Deschutes County Oregon -- 12/7/2011 --
Central Oregon – Fuels specialists with the Deschutes National Forest and Prineville BLM will be continuing their pile burning program into the winter. On-going project locations include areas along Highway 97 near La Pine, Highway 31 south of La Pine, Pine Mountain east of Bend and several locations south of Sisters. Fuels planners will be looking for windows of opportunity when weather conditions and fuel moisture will help with project success as well as move smoke away from populated areas.
Smoke from these projects is expected to be short term and no road closures are anticipated. Pile burning project areas will be signed to inform motorists of the burning activity. If smoke drifts on to roads, motorists should slow down, turn on headlights, and proceed with care. Piles can be expected to smolder and burn for several days after ignition.
Once a forest thinning project is complete, the leftover material is gathered into small piles to be burned later under cooler conditions as a means of reducing the risk of wildfire in urban-interface areas (where public and private lands mix). Where economically possible as an option to burning, material from thinning projects is made available for alternate uses such as chips, firewood, posts and poles, and energy production; leftover material is burned to decrease the amount of fuel available to carry a wildfire. Fuels specialists will walk from pile to pile using a handheld ignition device called a drip torch to ignite each one. This differs from traditional underburning where specialists ignite long strips with the intention of burning larger areas instead of single piles (please see the attached photos for demonstrations of the two types of burning).
Burning is done in cool fall and winter conditions where daytime and nighttime temperatures keep fire activity low and may even be done in snowy conditions. In addition, all of the piles are located within areas that have already been thinned (pre-treated) to decrease hazardous fuels, reducing the amount of woody debris and vegetation that can help carry a fire and help it spread beyond the project edge. Some “creep” may occur when fire slowly moves between piles; however, the fire stays within the project boundary. Finally, once ignited, units are patrolled and monitored by firefighters daily until they are declared out.
Fuels specialists will follow policies outlined in the Oregon Department of Forestry smoke management plan, which governs controlled burns, and attempts to minimize impacts to visibility and public health. For more information, visit the Ochoco/Deschutes website at www.fs.usda.gov/centraloregon or call (541) 416-6864 .
