Amador County – The U.S. Forest Service is planning to take advantage of unusually dry winter conditions to resume prescribed, “low-intensity” burning in several locations in the El Dorado National Forest this week, including up to three miles along Mormon Emigrant Trail.

Smoke may potentially be visible for days after the nine-day planned burn. Theresa Reisenhuber of the El Dorado National Forest’s Placerville office announced plans for the prescribed burning, slated for the next nine days starting Tuesday, Jan. 10 through Jan. 18. She said fire management crews are preparing to burn three miles of National Forest Lands located off the Mormon Emigant Trail. Approximately, 1,100 acres may be burned with a low intensity fire in the vicinity of Brown Rock and Meiss Road.

Fire crews may also manage prescribed fires near Georgetown in the vicinity of Darling Ridge on Jan. 17 or 18, if weather and air conditions are right.

¶ Reisenhuber said “smoke from the Mormon Emigrant Trail burn should be visible for quite a distance from the fire. The Forest Service must comply and coordinate with state and local county air pollution control districts.”

Smoke may continue for days after actual ignition because of the large scale of these projects. The Forest Service recommends that people living in or near the forest contact the nearest ranger station if they have respiratory illness or think the smoke might adversely affect them. These people will be placed on a “Sensitive Persons List” and will be notified of impending prescribed burning projects.

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