Oak Wildland Fire Use Update
Incident: Oak Wildland Fire Used for Resource Benefit
Released: 8/1/2008
The Oak Wildland Fire Use has grown to 150 acres and continues to move west, south and east of Rocky Ridge, 10 miles south of Williams, AZ. The fire was ignited by lightning on July 12 and is being managed for natural resource benefits.
Today, personnel assigned to the fire will monitor fire activity and smoke dispersal, take actions to protect aspen stands east of the fire and burn vegetation along Rocky Ridge Road in advance of anticipated fire spread to the north.
The Oak Wildland Fire Use is being managed under a pilot program this season testing proposed modifications to the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, 2003. The proposed changes allow fire managers the opportunity to apply the full range of management options on fires on federal lands, except for those fires caused by humans. The Kaibab National Forest is one of 30 test sites in the program.
Under this pilot program, the Oak Fire was initially managed under a confinement strategy. Fire managers decided this week to shift the Oak Fire to wildland fire use. The decision was based on firefighter and public safety, current and predicted fire activity, weather, topography, fuels and potential resource benefits. Some of these benefits include: improving forest health, reducing hazardous fuels and reintroducing fire as a natural element in the ecosystem.
Smoke may be visible from Williams from time to time. Air quality monitoring equipment is installed in Williams that provides online current air quality information. To access the information on this website, go to: http://www.satguard.com/usfs.
Under Real Time Data, click on Location; choose Arizona from the list on the left and then click on the red dot near Flagstaff to see 24 hour data. Please note that the dark blue line gives the 24 hour running average air quality information for the area. The light blue line gives hourly readings which can spike up and down depending on the time of day, traffic and temperature inversions.
At the bottom of the graph there is an Air Quality Index that points to the current activity for both the hourly and 24 hour readings. There is also an Air Quality Index Tab on the left hand side where additional health rating information can be found.
For additional information, please contact Punky Moore, Fire Information Officer, (928-635-5653).
-USFS-
