Arizona and U.S. public land managers will be holding a community meeting in Camp Verde next month to discuss how smoke from prescribed fires is managed in the state.
The Oct. 2 meeting is designed to heighten the public’s awareness about prescribed burns and how they are managed. This year, northern Arizona residents were subjected to nearly weekly prescribed burns in the national forests. The Coconino alone burns some 60 square miles of forest each year.
Land managers say the burns are necessary to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Their pervasive smoke lowers air quality. And they can also pose a danger if firefighters lose control. The meeting is open to the public and will also be streamed for Arizona residents.
If you go
Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, 6 – 8 p.m. Camp Verde Community Library — Terracotta Room. 130 Black Bridge Road, Camp Verde. Register here to watch the livestream or call 213-929-4212, Webinar Code: 741-670-091.
-
Brian Fennessy has nearly 50 years of fire experience, which began in the late 1970s on elite federal hotshot crews and other wildfire teams. -
A group of mostly Western U.S. senators is demanding answers on why the U.S. Forest Service has fallen behind on efforts to reduce hazardous wildfire fuels. -
A group of U.S. senators say the Forest Service has fallen behind in wildfire prevention work like forest thinning which has been deemed vital to preventing billions of dollars of damage to regions in Arizona surrounded by national forests. -
Senate Democrats have asked Senate leadership to fund recovery from wildfires on federal lands. -
The Healthy Lungs for Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff and Republican Utah Senator John Curtis. If passed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal officials would have one year to develop a plan to make "commercially available appropriate respiratory personal protective equipment for wildland firefighters and supporting staff in settings in which smoke exposure surpasses covered permissible exposure limits."
