Castle Fire on North Kaibab Continues to Grow Slowly, Meet Objectives
Incident: Castle Fire Wildfire
Released: 6/19/2009
The Castle Fire on the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest continues to grow slowly and meet objectives such as reducing the future risk of large, destructive wildfires. The fire, which was discovered June 15, is burning through ponderosa pine forest and has reached 23 acres in size. The Castle Fire is located just southeast of Big Springs in the Castle Canyon area of the North Kaibab Ranger District. As it burns through the forest understory and accumulations of forest debris, it is helping to reestablish the ecological role of fire and is promoting forest health. The Castle Fire has grown very slowly, largely due to light rain received mid-week. However, as conditions become warmer and drier, the fire has the potential to grow more quickly. Fire managers are preparing for that by blacklining along various forest roads. During blacklining operations, firefighters burn fuels along designated boundaries in order to limit the fire's growth in specific directions. For example, fire managers used a dozer to remove fuels on the northwest flank and are now blacklining that area in order to limit the fire's growth toward Big Springs. For additional information on the Castle Fire, please contact Jackie Banks at (928) 635-8314.
