PLACER COUNTY, Calif. – Conditions and weather permitting, CAL FIRE plans to conduct a broadcast burn in the Waddle Ranch area of Placer County near the Truckee Tahoe Airport District over several days in the next two weeks. The planned burn will treat 74 acres. The purpose of the project is to build a resilient landscape, part of a larger strategic fuel break in conjunction with our United States Forest Service partners and larger stakeholders. 

Prescribed fire is a vital fuels management tool used by land managers to help protect communities by removing fuels that can feed unwanted wildfires. This prescribed fire project was planned as part of a broader strategic effort to protect the local community and nearby natural resources. 

These plans are informed by community and local stakeholders’ input and serve as a collaborative effort with a range of cooperators throughout the course of the project. This project adds to significant work, underway throughout the state and brings California one step closer toward meeting or exceeding state fuels reduction goals, directed by the California Fire Plan and the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan. 

Each operation follows a specialized burn plan that considers temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation, and conditions for dispersal of smoke. All this information is used to decide when and where to burn. Smoke from prescribed fire operations is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition, depending on the project size, conditions, and weather. Prescribed fire smoke is generally less intense and of much shorter duration than smoke produced by wildland fires. 

Smoke from this control burn will be visible from greater Martis Valley and surrounding areas. 

CAL FIRE is in close consultation with the National Weather Service, and Placer County Air Pollution Control District office to ensure that the burn takes place in appropriate weather conditions; the project may be postponed if conditions are not conducive to a safe burn.