Prescribed burn update for October 12

Mammoth Lakes, Calif., October 12, 2023 – Throughout this week, wildland firefighters have worked to hold the 332 acres completed on the “Pit” and “Smoke” prescribed fire units on the Mammoth Ranger District. Tomorrow, October 13, they plan to burn an additional 110 acres on the “Smoke” unit. This prescribed fire will be extremely visible alongside Highway 395 North, with the smoke plume showing from far distances up and down the valley.

Since Sunday, strong winds out of the north up to 35 mph tested the burn units, especially on Tuesday night where an engine was sent out to patrol it overnight; however all units held within containment lines. Tomorrow, winds will be much more favorable and back out of the southwest, the same winds as October 3-9. These southwest winds tomorrow are predicted to push smoke to the northeast from 5-10 mph. Saturday, winds are also predicted to behave the same, but on Sunday the winds will be even lighter and out of the southeast.

All of the same firefighting resources will be present to conduct this burn until Monday, then when resources return to their home units the Inyo National Forest firefighters will take over holding the completed units until they are declared out.

Updates will be posted on the Inyo National Forest Facebook page and on our website.

Inyo National Forest fire management staff want to take a moment to thank our assisting resources, who have made this important work possible in reducing fuels and restoring forest health on the Inyo:

Mammoth Lakes Fire Department

Angeles National Forest

U.S. Forest Service – Los Padres National Forest

U.S. Forest Service – San Bernardino National Forest

U.S. Forest Service – Sierra National Forest

Bureau of Land Management – California