may impact local communities across the Black Hills for the
next several months. Smoldering material may continue to burn days after
burning operations are completed.
The USDA
Forest Service has recently completed a 90-day nationwide operational pause and
program review of protocols, decision support tools and practices related to
the implementation of prescribed fire. This pause has allowed us time to
identify and immediately implement program improvements to ensure firefighters
have the resources, tools and support needed to safely carry out this important
work. The lessons we’ve learned, driven by the best available science,
will be implemented before we resume our prescribed fire program.
For more
pile burning information and notifications, follow the Black Hills National
Forest on the Great Plains Fire Information page: http://gpfireinfo.blogspot.com/, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackhillsnf and/or Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackHillsNF
For more
information on the Black Hills National Forest, visit www.fs.usda.gov/blackhills.
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