Continuation of South Monroe Mountain Rx Begins Today
Fishlake National Forest – Richfield Ranger District, plans to continue ignitions on the South Monroe Prescribed Fire Project today and tomorrow (6/19-20/2019). Today’s efforts will focus on approximately 200 acres of hand ignitions in Unit 15 and if conditions allow, a possible 200 acres in Unit 5. Tomorrow (6/20/2019), fire personnel plan to burn 2,000 acres in Unit 5, utilizing aerial ignitions. Smoke will be visible from surrounding areas.
To provide for firefighter safety and to prevent injury to the public during fire operations, an area closure will be in place. Please refer to the attached document for a description of the closure area. This road and trail closure went into effect on 00:00 June 19, 2019, and shall remain in effect until 21:00 hours on June 21, 2019 or until rescinded, whichever is earlier.
This project is a continuation and part of the Monroe Mountain Aspen Ecosystem Restoration Project, and is located near Rock Springs, Big Table, and Manning Creek, approximately five miles west of Greenwich and seven miles east of Marysvale, Utah.
In conjunction with the prescribed fire, research scientist associated with the Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) will be onsite using a variety of instruments and ground measurements, including pre- and post-fire fuels inventories, ground and aerial-based Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), infrared sensors, heat measuring instruments, weather balloons and smoke-sampling packages mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. This array will be used to measure fuel loading, fuel consumption, fire behavior, heat release, plume dynamics, atmospheric profiles, smoke emissions and fire effects. The data gathered from these burns will be used to advance fire and smoke modeling systems.
