Weather window may allow for Mary Lake prescribed burning to continue this week

Update Sept. 5, 2024: This planned burn has been postponed due to wet conditions.

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Wildland Fire Management plans to continue prescribed burning in the Mary Lake portion of the Whitehorse South Fuel Break starting Thursday, September 5. Crews will try to burn because of weather conditions that would allow for safe burning over the next few days.

Wildfire crews successfully burned one field in this area in early August, building on similar operations carried out in late summer during both the 2022 and 2023 fire seasons. These burns are important because they remove slash left over from the spruce and pine clearing work that will make way for fire-resistant aspen trees. Replacing flammable spruce and pine trees with aspens limits the impact of the Whitehorse South Fuel Break on people’s enjoyment of the Copper Haul Road and Mary Lake area. To be successfully planted, however, aspen seedlings need more sunlight than if they were planted directly in the slash.

Like previous prescribed burns in this area, a smoke column cannot be avoided. Planners reduce smoke impacts to the area by choosing burning days when they expect the smoke to disperse before affecting nearby residences. However, this means the smoke can be seen, and sometimes smelled, from far away.

For more information, please contact:

Mike Fancie, fire information officer
867-393-7415 or yukonfireinfo@yukon.ca