Pile burning will begin this week on the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Star Valley on the Greys River Ranger District. Piles will be ignited in the morning and smoke will be present throughout the day.
The first piles that will be ignited are on the 12-acre unit north of Cedar Creek and Vista Drive in Star Valley Ranch. On Monday, September 30, 2019 are tentatively scheduled to continue burning the piles on nine additional acres near Cedar Creek.
Each of these pile burning days will be one-day events. Ignitions will cease early in the afternoon each day to allow piles and fuels to burn down prior to evening inversions and reduce smoke impacts to the area. Firefighters will light piles by hand after the area has received significant moisture to provide greater security from fire creeping away from piles and to minimize negative effects to nearby trees. Crews will patrol and monitor the pile areas to ensure they do not spread.
Additionally the Forest has tentatively scheduled to ignite piles in 79-acres in the Lost Creek area if weather conditions allow. The predicted weather may delay those pile ignitions until the next time pile burning conditions are opportune.
Forest personnel and contractors place the slash in piles and leave them to cure before burning them. Most of the wood is of small diameter and the piles are designed to burn efficiently so that all material is completely consumed. Fire managers ask that the public not take wood from the piles so they will burn more effectively.
Interagency Fire personnel burned 3,000 piles over 98-acres in the fall of 2017 and the remaining piles on the final 2-acres in the fall of 2018. Contractors thinned and piled slash on an additional 96-acres of National Forest System Land along the southern half of the town of Star Valley Ranch. Burning of those piles may be begin in early October. For more information visit www.tetonfires.com
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