Williams, Arizona, May 26, 2023 — Beginning Wednesday May 31 Kaibab National Forest fire managers plan to re-initiate prescribed fire treatments on the Three Sisters Prescribed Fire Project located just north of the City of Williams and Interstate 40, east of forest road 124, and west of Airport Road and Highway 64. This project has been inactive since crews completed treatments on 2241 acres in the fall of 2019. This time, crews are targeting a total of 1509 acres and anticipate ignitions to take 1-2 days, depending on conditions. 

Area residents and visitors can expect to see and hear a helicopter in the area, as aerial ignitions will occur on portions of the burn. Citizens are strongly urged to refrain from using any type of aerial-drone systems near the active project area that could potentially interfere with aircraft operations. Approximately 75 personnel will be assigned to this fire, including an Incident Meteorologist who will advise fire managers on current and predicted weather and an Air Resource Advisor from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Air Resources Division who will be modeling and monitoring the smoke. 

Smoke will be highly noticeable from the Williams area, particularly the Country Club / Elephant Rocks Golf Course, H.A. Clark Memorial Field Airport, Cataract Lake Park, Kaibab Lake, Ash Fork, Valle, portions of State Route 64 and I-40. Smoke is expected to lift during the day and travel northeast over Red Lake Valley, however cooler overnight temperatures may cause smoke to settle into low-lying areas surrounding the burn location. 

No road or trail closures are planned as part of the Three Sisters prescribed fire project however, during operations fire personnel and vehicles will be visible to the public. Motorists are reminded to use caution and drive with heightened awareness when passing through active project areas.

Fire managers recognize that community members may be sensitive to smoke, and use strategies to limit the amount and duration. This includes dividing large projects into smaller units so that crews can focus efforts where and when conditions will help smoke disperse away from developed areas and ventilate quicker, reducing the impacts to local residents and businesses. Next week’s 1509 acres comprise two units of the 7400-acre Three Sisters Project. Prescribed fires with shorter-term impacts to air quality help significantly reduce the risks to public health and safety. 

Goals of prescribed fire treatments include decreasing the threat of unnatural severe wildfire and potential negative consequences to the community, improving forest health, and reintroducing fire to an ecosystem that relies on frequent fire to maintain resilience. Prescribed fires help reduce hazardous fuels that have accumulated due to drought, climate change, insects and disease, and decades of fire suppression. Fire also recycles nutrients back to the soil, promotes the growth of trees, wildflowers, and other plants, and improves habitat for threatened and endangered species. Our land management strategy is centered on long-term forest health, including reducing forest fuels and using prescribed fire on the landscape. These efforts align with the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy which aims to increase prescribed fire and other treatments to improve forest resiliency for generations to come. 

After the units planned for next week are complete, approximately 3600 acres of the Three Sisters Project will be left to treat. Crews may resume these remaining units later in the year as conditions allow.