SOUTHWESTERN-NEWS-RELEASE: Coconino National Forest Smoke Information

["Brienne U Magee" <bmagee@xxxxxxxxx>]

The Coconino National Forest has established
this method of notifying you of
planned and current fuels treatment activities on the
forest. For confirmation or for more
information, please visit our "Current
Conditions" page of the Coconino
National Forest web-site. You may click
this link http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/conditions/current-rx.shtml,
or use the "shortcut"
to our main page: www.coconinoforest.us

The Coconino County Health Department provides information about smoke
concerns and offers suggestions for
minimizing smoke impacts to your family
and home at the following website
http://www.coconino.az.gov/health.aspx?id=6564.

October 20, 2009  
     
Prescribed fire plans for Wednesday
and Thursday

Flagstaff, AZ – Pending
favorable conditions, fire managers are planning prescribed fires on the
following projects October 21 and 22. All prescribed fire activity is dependent
on personnel availability, weather – including ventilation conditions,
and approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (www.azdeq.gov).

Wednesday, October 21
Woody Ridge Project – 260
acres located approximately 1/2 mile northwest of Fort Tuthill, south of
Woody Mountain Road. Smoke will be visible from Flagstaff and Bellemont,
and should disperse to the southwest with the forecast winds. Residual
smoke will settle in nearby canyons and drainages.

Thursday, October 22
Fort Valley Project: 100
acres located south of Hwy 180, east of Snowbowl Rd, and north of Fort
Valley Ranch Road.  Smoke will travel to the southwest, away from
the highway; however, it will be present around nearby residences. Light
winds are forecast to continue throughout Thursday evening, which should
help disperse residual smoke quickly.
Kachina Project – Approximately
300 acres located just east of Hwy 89A, north of Oak Creek Vista at Mexican
Pocket.  

Potato Fire Update
102 acres, 40% contained.  Crews
made good progress with suppression activities.  They’ve created
a rough line around the perimeter of the fire, and are continuing to strengthen
and hold that line today. Forest Road 418 is open. Please yield to fire
traffic.    

As a reminder, when fire managers
are deciding whether to suppress a wildland fire, manage it for resource
benefits, or even to begin ignition on a prescribed fire project, they
consider conditions such as location, weather, and potential size, behavior,
and direction.  Conditions may warrant suppression strategies in some
locations while conditions in other areas are suitable for prescribed fire
ignition.

The public can obtain prescribed
fire information via the following:
        Prescribed
Fire Hotline: 928-226-4607
        Coconino
National Forest Website: www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino
o        Click
on the Prescribed Fire Link to the right of the page
        Sign-up
to receive regular email notifications:  http://www.fs.fed.us/news/subscription

o        Choose
“Southwestern Region”
        Follow
us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CoconinoNF_Fire

        Inciweb:
www.inciweb.org/incident/1889/
 
        Local
Ranger Stations: Peaks Ranger District (Flagstaff), 928-526-0866; Red Rock
Ranger District (Sedona) 928-203-2900; Mogollon Rim Ranger District (Blue
Ridge) 928-477-2255

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