By Shannon Lukens.
Watch for smoke around Steamboat Springs. The Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue wildland crew will be doing some prescribed burns of slash piles on Emerald Mountain and around the Mt. Werner Water Treatment facility. This is a safe time to do it with all of the recent snow. The fire department is working with Routt County Environmental Health. The air quality has to be good or it has to be snowing for it to happen.
Press release from City of Steamboat Springs; Dec. 26, 2023
Prescribed Burns On Horizon For Two Visible Locations
Smoke From Emerald Mtn & Around Mount Werner Water Plant Could Be Visible
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO-December 26, 2023-Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue (SSFR) anticipates conducting prescribed burns of numerous slash piles on Emerald Mountain and around the Mount Werner Water Treatment Plant starting sometime after the Christmas holiday as weather and conditions permit.
“Right now, it’s a matter of waiting on the correct conditions,” said Fire Chief Chuck Cerasoli. “However, the weather is setting up favorably especially after all this snow to permit 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 SSFR wildland crew, burns will be conducted on Emerald Mountain and around the Mt. Werner Water Treatment Facility. 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 only occur when ventilation conditions are rated good to excellent, or it is actively snowing.
Over this past summer, SSFR wildland firefighters did mitigation work across Emerald Mountain resulting in approximately 45 piles in the vicinity of the western zone of the mountain and another 20 to 30 piles around the radio tower. Once ignited, this burn is anticipated to last two to four days.
During the spring of 2022, Mt Werner Water and the city conducted a joint project to enhance protections for the wildland urban interface in the critical Fish Creek watershed area. Across approximately 46 acres, shrubs along with standing dead aspen and woody vegetation was mulched/chipped or placed in slash piles to generate an adequate fire break. These piles, around ten total, will be burned during this project.
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 8am-5pm.
Have a passion for fire prevention and working outdoors? SSFR is actively recruiting seasonal wildland firefighters to join the department. These positions require responding to, combating, extinguishing, and preventing wildland fires, as well as planning and performing fuels reduction and mitigation projects like the two previously mentioned. To apply or find out more, go to https://tinyurl.com/5626yt6z.