Officials on the Kaibab National Forest will begin managing three new lightning caused wildfires for the benefit of accomplishing land management objectives that include reducing hazardous fuel accumulations and restoring overall forest health.

The Pine Ridge fire at 5 acres and the JD fire at half an acre were discovered on July 8 and are located on the southern portion of the Williams Ranger District near Pine Flat. The 1 acre Blue fire also discovered on July 8 is located approximately 5 miles east of Red Butte on the Tusayan Ranger District. All of these fires will be monitored closely over the next several days with the intent of allowing fire to burn as it would naturally over the landscape as long as it can be safely managed while benefiting forest resources.Each of these fires will have a designated planning area that will identify management objective priorities within the individual locations.

Recent moisture from monsoon rains has created ideal conditions to allow for low to moderate fire intensity to occur in these areas that are in a predominant ponderosa pine fuel type. Weather forecasts are predicting more rain in the week ahead so growth potential is expected to be minimal over the next several days.

Smoke may be visible at times from the surrounding areas. Fire managers will monitor smoke closely and take precautions to minimize impacts to adjacent residential areas. Motorists are asked to be aware of fire personnel and vehicles and use caution when driving near the vicinity of these fires.

For additional information on these fires and for the Kaibab National Forest the following sources are available:

InciWeb: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5916/ inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5917/ inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5918/
Website: www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab
Twitter: twitter.com/kaibabnf
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KaibabNF/
Kaibab National Forest Fire Information Phone Line (928) 635-8311.