PIKE NATIONAL FOREST — There was still smoke in the air from the prescribed burn on Pike National Forest west of Colorado Springs and it continued for several more days.
“It will be diminishing, as the days go on,” said U.S. Forest Service Prevention Technician, Mike Wicks.
Fire crews set fires on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week.
So why was there so much smoke still coming off the prescribed burn zone?
Wicks explained that the first days of the prescribed burn plan are called ignition days and after that are hold days.
“The fire’s continuing to move around safely in the unit, cleaning up pockets burning up heavy logs, larger diameter logs, and stumps.”
Ground grounds work in and around the burn zone “holding” the fire to the interior.
“We will have this staffed and checked, monitored, and controlled through the duration until we feel like it is safe,” said Wicks.
It was a scene of smoke coming from blackened areas low to the ground and rising up through an unburned, surviving green canopy.
“Yes, it's 2000 acres, which seems large,” said Wicks, “But in the grand scheme of things, this is a bite and we just need to keep taking these bites to get our forests back where they need to be.”
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