USFS Pike Nat'l Forest, South Platte Ranger District Pile Burning 2020 Season

Good Morning,

Elk Creek Wildfire Suppression Module will be conducting pile burn operations in the area of South Foxton Road today. Smoke may be visible from the surrounding area. Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. Please visit our prescribed fire informational page for more information.
ecfd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index....4aa8833a3c43ae269481

ECFPD Wildfire Suppression Module is currently involved with projects in the following areas:

- S Foxton Road: Cut and Pile Burn

- Douglas Ranch Community: Cut and Pile Burn

- The Preserve at Pine Meadows: Cut and Pile Burn

- Glenelk: Cut and Pile Burn

- Several other smaller scale pile burn operations in cooperation with local agencies and property owners.

Elk Creek Fire Suppression District maintains state burn permits and continuously monitors air quality and smoke dispersion rates while conducting pile burn operations. This is in order to reduce impact on surrounding communities.

Forest restoration and hazardous fuel reduction is a time intensive, laborious and expensive process. Therefore, efficiency and cost reduction are paramount to ensuring work can be completed.

Many of the highest threat areas in our district are found on slopes ranging from 100% - 150% and greater. When working on slopes far from roads and greater than 45 degrees, the only method of reduction is piling and burning.

ECFPD Wildfire Suppression Module goes to great extent to ensure piles are burned safely, and without negative consequence. This begins with a burn plan being produced for each day of operation. This plan outlines acceptable burn conditions (wind, relative humidity, snow depth, fuel moisture), as well as control measures and targets.

Firing is usually conducted between 10:00AM and 2:00PM, depending on conditions. Firing can be conducted earlier, however this is closely planned and monitored according to morning inversion and smoke dispersion.

Smoke and air quality are a top priority when conducting pile burns. ECFPD Wildfire Suppression Module closely monitors any air quality alerts, ventilation rates (how quickly smoke is swept away) and dispersion adjectives released by the National Weather Service. Good burn conditions exist on Fair to Excellent dispersion days, when smoke will travel over the ridge-tops and be carried away by the prevailing winds.

Finally, after all ignitions have been completed for the day, the Module moves into "mop-up". When burning around communities, it is critical to ensure that piles are extinguished before the scene is left. Crew members spend hours stirring and mixing hot coal beds with snow and dirt in order to ensure no heat remains.

The burn is then placed into "patrol and monitor status." In this stage, the scene will be revisited by personnel until there is 100% certainty that all piles are cold and extinguished.

For more information on forest health and restoration, pile burns, or specific vegetation information, please visit the website of our partner agency the Colorado State Forest Service.
csfs.colostate.edu/

How to protect your health from wood smoke

Most healthy people have no more than minor and short-term health difficulties with wood smoke. However, excessive smoke can result in unhealthy or hazardous air quality. If smoke is affecting your health, contact your doctor or other health professional. Also, try to move to a place with cleaner air and follow the tips below.

Tips

Close windows and doors and stay indoors. However, do not close up your home tightly if it makes it dangerously warm inside.

Be extra vigilant at night. Nighttime the air is usually more still than during the day and smoke can be worse. Smoke in nighttime air often flows down valleys and settles in low lying areas. Close windows at night.

Filter your air by running your air conditioner or evaporative cooler, but only if the system is filtered. You may also run the fan on your home heating system, with the heat turned off, if the system is filtered. Keep the outdoor air intake closed and be sure the filter is clean. Running these appliances if they are not filtered can make indoor smoke worse.

Use HEPA room air filtration units if you have them.

Avoid exercise or other strenuous activities in heavy smoke.

Do not rely on commercially-available dust masks, which do virtually nothing to filter out the particles and gasses in smoke.

Consider temporarily locating to another area if it is safe to do so. Seek out locations where air is filtered such as malls, movie theaters or recreation centers.

Be prepared to evacuate by planning ahead. Plan your evacuation route and your destination. Put together a kit that contains medications and other important items that you can’t be without.

Who is most likely to be affected by smoke?

Elderly people.

Young children (especially under 7).

Pregnant women.

People with pre-existing respiratory or circulatory conditions like asthma, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular disease.

People with respiratory infections such as colds or flus.

People with smoke allergies, although this is rare.

What are symptoms related to smoke exposure?

Eye, nose and/or throat irritation--runny eyes and/or nose.

Coughing, sore throat.

Trouble breathing or tightness of the chest, which may be symptoms of a health emergency.

The onset of symptoms related to pre-existing respiratory ailments like asthma or emphysema.

Weakened immune system after prolonged exposure to smoke.

What is the air quality like where I am?

You can refer to the chart below and estimate the visibility in smoky air to come up with a corresponding air quality category based on the federal Air Quality Index.

Air Quality Index - Visibility

Good
10 or more miles

Moderate
5 - 10 miles

Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
3 - 5 miles

Unhealthy
1.5 - 3 miles

Very Unhealthy
1 - 1.5 miles

Hazardous
less than 1 mile

USFS_Pike&San Isabel @PSICC_NF 29m
Conditions are favorable and crews are moving ahead with burning several large machine-made piles along CR 64 in Bailey, CO. Smoke will be very visible for several days from Hwy 285 #SouthPlatteRD


The US Forest Service, Pike National Forest, South Platte Ranger District is planning on starting ignitions of Machine created slash piles on the Payne Gulch Unit depending on conditions today.

Test fire should start around 1000 hrs.

Smoke maybe visible throughout the day in the area.

USFS_Pike&San Isabel @PSICC_NF 40m
Fire personnel on the South Park RD completed ignitions today in the area of FR 251. The two landing piles that were burned were built following the 2014 tornado in the Lake George area. Pile burning on this project is now complete. #LkGeoRX

USFS_Pike&San Isabel @PSICC_NF 1h
The South Park District will continue burning slash piles in the Lake George area tomorrow, Feb 13th, if weather conditions allow. Location is near Round Mountain off Forest Road 290. Smoke will be visible from Highway 24 and CR 77. #LkGeoRX

Good Morning,

Elk Creek Wildfire Suppression Module will be conducting pile burn operations in the area of South Foxton Road today. Smoke may be visible from the surrounding area. Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. Please visit our prescribed fire informational page for more information:

arcg.is/1zHq9D0

Please find attached the news release from Platte Canyon Fire. In the coming weeks the fire department plans to burn slash piles created from a fuels project located on the Deer Valley Park Association Property, located near the Bailey Disc Golf Course. Smoke and/or flames may be visible from beyond the project site. An email will be sent out the morning of each planned burn day. Thank you and please feel free to share the information flyer far and wide.

Shelby Edwards
Module Leader
Platte Canyon Wildland Fire Module

Clear Creek Ranger District Pile Burning Update - February 22-29

Forest Service firefighters continue to burn piles on the Clear Creek Ranger District of the Arapaho National Forest, focusing on the Evergreen area.

Pile burning may be conducted in the following locations over the next week:

Echo Hills (1,300 hand piles) – 4 miles west of Evergreen, along Highway 103 near Echo Hills and Beaver Brook subdivisions.

Smoke may be visible from the Echo Hills, Beaver Brook and Evergreen areas.

Wind helps disperse smoke created during pile burning operations and snow helps keep the piles contained. Seeing flames and smoke, even after dark, is part of normal operations. This reduces fuels on the landscape under the safest conditions.

Conditions are evaluated each day to determine if ignition will take place. Ignitions are generally expected to begin after 10 a.m. and will cease several hours before sunset. Smoke may be visible. Precipitation, wind, temperature, fuel moisture, and staffing all play a part in when and whether ignition occurs. Firefighters monitor the area after burning is complete. Public and firefighter safety is always the number-one priority in burning operations.

If you know someone who would like to receive updates on pile burning activities on the Clear Creek Ranger District, have them send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and ask to be added to the Clear Creek Ranger District Prescribed Fire list. To unsubscribe, please reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

For a complete list of locations where pile burning will occur this season, as well as updated accomplishments and photos, visit our InciWeb page at inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4648 .

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The US Forest Service, Pike National Forest, South Platte Ranger District is planning on starting the ignitions of slash piles on the Payne Gulch Unit, depending on conditions today (2/23/2020).

Test fire should start around roughly 1000 hrs.

Smoke maybe visible throughout the day in the area.

From the USFS Pike National Forest:

Good Morning,

The US Forest Service, Pike National Forest, South Platte Ranger District is planning on starting ignitions of slash piles on the Payne Gulch Unit, depending on conditions today (02/24/2020).

Test fire should start at roughly 1000 hrs.

Smoke maybe visible throughout the day in the area.

News Release
February 24, 2020
Contact: Matt Robbins, Community Connections Manager
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 303.271.5902

Flying J Ranch Park Forestry Restoration, Pile Burn Notice for Spring

As part of the on-going forest restoration and wildfire mitigation work at Flying J Ranch Park,
Jeffco Open Space will be conducting prescribed burns for a three-day period between March
and April 2020. With safety as the top priority, exact dates of burning will be weather
dependent and take place within a single, three-day window. Information will be posted
online and on Jeffco Open Space social media with as much advanced notice as possible.

For more information, please join us for a brief presentation March 9, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Elk Creek Fire Protection District Administration Office, 11993 Blackfoot Road, Conifer, CO.

In 2017, JCOS and Denver Mountain Parks (DMP) jointly received funding from the State Fire Assistance program to implement a forest management and restoration project at Flying J Ranch Park. The project focuses on reducing the density of overgrown mixed conifer stands, promoting aspen stands, and restoring ponderosa pine savanna. The risk of catastrophic wildfire will be reduced, while both visitor safety and wildlife habitat will be enhanced.
In the summer and fall of 2018, Jeffco Open Space Natural Resources staff conducted baseline forest inventories to identify treatment areas and to develop specific management objectives. Staff began removing trees in October 2018, and the project is scheduled to be completed by Winter 2020.

More information available at www.jeffco.us/3343/Forest-Management

Jeffco Open Space was founded as a land conservation organization in 1972. Our mission is to preserve open space and parkland, protect park and natural resources, and provide healthy, nature-based experiences. Funded with a one-half of one percent sales tax, our organization contributes to city and park district projects, has preserved more than 56,000 acres, and manages 27 open space parks and more than 244 miles of trails in Jefferson County, Colorado.