FREDONIA – North Zone fire managers plan to resume pile burning in the vicinity of the Arizona Department of Transportation Maintenance facility near Jacob Lake starting as early as Monday.

Pile burning is one piece of the ongoing hazardous fuels reduction efforts of the Plateau Facilities Fire Protection Project on approximately 5,000 acres surrounding 33 structures across the Kaibab Plateau. Fire managers plan to initially target 25 acres of piles and continue throughout the week as conditions allow.

As a reminder, all prescribed fire activity is dependent on the availability of personnel and equipment, weather and fuel conditions, including winds, temperature, humidity, vegetation moisture and ventilation conditions for dispersal of smoke. All prescribed fires are subject to approval by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. For additional information on the Smoke Management Division and to view prescribed burn authorizations for any given day, visit http://www.azdeq.gov/programs/air-quality-programs/smoke-management.

In the interest of safety, visitors are reminded to always use caution when traveling in the vicinity of prescribed fires, as firefighters, fire-related traffic and smoke may all be present. Although no significant smoke impacts are expected, visitors should always be cautious when driving in the vicinity of emergency vehicles operating in the area.

As the prescribed burn season continues through the spring, notifications of upcoming prescribed fires will be provided regularly through the following sources:

· Fire Information Recorded Hotline: 928-635-8311
· Twitter: www.twitter.com/KaibabNF (Text ‘follow kaibabnf’ to 40404 to receive text messages.)
· Kaibab website “Recent News”: www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab
· Kaibab Facebook: www.facebook.com/KaibabNF