Teton fire managers plan controlled burns
The Teton Interagency Fire Center has planned multiple prescribed burns in the region this spring.
Three are planned for the Jackson and Buffalo Ranger Districts for the purpose of modifying hazardous fuels near wildland urban interface areas. The work should make it easier to control a wildfire before it reaches private structures.
The Lava Creek burn on the Buffalo District is directly north of Highway 26 and east of Grand Teton National Park near the Wilderness Ranches home area. The treatment block is 115 acres and directly west of 75 acres that were successfully treated with prescribed fire a year ago.
The 500-acre Beaver Mountain fire area is intended to rejuvenate aspen and sagebrush to improve defensible space within the community of Bryan Flats south of Hoback Junction.
The Willow Creek prescribed burn unit is located approximately three miles southeast of Hoback Junction along Wyoming Highway 89. The 1200-acre burn is also part of the Bryan Flats Fuels Reduction project.
When conditions are right, firefighters will apply fire using hand torches to create low intensity fire behavior and helicopter ignition devices for high-intensity fires to break up the continuity of vegetation.
Smoke will be evident on the day of the burns, especially in mountain valleys during the evening and early morning hours.
