Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue anticipates conducting prescribed burns of numerous slash piles on Emerald Mountain starting some time around the Thanksgiving holiday or in early December, as weather and conditions permit.  

“Right now, it’s a matter of waiting on the correct conditions,” said Wildfire Specialist Leighton White. “However, the weather is setting up favorably, especially with the forecasted snow, to allow us to burn these piles, and we wanted to start letting the community know they may see smoke as a result of the project.”  

Under the direction of the SSFR wildland crew, burns will be conducted on Emerald Mountain. The project has an approved burn permit from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control. 

In addition, the department is working with Routt County Environmental Health to ensure healthy air quality remains at the forefront. Burns will occur only when ventilation conditions are rated good to excellent, or it is actively snowing. 

Over this past summer, SSFR wildland firefighters did mitigation work on Emerald Mountain resulting in numerous slash piles across the mountain. Although it may take several days to burn all the piles, each pile that is ignited will be fully extinguished daily by sunset.  

The public is asked to avoid these areas during the burn operation. Routt County Dispatch will be informed of the operation prior to ignition. If there are additional questions on the pending prescribed burns, please contact SSFR at 970-879-7170 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m.