Tahoe National Forest Press Release
November 21, 2024
CAMPTONVILLE — Fire and fuels personnel successfully completed 75 acres of prescribed pile burning within the Trapper Project on Nov. 19. Due to high winds with low precipitation, ignitions were held yesterday, Nov. 20 while fire personnel secured the unit. Overnight, the project area received approximately 2.5" of rain. Due to significant precipitation, some roads within the project area are inaccessible. Today, Nov. 21 fire and fuels personnel are planning to resume ignitions on additional units. Ignitions within the project area may continue over the coming days, conditions permitting such as weather, road accessibility and resource availability.
Smoke may be visible from Camptonville and surrounding areas. Smoke impacts will be carefully monitored and efforts will be taken to reduce impacts to communities.
This prescribed burn is part of the approximately 15,473-acre Trapper Project, a fuels reduction and forest health project east of the community of Camptonville. The project is located within the North Yuba landscape, where the Forest Service and North Yuba Forest Partnership are prioritizing forest and watershed resilience work within the 275,000-acre landscape footprint. The North Yuba landscape was selected for investment in 2022 as part of the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy and has received $178 million of federal funding to implement wildfire risk reduction work in the watershed.
Future updates on this prescribed burn are available on the Tahoe National Forest website under "Alerts".
Why Are We Burning?
The goal of this prescribed burn is to decrease the existing fire hazard and to prevent and reduce the impact of future fires in the area. Other benefits include enhancing wildlife habitat and reintroducing fire into a fire-adapted ecosystem.
Why Now?
Current conditions allow for prescribed burning. Each prescribed fire operation follows a prescribed fire burn plan, which considers temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation, and conditions for the dispersal of smoke. This information is used to decide when and where to burn. The Tahoe National Forest strives to give as much advance notice as possible before burning, but some operations may be conducted on short notice.
Smoke
Smoke from prescribed fire operations is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition depending on the project size and environmental conditions. Smoke may settle into the valleys in the evening and lift in the morning. The Tahoe National Forest coordinates with state and local county air pollution control districts and monitors weather conditions closely prior to prescribed fire ignition. Crews also conduct test burns before igniting a larger area, to verify how effectively fuels are consumed and how smoke will travel.