South Monroe Prescribed Fire Update 11/9/2019

Fishlake National Forest – Richfield Ranger District secured edges of Unit 8 on the South Monroe Prescribed Fire Project (Langdon Mountain area) yesterday with an estimated 300 acres of growth. Due to a ridge of high pressure dominating the region and allowing smoke to settle into the valleys, no ignitions took place today. Stable conditions are predicted throughout this weekend with a possible cold front coming through on Monday. The current inversion is expected to be short-term.

Today, crews continued to monitor the project as fire continues to slowly burn pockets of vegetation within the units and along nearby forest roads and trails. An estimated 4,000 acres have been treated with a mix of hand and helitorch ignitions over the past seven days. The Fishlake National Forest strives to get important hazardous fuels work done when the risks of spread outside of planned units are low. No additional ignitions are planned until clearing improves.  

*A ridge is a line of high pressure, where the air way up in the sky is heavier than usual. It pushes down on the air underneath it. The weight of the ridge makes the air below it stable (unchanging). This produces the less-exciting kind of weather.