News Release

Pile Burning for Fuels Reduction and Reduced Fire Risk

Date: March 27, 2024
Contact: Jason Devcich, [phone]

Yukon-Charley Rivers Fire Management staff plans to burn piles of woody debris not suitable for firewood from Sunday, March 31, through Wednesday, April 3, 2024. The piles are located on NPS lands surrounding two allotments near Nation Bluff, below the confluence of the Nation and Yukon Rivers, approximately 53 miles downstream of Eagle along the Yukon River. Fire staff will ignite approximately 30 piles and monitor them over multiple days, until no heat remains. Air traffic and river travelers in the area may see smoke. As this is a planned ignition, please do not report smoke from this prescribed burn as a wildfire.

National Park Service fire staff have implemented years of fuel reduction projects around multiple sites in the preserve, creating defensible space and reduced risk from wildfires. Numerous brushing and burn pile mitigations, including at these two allotments in 2022, have greatly reduced the current and future demand for firefighter support and firefighting resources. Burning debris piles is the final step in completing several successful Firewise projects.

Learn more about Firewise and reducing the risk of wildland fire around structures through the Alaska Wildland Fire Coordinating Group Firewise PDF.

Additional park information is available by calling the Fairbanks Alaska Public Lands Information Center at [phone] or by visiting the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve website at www.nps.gov/yuch/learn/nature/wildlandfire.htm.