Prescribed burns conducted throughout Sanders County

SANDERS COUNTY – Smoke filled the air in several portions of Sanders County last week as a series of prescribed burning operations were conducted.

On Friday, Oct. 10, the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District took part in prescribed burning operations in the Clark Fork River Drainage.

There were two locations for the prescribed burns, which were held at the end of last week.

The main site of the prescribed burns was in Paradise across the Clark Fork River from Quinn’s Hot Springs, where a number of locations up in the timber were undertaken.

In addition, prescribed burns were ignited near Weekesville Creek in between Plains and Thompson Falls.

Dave Wrobleski with the U.S. Forest Service stated the conditions were conducive for conducting prescribed burns throughout the day last Friday.

“The weather is perfect for prescribed burns. There is cool and moist weather in the forecast over the weekend,” Wrobleski said.

Wrobleski added the fall season is usually a good time for prescribed burning operations.

He noted the weather at this time of year often helps put the fires out in a timely manner and makes the process much safer for crews working on the prescribed burns.

“It is quite a bit easier to conduct prescribed burning operations at this time of year,” Wrobleski said.

Throughout Friday afternoon the district fire/fuels program worked from helicopters igniting and managing the fires throughout the operation.

In the Lolo National Forest by Paradise several road signs were present warning motorists of the smoky conditions and urging drivers to be aware of limited visibility at points along Highway 156.

A 14-mile portion of Highway 156 was the area where smoke from the prescribed burns was most visible and firefighter and forest service crews were actively managing the burns in.

The ignition operation in both Paradise and Weekesville Creek started around noon and proceeded into the evening hours when the helicopter crews dropped their final rounds of Plastic Sphere Dispenser ignition devices.

The helicopters taking part in the burns used a helicopter-mounted device to dispense the aerial spheres over the prescribed burn area.

Some prescribed burning operations employ a helitorch, also used from a helicopter, to ignite the burning operations, but his device was not utilized during last week’s burning operations.

Prescribed burns in both areas where operations were conducted last Friday had been planned for quite some time and due to the cooperation of weather conditions it was deemed an appropriate time to conduct the daylong forest management.

According to Wrobleski, these operations were planned for the fall of 2013 but due to inopportune conditions and the federal government shutdown, the burns were pushed back.

“We were hoping to do the prescribed burns last fall,” Wrobleski said.

Wrobleski added the fires would not be directly put out by aerial or ground firefighters but allowed to burn out over the weekend, with the forecasted damp conditions expected to effectively assist in the extinguishing of the prescribed burns.

Controlled or prescribed burns are often conducted in the cooler months of the season to ensure healthy forest environments and to mitigate the risk of out of control wildfires in future summer months.