Prescribed fire operations scheduled for Lake Tahoe Basin
Submitted by paula on Mon, 01/10/2022 - 12:24pm
Weather and conditions permitting, the Tahoe Fire & Fuels Team (TFFT) may conduct prescribed fire operations over the next two weeks at Lake Tahoe. Operations will continue throughout much of the winter season to help land managers reduce hazardous fuels that can feed unwanted wildfires. Smoke will be present.
In the map:
1. Lower Tyner - North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District. Northeast of Lariat Circle, Incline Village. Burn Type: Hand Piles. Total Acreage: 38.00.
2. Mountain Golf Course - North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District. Near Mountain Golf Course Facilities off Titlist and Hwy 431. Burn Type: Hand Piles. Total Acreage: 2.00. Planned Ignition: 1/10-14/2022. Duration of Ignition and Smoke Production: 2 days of ignition and 2 days of burn downtime. Estimated Direction of Smoke Travel: North/Northeast/East
Communities or Smoke Sensitive Areas: Smoke may be visible throughout the Tahoe Basin and surrounding communities.
3. Spider Pig Landing Piles - USFS Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Camp Richardson and Fallen Leaf Lake Road. Burn Type: Landing Pile (Log Deck).
Total Acreage: 30.00. Planned Ignition: 01/11/2022 - 01/21/2022.
Duration of Ignition and Smoke Production: 5 days total ignitions, 10 days of smoke production. Estimated Direction of Smoke Travel: Upslope during the day, settling over the lake overnight Communities or Smoke Sensitive Areas:
Camp Richardson/Baldwin Meadow.
A map with project locations and details can be found above and is available at tahoelivingwithfire.com. To receive email prescribed fire notifications, send a request to sm.fs.paltbmu@usda.gov to be added to the Prescribed Fire Notification List.
Winter brings cooler temperatures and precipitation, which are ideal for conducting prescribed fire operations. Each operation follows a specialized burn plan, which considers temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation, and conditions for the dispersal of smoke. All this information is used to decide when and where to burn.
Smoke from prescribed fire operations is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition depending on the project size, conditions, and weather. Prescribed fire smoke is generally less intense and of much shorter duration than smoke produced by wildland fires.
Prescribed fire managers use different methods to reintroduce low-intensity fire in forests including pile and understory burning. Pile burning involves burning slash piles that are constructed by hand and mechanical equipment and is intended to remove excess fuels (branches, limbs, and stumps) that can feed an unwanted wildfire. Understory burning uses low-intensity fire on the ground (the understory) to remove excess vegetation (fuels) under specific environmental conditions with fire confined to a predetermined area. Understory burning produces fire behavior and fire characteristics required to attain planned fire and resource management objectives.
Prior to prescribed fire ignition, there is close coordination with local and state air quality agencies to monitor the weather for favorable conditions that can disperse smoke. Crews conduct test burns before igniting a larger area to verify how well the vegetation is consumed along with how the smoke rises and disperses before proceeding.
Prescribed fire signs will be posted on roadways in areas affected by prescribed fire operations and email notifications will be sent to the Prescribed Fire Notification List. The TFFT gives as much advance notice as possible before burning, but some operations may be conducted on short notice due to the small window of opportunity.
To learn more about living with fire, visit https://tahoe.livingwithfire.info/get-informed/understanding-fire/.