Thursday May 23 2020 8:00 A.M
08:25AM 5/21 8AM - THE UNITED STATES FOREST
SERVICE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE BURNING IN THE BLUFF MESA AREA SOUTH WEST OF BIG
BEAR. SMOKE AND FLAME WILL BE VISIBLE. PLEASE DO NOT REPORT TO 911.
UNITS RESPONDING: MISC (BIG
BEAR FIRE AUTHORITY )
NOTES:
FIRE (THE USFS WILL BE PERFORMING A PRESCRIBED BURN
OPERATION STARTING THU 5-14 AND CONTINUING FOR SEVERAL DAYS NEAR BLUFF LAKE
SOUTH WEST OF BIG BEAR. SMOKE AND FLAME WILL BE VISIBLE. LIVE CAM AND MORE INFO
ON SCM. (SCM STT V0.81)
DISPOSITION:
08:25AM THE USFS WILL ONCE AGAIN BE BURNING IN THE
BLUFF MESA AREA SOUTH WEST OF BIG BEAR.
SMOKE AND FLAME
WILL BE VISIBLE. PLEASE DO NOT REPORT TO 911.
San
Bernardino National Forest
Bluff Mesa Southwest of Big Bear Valley
San Bernardino, CA __ Fire crews
will continue to take advantage of favorable spring weather conditions for more
prescribed burning in the Bluff Mesa area southwest of Big Bear Lake,
potentially beginning on Thursday, May 21 and continuing through Friday, May
22. The work helps create safe spaces for firefighters to be placed between
communities and natural areas should a wildfire occur. This week will be a
continuation of a broadcast burn for up to 150 acres located east of Forest
Service Road 2N10 and 2N96, on the north side of Bluff Lake and marsh.
Burning will occur only when weather and air quality conditions
permit. There will be no closures of nearby trails, roads or yellow post
campsites.
Since last Thursday, fire crews have accomplished over 200 acres
of fuels reduction in the Bluff Mesa area, making great progress in forest
health and community protection. Approximately 1,450 acres have been treated by
prescribed fire across the Forest over the past year.
For daily updates on prescribed burning operations, check the
Forest's Alerts and Notices web page or Forest's Twitter account (accounts are not
required for viewing tweets).
SMOKE AND FLAME WILL BE VISIBLE.
PLEASE DO NOT REPORT TO 9-1-1
Previous
notification from: May 13, 2020
Zach Behrens
Public Affairs Officer
|
Forest Service
San Bernardino National Forest, Supervisor's Office
|
Prescribed burning planned for Big Bear Valley
The project will help create
defensible space and restore a meadow
San Bernardino, CA __ After a
late wet Winter and with current Spring conditions ideal for prescribed
burning, San Bernardino National Forest officials are planning to begin
ignitions in the Big Bear Valley area beginning as early as Thursday, May 14th. The broadcast burn on
Bluff Mesa, which is to the southwest of Big Bear Lake, is expected to last
through next week if conditions remain safe and productive for burning. Smoke
will be visible in the immediate area and may even be seen from areas off the
mountain during ignitions. Smoke may continue to be visible for up to a month
when the prescribed burn site goes into patrol status.
The project is part of a larger effort to create defensible
space for communities and infrastructure along the lake’s south shore. It is
also aimed at restoring Bluff Meadow. 497 acres to the north and south of the
meadow are targeted, with the remaining acres of the 1,184-acre project slated
for burning at a later time possibly next year. To date, over 1,000 acres have
been treated in the Big Bear area with prescribed burning over the past several
months.
“One of our top priorities is to manage the forest to aid in
protecting communities from wildfire,” said Mountaintop District Ranger Marc
Stamer. “We have been preparing this area for prescribed burning for a number
of years and are at a point where we can responsibly return fire to the
landscape.”
The low-intensity prescribed burn will target needle cast
and duff on forest floor. Lightning strike-caused fires historically frequented
the area, but with fire suppression over the last century, the duff layer has
built up. An unmanaged fire in the duff can reach the roots of trees, killing
stands of them across an area. Fire crews have removed the duff layer around
old growth trees, including the champion lodgepole pine, one of the world’s
largest known of the species.
Shared stewardship helped make this project possible. Meadow
restoration work was partially funded by the Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority. Additionally, Urban Conservation Crews from the Southern California
Mountains Foundation aided forest staff in preparing the area for burning.
Visitors to the immediate area should expect traffic delays
along forest roads 2N10 (Mill Creek), 2N11 (Santa Ana Divide) and 2N86 (Kidd
Creek). Access to the Champion Lodgepole and Siberia Creek trails, as well as
the upper side of the Castle Rock trail, may be impacted. Campers at Yellow
Post Campsites #28 and #29 should be advised of smoke in the area.
During the burn, real-time updates will be posted to Twitter. Visitors with questions can call the Mountaintop Ranger District
at 909-382-2790.