Zion Fire Management is planning to burn debris piles in the Lava Point vicinity beginning Monday, November 24, if weather conditions allow. The burning may continue throughout the week. If conditions are not favorable, the pile burning will be postponed.

The debris piles are the result of a vegetation thinning project conducted over the past few summers along the West Rim Road near Lava Point, in the north central portion of the park. The thinning project is intended to reduce the amount of vegetation (mainly small trees) on both sides of the West Rim Road thus lowering the risk of a wildfire leaving the park and entering private lands in the Kolob Community area. This area has been identified as one of the Wildland/Urban Interface Focus Areas requiring priority fuels treatment in the Color County Interagency Fire Management Area, which covers Southwest Utah and Northwest Arizona.

The piles will only be burned if there is enough moisture in or on the ground to ensure that the fire from the piles will not spread. Forecasted weather for this weekend predicts moisture over the Lava Point area, mainly in the form of snow which will give firefighters the conditions required to burn the piles. Residents or visitors to the area next week may see or smell smoke from the piles, but the piles should quickly burn themselves out and cause minimum impacts. Firefighters will be on scene to manage the pile burning and ensure that the burn piles do not spread to nearby vegetation.

For more information on pile burning or fire management in Zion National Park please call 435-772-7811.