Yosemite is beginning spring pile burning today

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Yosemite is beginning spring pile burning today

Wawona Road (Hwy 41) and Foresta Pile Burning March 17, 2009

Current status: Yosemite fire managers will be conducting roadside burn projects near the communities of Wawona and Foresta beginning today.

The Wawona area project continues the burning that began last fall, with approximately 3 miles of piles left to burn. It is near Alder Creek, approximately 4 miles north of Wawona. Fire Managers estimate this project could take one to two weeks to complete. The Wawona Road portion was first piled in 2004, and this project will finish the back-log of piles in the area.

The Foresta area pile burning is part of the fuel thinning project aimed at increasing the defensible space around the community. It is estimated this project will be completed by the end of the week. “Firestorm”, a contracted hand crew, will be assisting Yosemite firefighters in Foresta.

Fire Managers are taking advantage of winter precipitation and good atmospheric air dispersion to conduct the burn projects. Snow is still present in some area of the piles.

These piles consist of down and dead forest material (limbs, brush, etc...). Pile burning is a cost effective method of removing burnable biomass from the forest floor. One hundred to 200 piles are burned on average each day. Each 100 piles roughly equal 1 acre in area. The primary objective for both of these projects is defensible space.

Pile burning benefits: The benefits of pile burning include opening scenic vistas along road corridors. It affords motorists greater safety by eliminating obstructive vegetation along highway curves. Burning piles are low intensity fires that open the tree canopy, allowing the sun to penetrate to the forest floor. Pile burning also provides aesthetically pleasing results of being able to “see through the forest”.

When weather conditions are favorable, lower temperatures and higher humidity’s, combined with good air dispersal, pile burning is a relative quick way to restore fire dependent forest systems and reduce effects of catastrophic wildfire to Wildland Urban Interface areas. Both of these projects will create firebreaks that can be utilized for future prescribed and suppression fires.

Fire Managers plan these kinds of fire treatments, in the off season with minimal staff and while the ground is relatively wet from the winter snows. Although piles are extremely labor intensive, this is the most effective means to remove tons of bio-mass. As in any fire situation, safety is the first objective. If the surrounding litter and duff is not completely dry, pile fire will creep and broadcast into snags, trees and brush creating larger fires that must be suppressed.

For additional information please contact:

Yosemite Fire Information - (209) 372-0480
Yosemite Prescribe Fire Office: - (209) 375-9574 or 9576
Yosemite Fire Management Website: www.nps.gov/ysoe/fire

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009