Update: the Chadburn Lake Road prescribed burn has been postponed until the week of June 1.
Fire crews plan to conduct a prescribed burn along Chadburn Lake Road in the Hidden Lakes area, southeast of Riverdale, on Friday, May 29. This follows successful prescribed burns this spring near Long Lake Road, Takhini North and Robert Service Way.
Wildland Fire Management plans to continue to use favourable weather conditions to reduce wildfire risk through prescribed burning in the following places:
- trails south of Porter Creek
- Mount Sima Road
- Booth Road
- the Whitehorse South Fuel Break
Crews will also burn piles of debris at a site between Hamilton Boulevard and McLean Lake Road that could cause visible smoke.
Please drive carefully when you see fire crews working near a road. Smoke is not expected to affect road travel, but short delays are possible if there’s a burn nearby.
Prescribed burns, which are normally conducted during springtime, use fire under controlled conditions to target the previous winter’s dead, dry grass, needle litter and other vegetation, to reduce wildfire risk. To protect the community, wildfire crews actively contain the edges of fields being burned and keep a close eye on the weather to ensure that burning only happens within planned conditions. Under these specific weather and safety conditions, prescribed burns minimize public impacts, while also allowing for successful burning. The best burn conditions allow smoke to rise well and grass to burn effectively.
Prescribed fire is one way we reduce future wildfire severity, protect people and our communities, and support the Boreal forest, which relies on disturbances like fire to regulate its long-term health.
Find out more about active prescribed fire operations, as well as Yukon Wildland Fire Management’s other wildfire prevention and mitigation operations, on the Wildfire Hub.
Contact
Mike Fancie
Fire Information Officer, Wildland Fire Management
867-393-7415 or [email protected]