Crews Continue Pile Burning North of Taos

Fire crews continued pile burning today, conducting clean-up ignitions while patrolling and monitoring the whole area. As seen in this photo, fire consumed most of the piles, leaving very little fuel for dead fuel for future wildfires to consume.

Fire was able to burn down the piles despite recent storm activity because crew members ignited interior areas near the bottom, where thinned branches were protected from moisture. Then the build up of heat dried out the remainder of the pile for flames to consume.

That was not the case for concentrations of exposed branches that were lopped and scattered during thinning. These “jackpots” were too wet for burning today. Crews will continue to evaluate these fuels for potential ignitions on Friday and continuing into the weekend.

For a map of the prescribed fire area and more information about this work in the Kiowa-San Cristobal Wildland Urban Interface Project area, go to https://www.fs.usda.gov/…/updates-kiowa-san-cristobal….

(Photo: A nearly burned down pile shortly after being ignited on Oct. 14)