The City of Cranbrook is planning a prescribed burn, set for later this week, on the lower slopes of Mount Baker.
Chris Zettel, Corporate Communications Officer for the City, said the burn is part of the City’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The exact date is expected to be announced Tuesday.
Weather permitting, the burn will take palce on a 27.8 hectare area of thinned forest that straddles the Gold Creek Forest Service Road at the seven-kilometre mark, along the slopes of Mount Baker in Gold Creek.
Residents are asked to keep doors and windows closed tight to keep any smoke out of their homes.
“The prescribed burn is being conducted to remove surface fuels as part of long-term ecological restoration activities,” a press release from the City read Monday. “These open western larch-dominated forests adjacent to Cranbrook historically burned once every 10-15 years, resulting in very low fuel loading.
“Subsequent maintenance burns are expected to occur every 10-15 years.”
The burn is being conducted with assistance from the British Columbia Wildfire Service.
