Little Round Top Prescribed Fire

Little Round Top Prescribed Burn Area

NPS map

News Release Date: April 6, 2017

Contact: Jason Martz, (April 6 – 10) Office: 717-338-4423  Cell: 571-358-0516

Contact: Michael Litterst, (April 11) Cell: 202-306-4166

Prescribed fire at Little Round Top on the Gettysburg battlefield will take place on Monday, April 10, 2017

 
Gettysburg, Pa. (April 6, 2017) – Conditions are right for the National Park Service to conduct a prescribed fire on the west slope (52 acres) of Little Round Top at Gettysburg National Military Park on Monday, April 10, 2017. Please note: the prescribed fire is estimated to begin around noon but this is only an estimate. The start of the prescribed fire is entirely weather dependent.
 

• Temporary Road Closures: To ensure the safety of all firefighters and all park visitors, multiple roads will be closed for the entire day on April 10. These will include Sykes, Warren, Crawford, South Confederate, and Wright Avenues. Wheatfield Road will also be reduced to one lane for parts of the day. See attached map for more details. Additional roads and trails may need to close temporarily if smoke conditions reduce visibility to a level that would require a temporary closure of limited areas to ensure public and firefighter safety.
• News Media Viewing Area: For interviews and coverage of the Little Round Top prescribed fire, the news media must go to the designated media area at Devil’s Den. All media will gain access to Devil’s Den via Crawford Avenue at Wheatfield Road and MUST be in place no later than 11:30 am. See attached map for more details.
• Public Viewing Area: The public may view the Little Round Top prescribed fire from the designated viewing area on Ayres Avenue. Please park along Ayers Avenue only. See attached map for more details.
• Additional Road Closures for Buses: Ayres Avenue will be closed to all bus traffic on April 10. See attached map for more details.

 
Tuesday, April 11, 2017: All roads are expected to reopen on April 11 but the entire 52 acres of Little Round Top will be closed to visitors, pedestrians, hikers, etc. to allow firefighters to ensure the safety of the burn area; this includes all summit parking along Sykes Avenue and Warren Avenue and the summit viewing areas and walkways. (Sykes and Warren Avenues will be open to drive through but no parking will be available.)
 
Automobile and bus parking will be available for the 20^th Maine monument. Automobiles will be able to park on Wright Avenue and buses will be able to park along the right side of South Confederate Avenue before the intersection with Warren and Wright Avenues.
 
Additional roads and trails may need to close temporarily if smoke conditions reduce visibility to a level that would require a temporary closure of limited areas to ensure public and firefighter safety.
 
Pardee Field Prescribed Fire: If conditions remain favorable on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 Pardee Field (near the summit of Culps Hill) will also be burned. Additional information will follow as it is finalized.
 
More information and the map of the burn area are available on our News Releases webpage. Up-to-date information on this and any other closures and fire activity will be posted on the park's Facebook and Twitter sites using the hashtag #GettysburgNPS.