Prescribed burn planned later this week west of Flagstaff

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., April 21, 2025 — Fire managers with the Flagstaff Ranger District plan on continuing portions of the Horseshoe Maxwell Springs prescribed burn project located 9.5 miles northwest of Flagstaff, just north of Bellemont.

Prescribed burns are always dependent upon multiple conditions, including personnel availability, fuel conditions, weather and approval from the Arizona Department of Environment Quality. Prescribed burns may be changed or canceled last-minute if burn conditions do not meet criteria outlined in advance. Should wind and weather conditions become unfavorable, ignitions will be halted, and project plans will be postponed, changed or canceled.

For the latest information at any time of the day, details and updates about all prescribed burn projects can be found on the Coconino NF Prescribed Burn Projects InciWeb page, which is updated any time new information is available.

Horseshoe Maxwell Springs

• Dates: April 24-25, 2025.
• Location: Flagstaff Ranger District. 1.5 miles north of Bellemont.
• Size: 200 acres.
• Type of Burn: Broadcast initial entry and maintenance burn. Broadcast burning means firefighters will spread the fire across the landscape using drip torches, effectively “broadcasting” the fire with low intensity across the landscape. Initial entry burns mean it has been an extended amount of time since fire has last been applied to the landscape, which can lead to thicker and darker smoke as larger amounts of forest debris are consumed by fire. Some areas will consist of maintenance burning, which means the area has seen fire recently and smoke impacts from those areas will be lighter. Maintenance burning means fire has moved across that particular landscape within at least the last decade. Maintenance burns are used to “maintain” an area and typically produce less smoke due to the lesser amount of forest fuels present.
• Smoke Impacts: Possible smoke impacts to U.S. Highway 180 in and around the Fort Valley area during the day and at night smoke impacts possible to Bellemont and I-40 in the Bellemont area.
• Why: This prescribed burn will reduce hazardous forest fuels in the area—especially those from a tornado in 2010—creating a fire-resilient ecosystem to help protect the communities of Bellemont, Fort Valley, and Flagstaff from catastrophic wildfires.