The Gila National Forest Reserve Ranger District plans district-wide pile burns, weather and fire conditions permitting.
With the onset of monsoon season, the Reserve District is preparing to burn piles at various district locations. These areas will be signed and posted for public awareness. The burns are scheduled to begin the week of August 1, 2016. Piles will be burned throughout the monsoon green-up season as conditions are conducive to burning.
One can expect to see smoke in these areas during days of ignitions. The objectives of these burns are to reduce wildfire threat by removing piled fuels/slash created from past and ongoing thinning and timber sale projects.
The burns will be conducted at the following locations:
- Negrito Fire Base piles; approximately 20 miles southeast of Reserve along FR 28
- SU slash pit; approximately four miles southwest of Reserve, west of State Highway 12 along FR 578
- Five Bar Subdivision piles, five miles southwest of Reserve, east of State Highway 12 along CAT-B056
- Highway Department Piles; along north side of State Highway 12 and US Highway 180 behind Highway Dept. and across from Reserve Airstrip
- Gilita Slash Pit piles; FR 28 & FR 173, two miles north of Willow Creek
- Black/Deer/Six Shooter Timber Sale Piles, approximately ten miles southeast of Reserve along FR 141 and Forest Roads 626, 626A, 179 and 924
Smoke may be visible in the areas where the burns are being conducted and may linger at night and in the early morning, but will normally decrease significantly as daytime weather prevails.
Further information may be obtained by contacting Reserve District Fire Management Officer, Shilow Norton or Fuels Specialist Pete Delgado at (575) 533-6232.