Prescribed Burns Scheduled For Yakima Area
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has scheduled a prescribed burn for 200 acres of state land located outside of Naches. DNR said that burn may start as soon as Thursday. The burn will focus on 145 acres of state Department of Fish and Wildlife land and 55 acres of DNR property. While the hope is to start the burn Thursday, staff is committed to conducting all prescribed fires as safely and effectively as possible, which may require postponing a burn on short notice.
Prescribed fires are a common tool used by land managers and conservation groups to reduce the amount of fuel available for wildfires, improve the health of older trees, support new and current wildlife habitats, and recycle soil nutrients back into the ground. Successful completion of a prescribed fire operation enhances public safety by providing wildland firefighters a safer landscape on which to fight a wildfire. It can also lessen the amount of smoke caused by wildfires due to the reduction of fuels. Smoke impacts from prescribed fire are minimal and short-lived compared to those caused by wildfire. Burn crews carefully monitor conditions to limit the effects of smoke on nearby residents.
Persons and businesses with increased sensitivity to smoke should be prepared to follow the same precautions they would for wildfire smoke. These include limiting physical activity outdoors, closing the fresh-air intake on air circulation systems, and creating a box fan filter.
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