3:50 PM. The 2 acre fire off Sponseller Rd is currently being managed by fire crews. Air resources have been released. 

2:50 PM 5/12/16 MJS

Fire crews from Pinetop Fire, Timber Mesa Fire, Forest Service and BIA are working a 1 acre brush fire on Tribal land just south of Pinetop off Sponseller Rd. Crews are working to get a line around this fire and helicopter crew is making water drops. Additional information will be posted as it becomes available. 

U.S. Forest Service
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests
30 S Chiricahua Drive
Springerville, AZ 85938

Web: www.fs.usda.gov/asnf
Twitter: @A_SNFs
www.facebook.com/apachesitgreavesnf

News Release

Lakeside Ranger District burning 1,100 acres south of Vernon
Springerville, AZ – ; —The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests’ Lakeside Ranger District will be conducting a 1,100 acre prescribed burn within the Goodman unit of the Los Burros broadcast burn area, south of Vernon beginning May 10, 2016.
The Goodman Unit is about two miles south of Vernon, along Apache County Road 3140. The burn is surrounded by Forest Service Road 2, Apache County Road 3140 and hand or dozer lines. The legal description is: T9N, R25E Sections 3, 4, 5 and 9, T10N, R25E, Sections 33 and 34.
Ignition may last several days, with daily smoke impact anticipated within area drainages. Smoke will be visible in the local area, from Arizona State Highway 260, and U.S. Highway 60, in Round Valley, Vernon and Show Low.
Prescribed burning provides many benefits and is essential to maintaining healthy forest ecosystems. It provides habitat diversity, recycles plant nutrients into the soil and encourages new growth for a variety of plants used by wildlife and livestock. Prescribed burning of forest ground fuels also reduces the threat of large scale wildfire impacts to private lands. Objectives of this project are to maintain and protect ponderosa pine stands while providing browse for wildlife. This prescribed fire is in cooperation with the Arizona State Forestry, Vernon Fire Department, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Carlock Ranch.
This will provide protection for the adjacent private land, Carlock Ranch, as well as provide protection for the community of Vernon from wildfires that start southeast of town.
Crews will be on scene from ignition until there is no longer a threat of escape from the project boundaries.
Questions or concerns contact the Lakeside Ranger District at (928) 368-2100 or by calling 311 or 928-333-3412. Also, check out our website at: www.fs.usda.gov/asnf