MONTEREY COUNTY — Cal Fire plans to conduct numerous broadcast burns and pile burning throughout this year in San Benito and Monterey counties.
The purpose of these projects is to reintroduce fire into the ecosystem, thereby reducing hazardous fire fuels by removing brush and downed woody debris, enhancing the fire safety. These projects are along strategic fuel breaks and larger landscape areas.
When weather and conditions allow, prescribed fire operations are conducted to reduce overgrown vegetation, which helps decrease the severity of future wildland fires, protects communities, reduces the risk of insect and disease outbreaks in out forests, recycles nutrients that increases soil productivity and improves wildlife habitat.
After nearly a century of fire exclusion, prescribed fire operations also re-introduce fire back onto the landscape, which helps restores vital ecosystem functions and improves forest health and resiliency.
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.
To better inform the public of planned control burns, residents can request to be added to the San Benito/Monterey Prescribed Notification email list by emailing BE********************@fi**.gov .
