(MONUMENT, Colo.) — The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has tentatively scheduled the Monument Fire Center prescribed burn for Wednesday, June 12, and wants the public to know that smoke may be visible in Monument and Colorado Springs.
Due to the prescribed burning, there will also be intermittent road and trail closures during operations, and the USFS will be working with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and other local agencies for those closures, which will also be announced on social media.
The Monument Fire Center prescribed burn will take place about a mile and a half west of town, on Forest Service lands, and is weather-dependent. While the USFS does its best to mitigate smoke impacts on the community, you can learn more about how to lessen the impacts on you or your loved ones, here.
The prescribed burn is part of the National Wildfire Crisis Strategy and is a continuation of a project that began in 2021.
“The Wildfire Crisis Strategy identifies the highest risk fire sheds, those most capable of generating large wildfire disasters and the highest risk of community exposure to wildfires,” wrote the USFS. “To protect the communities and natural resources… we need to restore healthy, resilient, fire-adapted forests by using mechanical thinning and returning beneficial fire in these landscapes.”
The burn is expected to take place over three days at Memorial Grove, Monument Rock, and the Mt. Herman trailhead. The USFS said the Colorado Springs Fire Department will be assisting the Forest Service during operations.
