In an effort to prevent another catastrophic summer wildland fire season, the Rocky Mountain National Park fire managers announced last week they plan to take advantage of upcoming wet and wintry conditions with prescribed burns to eliminate fire fuels.
“When fighting the East Troublesome Fire in 2020 and the Fern Lake Fire in 2012, firefighters were able to take advantage of previous and existing prescribed fire and hazardous fuels treatment areas that provided a buffer between the fire and the town of Estes Park,” said Kyle Patterson, public information officer for the Rocky Mountain National Park in a media announcement.
For the last two years park fire crews and contractors have cleared debris to centralized locations until conditions allowed for staggered burning.