U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster

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realoldtimer
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Re: U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster

Post by realoldtimer »

Another article about nation-wide stop to USFS controlled burns:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/forest-ser ... GNhQqYu8fE
Rideback
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Re: U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster

Post by Rideback »

Every year I live in the valley I see more and more windy days. I suspect some have tried to respect the wind and not burned, but then they still keep adding to their piles.

Most of my neighbors pile all Spring, Summer & Fall and then light up for a big fire around Christmas or New Years when the snow is heavy everywhere. Seems more and more like a plan USFS should implement.
realoldtimer
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Re: U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster

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From FB in the last half hour:
"Mazama and Winthrop fire toned to approximately 17 Castle rd Mazama for a controlled burn now out of control"
PAL
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Re: U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster

Post by PAL »

The Twisp Restoration Project wants to do burning of handpiles above our place and the big honkin' piles up Little Bridge Cr. Will be a couple of years, however. If it's done safely, well, we'll see.
Across from us, a number of years ago, over at Newby Cr. a controlled burn got out of control. After it was extinguished before it hopped over to Sky Ranch, should have seen all the FS vehicles studying what they had done. They were lucky on that one.
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U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster

Post by pasayten »

U.S. stops controlled burns nationwide after New Mexico disaster
By Andrew Hay - 1h ago


Forest Service halts controlled burns after New Mexico wildfire
TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) on Friday called a temporary nationwide halt to controlled burns meant to reduce fire risk after the agency accidentally started part of New Mexico's largest ever wildfire.

The Hermits Peak Calf Canyon fire has burned over 300,000 acres (123,000 hectares), destroyed up to 1,500 properties and displaced tens of thousands of people, and is still out of control.

Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said fire danger levels were too high to use prescribed fire and ordered a 90-day review of policies before operations planned for this fall.

"Lessons learned and any resulting program improvements will be in place prior to resuming prescribed burning," Moore said in a statement.


The move stops a practise many forest biologists see as crucial to reducing high fuel levels in national forests after a century of fire suppression and decades of logging bans in the case of New Mexico.

However, they are also concerned about the potentially devastating effects of prescribed fire if misused.

A USFS managed burn near Las Vegas, New Mexico went ahead despite forecasts for high winds and went out of control on April 6.

"I can't imagine who would have gone through and signed off on it on the ground and put fire on the ground, that to me is mind boggling," said Joshua Sloan, a forest biologist at New Mexico Highlands University, who has carried out controlled burns and is an advocate of the practise.

The fire later merged with another wind-driven blaze, the cause of which is under investigation, to form the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon fire.

The blaze has also torched forests and watersheds used for centuries by Indo-Hispano farming villages and Native American communities, and now threatens villages in the Peñasco Valley as well as the resort towns of Taos and Angel Fire.

In a statement, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said she met with Moore on Friday and called for "additional local consultation and greater consideration" before controlled burns on federal lands during the state's windy season.

(Reporting By Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Richard Pullin)
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