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Contact: Barb Maynes, 360-565-3005
Olympic National Park fire officials are planning to conduct a prescribed fire later this week in the Deer Park area southeast of Port Angeles. Weather and forest conditions will dictate precise timing of the planned fire.
Once the fire is ignited, smoke will be visible from throughout the Port Angeles-Sequim area and from the Hurricane Ridge Road.
Two separate burn plots containing a total of eight acres are planned. Both are located about two miles south of and within the Olympic National Park boundary along the Deer Park Road.
This prescribed fire is part of a research project to study the effects of low-intensity fires within old-growth Douglas-fir forests. Study results will provide park managers with information to assist with future management decisions about wildland fire use in Douglas-fir forests.
"Public and firefighter safety is always our primary objective when working with fire,” said Olympic National Park Superintendent Bill Laitner. “This burn has been carefully planned and will be conducted using an approved plan and qualified wildland fire fighters.”
The Deer Park Road will remain open throughout the burning period, however minor traffic delays may be necessary.
This prescribed fire was described and approved as part of the Olympic National Park Fire Management Plan, approved in December 2005 after extensive public review and comment.
It will comply with regulations in the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Smoke Management Plan and local air quality regulations. Because of the weather and fuel conditions needed to conduct this small research burn, the park has been given approval from Clallam County fire agencies to conduct this fire during the ongoing county-wide burn ban.
Sixteen National Park Service wildland firefighters with three wildland fire engines will conduct the burn. |
Last updated: February 28, 2015