NEVADA CITY, Calif. March 29, 2026 – Starting March 29, 2026, Terra Fuego Resource Foundation, in partnership with American Rivers, will continue implementing prescribed fire activities as part of the Hoyt-Purdon Fuel Reduction and Prescribed Fire Project. This spring, prescribed pile burning and broadcast burning will occur on ~150 acres 3 miles northwest of Nevada City off of Augustine and New Rome Rd.

This week, prescribed fire activities are anticipated to occur over approximately 3 days (potentially non-continually) or until weather conditions become unfavorable, followed by a period of post-burn mop-up and monitoring to ensure fuels are extinguished. Operational periods are 9am to 8pm daily.

Resources include 15 firefighter crew (burn boss, firing boss, holding boss), 2 engines, two skid steer fire apparatus (300 gallons), one fire tender (2000 gallons), and water source pumped to snap tank for rapid refilling capabilities.

Funded by the SNC, American Rivers is thinning fuels and using prescribed fire, with the help of control burn experts from Terra Fuego Resource Foundation, on roughly 570 acres of forest within the South Yuba River watershed. Credit: American Rivers.
Funded by the SNC, American Rivers is thinning fuels and using prescribed fire, with the help of control burn experts from Terra Fuego Resource Foundation, on roughly 570 acres of forest within the South Yuba River watershed. Credit: American Rivers.

Smoke will be visible from the South Yuba River Canyon and adjacent rural roads. Smoke impacts are anticipated to be minimal in the day time and will be carefully monitored, and efforts will be taken to reduce impacts to communities. Smoke impacts are anticipated to fluctuate over the course of the day, with smoke lifting during the warm daytime and settling during the colder nighttime. Thus, we predict smoke impacts to be greatest during evening, nighttime and mornings. We anticipate smoke impacts for ~3-7 days. Rain is forecasted, which will put fires out and clear the air. Overall, there will be some short duration of smoke associated with critical prescribed fire activities to improve resiliency to catastrophic fire and associated smoke impacts.

The prescribed burn is part of the 570-acre Hoyt-Purdon Fuel Reduction and Prescribed Fire Project, which includes hand and mechanical thinning and prescribed fire between Nevada City and the South Yuba River, funded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. The project includes prescribed fire to bolster the resiliency and defensibility of adjacent communities and the South Yuba River to wildfires.