Pile Burning Near June Lake in Upcoming Days
Weather and air quality conditions permitting, fire crews on the Mono Lake Ranger District will be pile burning near the community of June Lake starting today (February 2nd). Crews plan to continue pile burning as conditions permit over the next week to 10 days.
Smoke will be visible from June Lake, Mammoth Mountain, June Mountain, Lee Vining, and along the Hwy 395 corridor.
Crews create piles to remove ladder fuels, which are the branches and limbs that can carry fire from the ground to the canopy. This provides a safer area for firefighter response and reduces wildfire risk for nearby communities.
Piles are typically burned in the winter months when it is safest to do so. In California, fire has an integral role in promoting forest health and we try to achieve that through pile burning and prescribed fires in our wildland urban interface.
Fire was historically a frequent occurrence in the Jeffrey pine and lodgepole pine forest, with fires occurring every 5-15 years on average. Thinning and pile burning is an effort to restore a more natural forest structure.
