Pile Burning Planned on Mingus Mountain

Fire Managers on the Verde Ranger District plan to take advantage of the moisture received and burn 90 acres of piles on Tuesday, February 28, through Friday, March 3, 2023.  Piles are located on Forest Service Road 104 near the Hang Glider Launch site (T15N, R2E, Sec2, 4), and Forest Service Road 106 near the Woodchute Trailhead (T15N, R 1.5E, Sec5) on Mingus Mountain.  Fire managers expect smoke impacts to be light in the surrounding area with no road or trail closures.  Pile burning helps to reduce hazardous fuels adjacent to the wildland urban interface and increase ecosystem and community resilience.

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.

The purpose of this project is to reduce hazardous fuels following thinning and fuelwood removal activities. Reducing hazardous fuels will help reduce the threat of high-severity, high-intensity wildfire to the public, adjacent private property, and communities. Burning of debris left over from brush crush and thinning projects requires moisture in the surrounding vegetation and typically produces much lighter smoke than broadcast burning.

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).

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For fire information please call Prescott National Forest Fire Information at (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.