Prescribed Fire Planned on Chino Valley Ranger District

Fire Managers on the Chino Valley Ranger District plan to treat 450 acres of grass and range lands north of Williamson Valley (T18N, R5W, Sec 23) with prescribed fire.  Ignitions on the Sinks RX will begin today, November 29, 2022, pending favorable weather conditions.  This project is part of the Chino Landscape Restoration where fire crews plan to treat a large surface area with broadcast burning, improving wildlife habitat and the resiliency of forest ecosystems. Smoke production will be highly visible from multiple locations including Chino Valley, Paulden, Williamson Valley, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Dewey-Humboldt but should be short in duration.

Yesterday fire crews completed ignitions with debris pile burning south of Lynx Lake on the Bradshaw Ranger District accomplishing 375 acres over the last couple of weeks.

In the interest of safety, forest visitors are reminded to obey all traffic signs and use caution when traveling in the vicinity of the prescribed burn as firefighters and fire-related traffic will be in the area.

Prescribed fires are utilized to remove hazardous fuels and return nutrients to the soils when seasonal weather opportunities allow for the use of fire safely and effectively. Reducing hazardous fuels will help reduce the threat of high-severity, high-intensity wildfire to the public, adjacent private property, and communities.  

Prescott National Forest’s land management strategy is centered on long-term forest health and the strategy includes reducing forest fuels and using prescribed fire on the landscape.  Using low to moderate fire behavior, we can better protect communities, while improving watersheds, wildlife habitat, and forest health. 

All prescribed fire activity is dependent on the availability of personnel and equipment, weather, fuels, and conditions that minimize smoke impacts as much as possible, and approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (www.azdeq.gov).

Messages will be posted on social media when managed fires are ignited on the Prescott National Forest:

- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PrescottNF/

- Twitter https://twitter.com/PrescottNF

For fire information please call (928) 925-1111; or stay up to date on Prescott National Forest news by checking the Prescott NF website and following us on Facebook and Twitter.