News Release
NPS / MTheune
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Contact: Mike Theune, Fire Information Officer, 559-586-0882
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. June 1, 2025 – Following a successful test burn and with concurrence from fire management staff and parks’ leadership, the 2025 Ash Mountain Prescribed Burn has started. Ignitions will continue each day through June 3, 2025While conducting prescribed burns, fire managers constantly take weather readings and monitor fire behavior to ensure operations are not only being safely done, but also meeting objectives. Crews are prepared to stop ignitions should conditions become unsuitable for burning, and resume when conditions return to an appropriate range. Ignitions on this prescribed burn are occurring early in the morning to take advantage of the cooler temperatures.
The 2025 Ash Mountain Prescribed Burn will treat approximately 29-acres from near the Sequoia National Park Entrance Station, along the Generals Highway, towards the Foothills Visitor Center located one mile inside the park.
Visitors will see smoke, active fire, and firefighters during the burn, and are asked to drive slowly and follow all firefighter instructions. Smoke impacts are expected to be minimal and short-lived, as the vegetation in the unit is mostly made of fine fuels (dead grass) that will be consumed quickly. Visitors can learn more about air quality and smoke by visiting www.fire.airnow.gov or www.valleyair.org.
The prescribed burn areas may remain closed for several days post-ignitions to ensure that fire-related hazards have been mitigated to a reasonable extent. An additional 10 acres of non-fire fuels reduction will also occur in the lower elevations of Sequoia National Park.
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About Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks’ Fire Management Program
For over fifty years, our mission has been to use the full range of options and strategies available to manage fire in the parks. This includes protecting park resources, employees, and the public from unwanted fire; building and maintaining fire resilient ecosystems; reducing the threat to local communities from wildfires emanating from the parks or adjacent lands; and recruiting, training, and retaining a professional fire management workforce.
About Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
These two parks, which lie-side-by-side in the southern Sierra Nevada in Central California, serve as a prime example of nature’s size, beauty, and diversity. In 2024, over 2 million visitors from across the U.S. and the world visited these parks for the world’s largest trees (by volume), grand mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns, the highest point in the lower 48 states, and more. Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/seki or 559-565-3341.
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Last updated: June 1, 2025