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Forest Service concerned about hike in wildfires

The U.S. Forest Service has raised the alarm over a recent uptick in wildfires, including one near Minister Creek and another near Sheffield that are continuing to burn now.

“This past year, the leading causes of wildfire on the Forest were abandoned campfires and debris burning,” Craig Kostrzewski, fire management officer for the Forest Service, explained.

One of those abandoned campfires started a wildfire on Oct. 15 that continues to burn.

Federal officials say the fire is “located along the narrow rocky ridge west of the Minister Creek campground” and was ignited on Oct. 15. “While the fire is contained to one acre, it continues to burn deep in the duff, creating concerns of creeping and smoldering fire beneath the first floor.”

And Minister Creek isn’t the only fire on the ANF’s radar.

Kostrzewski said fire personnel are attending to a second fire near Sheffield that was reported on Oct. 18.

“Both fires are still burning,” he told the Times Observer on Wednesday. “The soil moisture we have received certainly helped to curtail (the) fire danger. Our soils right now have several inches of dryness to them.”

The forest are contained, he said, but not yet controlled.

He explained that while the three-fourths of an inch of rain we’ve received has “certainly helped” the upper soils, fire staff found a “smoke” at Minister Creek today.

“We’re still finding some heat,” he said, especially in areas that didn’t get any rain or where the soil is deeper. He said staff will be checking the sites daily. “We’ve got a handle on them.

“We appreciate the combined suppression response with our local, county, and state partners. Combined efforts from local volunteer fire departments and Forest fire resources from the Minister Creek fire were able to quickly contain this fire to three acres,” he said.

Paul Clement, assistant fire management officer with the Forest Service, said that current weather patterns have left the forest more dry than usual.

“Normally we have more humid conditions this time of year, which lowers the potential for wildfire to burn vertically downward,” he said. “However, the lack of rain has dried out the mossy and predominantly humus areas (organic matter, leaf litter, and duff), contributing to the fire behavior burning into deep pockets of dried organic matter.”

The ANF in a statement said that such areas can be “stubborn to extinguish” and Clement explained that the fire can burn beneath the leaf litter, igniting root systems of dead trees and other try material.

“A fire can pop up outside of the containment lines from underground and carry the fire into more fuel,” he said.

“The ANF is seeing a welcomed increase in recreational visitors but reminds users to observe fire safe practices and Leave No Trace Principles,” the statement said.

Kostrzewski offered some practical tips to visitors: Check the fire danger for the area you plan to visit; verify if there are current restrictions in place; build fires within contained fire rings on top of mineral soil and not on leaf litter, duff or organic matter; never leave the fire unattended; drown and stir and feel your campfire coals to ensure that the fire is dead out and cold to the touch.

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