Tag Archives: Kaibab Forest Service

Castle Fire slowly continues burning towards Riggs Canyon

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FREDONIA — Excellent progress is being made in securing the entire perimeter of the 19,368-acre planning area which defines the outermost boundary of the Castle Fire. The fire has burned north and south from its point of origin, traversing almost 12 miles of the eastern perimeter of the planning area. As the fire established itself, it gained depth and started spreading southwest towards Riggs Canyon.

Traveling across the landscape, the fire is consuming dead and down material, leaving a footprint of lightly smoldering fine surface fuels and the area is now primed for regeneration. Active flames are mostly occurring on the flaming front of the fire, which constitutes a small percentage of the 7,900 acres that have burned over the past 19 days.

Although scattered thunderstorms have visited the general area over the past week, no precipitation has materialized over the Castle Fire. When the rains do arrive however, they will be the catalyst for restoring and renewing the area that the fire has visited.

Since July 12th, the lightning-caused Castle Fire has grown to 7,900 acres. It has now moved across about 40% of the planning area and has 177 personnel assigned. The fire’s origin is located about 11 miles south of Jacob Lake, 3 miles west of Highway 67, and just east of Forest Road 761 near Oquer Canyon.

Following long-term planning and preparation for a natural ignition to occur in the right place and at the right time, fire managers have been allowing the fire to burn naturally within its pre-defined 19,368-acre planning area.

A temporary Closure Order is in effect for the Castle Fire area: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6439/.

The Castle Fire poses no danger to structures or other local infrastructure.

Prescribed Fires Planned to Begin Sunday on Williams Ranger District

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Due to the significant amount of moisture received over the last month, conditions on the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest are appropriate for fire managers to continue treatment of the 3,339-acre Kendrick Prescribed Fire project northeast of Williams and the 2,532-acre McCracken Prescribed Fire project south of Williams.

Above normal precipitation and cooler temperatures have produced ideal conditions to continue with treatments such as reducing hazardous fuels in both these areas. Ignitions may take place on several days but will only occur when weather and fuel conditions are within prescriptive levels.

During prescribed fire operations, community members and visitors may see fire personnel and vehicles in the vicinity. Smoke may also be present and may result in short-duration impacts to populated areas.

Prescribed fires are essential tools for restoring the forests in a fire-adapted ecosystem, and smoke is an unavoidable byproduct of these efforts. Fire managers strive to minimize smoke impacts to the community as much as possible. Burns occur when winds and other atmospheric conditions will push the majority of smoke away from homes and ultimately limit the number of days smoke is in the air.

All prescribed burning on the Kaibab National Forest is subject to approval by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and appropriate weather conditions. For additional information on the Smoke Management Division of the ADEQ and to view prescribed burns authorized on any given day, please visit http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/smoke/index.html.

Additional fire information for Kaibab National Forest can be obtained through the following sources: InciWeb http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4112/; Kaibab National Forest Fire Information Phone Line (928) 635-8311; Text Message – text ‘follow kaibabnf’ to 40404.