Teton Interagency Fire personnel will burn slash piles created from fuel reduction projects near Beaver Creek, Elk Ranch and other areas within Grand Teton National Park in the coming weeks. Firefighters will burn these piles under low fire behavior conditions resulting from wet weather and snow accumulation.
Smoke may be visible from these piles during the day of ignition and may linger in the area for a few days following. Firefighters have focused on fuel reduction efforts in developed areas, such as Beaver Creek, to reduce wildfire risk, and pile burning is the last step in this thinning.
Fuel reduction includes thinning and removing lower limbs from trees and the removal of dead wood and brush from the forest floor.
Firefighters place the slash from fuels reduction work into tepee-shaped piles and let them cure for a year before burning them. Due to the specific conditions that need to be in place for pile burning, it is hard to predict exactly when work will begin.
Fuel reduction piles are only ignited under certain conditions, including favorable smoke dispersal and weather conditions that limit the chance of fire spread.
