Prescribed training burn at Vandenberg Space Force Base to begin Monday

VANDENBERG, Calif. – The Vandenberg Space Force Base Fire Department will burn around 100 acres of grassland as part of a planned training burn that begins Monday, Aug. 1.

Prescribed burns typically burn less than wildfires and can help prevent the spread of wildfires and reduce impacts to watersheds that result in soil loss and sedimentation, according to Lyz Bantilan, spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District.

The training burn will take place near Watt Road with a burn window of Aug. 1 through Sept. 2. The burn will take place over the course of multiple days inside that window between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Air Pollution Control District staff have reviewed the smoke management plan for the burns and provided conditions to minimize smoke impacts, Bantilan said, adding that the burns will be conducted when the meteorological conditions are highly favorable to direct smoke away from population centers.