Credit: NPS
June 2, 2022 - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Calif. – Fire managers with Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have scheduled upcoming prescribed burns in Sequoia National Park.
The first, Ash Mountain Prescribed Burn consists of five segments, for approximately 15 acres between the Sequoia National Park entrance station and the Foothills Visitor Center, one mile inside the park, with an earliest start date of Sunday, June 5. The second, Tharps-Hazelwood Prescribed Burn, will treat 752 acres in the heart of the Giant Forest, roughly one-half mile northeast of the Giant Forest Museum.
The benefit of having lower intensity prescribed burning in key high value asset locations was clearly observed during the 2021 KNP Complex Fire. In the foothills area where the Ash Mountain Prescribed Burn takes place almost on an annual basis, fire resources were able to be allocated to other areas of the fire as there was good defensible space around the parks’ headquarters because the fuel was already consumed.
Within Giant Forest, where decades of proactive fire management have taken place through prescribed burning, the 2021 KNP Complex Fire was significantly slowed when it reached these treated areas. This was due to both the contemporary fire history and the reduction in overall fuels in the area from prescribed burns that acted as a buffer from the intense fire front.
Research also shows that regular prescribed burns produce less smoke than wildfire in areas where fire has been excluded. Learn more about air quality and smoke by visiting http://www.airnow.gov/ or www.valleyair.org.
Visitors and residents may see smoke, active fire, and firefighters during all burning operations, and are asked to drive slowly and follow all firefighter instructions.
Information about these prescribed burns will be posted to the parks’ website, social media pages, and Inciweb:
Ash Mountain Prescribed Burn: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8129/
Tharps-Hazelwood Prescribed Burn: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8130/
As ignition dates get closer, more information will be released about each specific prescribed burn.
About Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Fire Management Program
For over fifty years, our mission has been to use the full range of options and strategies available to manage fire in the parks. This includes protecting park resources, employees, and the public from unwanted fire; building and maintaining fire resilient ecosystems; reducing the threat to local communities from wildfires emanating from the parks or adjacent lands; and recruiting, training, and retaining a professional fire management workforce.
Source: NPS
