US Forest Service Suspends Prescribed Burns
DENVER (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service is suspending prescribed burns on 14 million acres of federal forests in Colorado until the weather improves.
Forest Service spokesman Steve Segin says the suspension will only affect a half-dozen prescribed burns planned over the next two weeks. He says the prescribed burns could resume if there is enough rain to make the prescribed burns safe.
Segin said Friday the decision to suspend the projects was made because it would divert too many firefighters from fighting fires to monitor the controlled burns.
Gov. John Hickenlooper has suspended prescribed burns on state lands while authorities investigate the cause of a wildfire that got out of control this week, killing at least two people and scorching about six square miles of mountainous terrain southwest of Denver.
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