Pending final approval from the State of Oregon smoke forecast center on Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Forest Service Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, with support from the City of Ashland, will conduct a strategic controlled burn for community wildfire safety beginning at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, May 8th and continuing through Saturday, May 10th.
More details will be released by 5PM on Wednesday if final approval is granted. If the burn moves ahead, the west side of the Ashland watershed including the Lithia Loop Road (2060 road), Hitt Road (USFS 2060-300), Wonder, Fell on Knee, and Wasabi Trails will be closed or highly discouraged from use during the burning for public and firefighter safety.
If approved, smoke impacts in town are likely both Thursday and Friday evening due to the proximity of the burn. Areas likely to experience smoke are neighborhoods surrounding Lithia Park, Strawberry Lane, areas surrounding downtown and downtown Ashland, areas surrounding Ashland Creek down to Bear Creek including but not limited to Helman St, portions of the Railroad District, Oak Street, and Eagle Mill Road. More areas may be impacted depending on wind patterns. See smokewiseashland.org for tips on avoiding smoke impacts.
The map below outlines the planned burn (yellow), previous burn units (gray), and Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest areas (green) show controlled burning planned for this season.
Should the burn move forward, the City will send a non-emergency controlled burn message to all residents signed up in the Jackson Alerts system. People can register for alerts on the City’s Emergency Preparedness Webpage. Please check back on Thursday at 5PM for more details.
“This burn has outsized importance for community safety and watershed protection. We’ve been working with our partners toward this goal for over a decade and we ask for your tolerance with smoke and closures as part of our ongoing wildfire readiness and adapting to hotter and drier summers.” said Chris Chambers, Forestry and Public Information Officer for the City of Ashland.
Watch an AFR Project video about proactive fire planning to learn more.
Above, see Ashland Fire & Rescue on a training burn in the Ashland watershed last week.