Near Ruch, Ore — It may not be fire season just yet but preparations for the summer are well underway.
Years of planning go into controlled burns in the Rogue-River Siskiyou National Forest.
Scaling snow and steep terrain fire, crews were out burning 133 acres of year-old brush piles as part of the upper Applegate Road project.
That project will eventually clear nearly 3,500 acres of National Forest in the Applegate.
“There’s structures and houses and in the big picture of a fire, doing fuels reductions helps prevents a high severity fire and it’s easier to suppress when we do have a fire in the wrong time of year,” said Fire Suppression Manager David Ernst.
Fire officials say they time the burns to come before rain or snow to keep smoke levels down and control the fires before the drier summer months.
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