Lightning ignites beneficial wildfire in Bias Canyon

Sedona AZ (July 11, 2016) – Natural Resource Managers and local firefighters with the Coconino National Forest have been monitoring a seven-acre lightning-caused wildfire in Bias Canyon three miles southeast of the Village of Oak Creek.

Steep and rocky terrain has limited access and influenced the decision to monitor the Bias Fire rather than to actively suppress it—which limits hazardous exposure to firefighters on the ground while allowing the fire to play its natural role on the landscape.

While the Forest Service has managed several larger fires for multiple resource objectives this summer, the Bias Fire is not likely to involve the kind of active ignitions and smoke that the public saw with the Cowboy and Mormon fires.  However, motorists along Interstate 17, state Route 179 and in surrounding communities, such as the Village of Oak Creek, will likely notice smoke rising from this fire.

“Rattlesnake Mesa, where the Bias Fire has been slowly burning for several days, is a rocky, thickly-vegetated area where lightning fires seem to occur every year.  These fires are nature’s way of maintaining a mix of woodlands and open grasslands in this ecosystem, and Rattlesnake Mesa has lost that balance,” said Red Rock District Ranger Nicole Branton. “Our community has been heavily impacted by smoke this summer.  We have heard your concerns and that is why I have decided to take a conservative approach to the Bias Fire, with crews actively monitoring the fire on the ground each day but holding off on operations that may create additional smoke. Only if the fire moves toward I-17 or the Village of Oak Creek will we take more assertive actions to protect those values, which may include aerial and ground ignitions.” 

Every decision about how to manage a wildfire involves careful balancing of the potential for that fire to threaten communities or resources and the natural role of fire in the ecosystem. The Bias Fire presents an opportunity to restore the landscape to its historic and natural state of a mixed grassland and woodland state by allowing it to burn naturally, with fire managers keeping a close eye on it. 

Managers have gone through a decision-making process that considers potential for fire growth, effects on the community and risk to firefighters, and have chosen a course of action that will minimize risk to the community and firefighters while gaining long-term benefits. By reducing unnatural buildup of fuels near the Village of Oak Creek, we may lessen the potential for future wildfires to impact the community. 

Natural Resource Managers expect minimal fire activity as we move closer to monsoon conditions. However, northern Arizona is experiencing an unseasonal drying trend which has increased movement of the fire, resulting in visible smoke. Should fire growth increase and potentially impact Village of Oak Creek, Interstate 17 or Highway 179, managers have determined appropriate management actions and are prepared to implement as necessary.