Single Incident Information

Dawson pile burn Update: 3/10/2025

Favorable weather conditions for burning piles are developing later this week. Fire crews are currently monitoring weather reports for a winter system to pass over the Dawson project area. If weather conditions do become favorable, fire crews will look to burn piles Thursday 3/13/2025 - Friday 3/14/2025. Please check back for updates.

Dawson pile burn Update: 3/6/2025

Fire crews had excellent conditions for burning piles at the Dawson project. A snowstorm impacted the project area with snow accumulating between 1-3inches. With the snowfall and good ventilation for smoke dispersal, fire crews were able to accomplish burning over 1,000 piles. Fire crews will monitor and patrol the Dawson project area in the coming days. No further ignitions are planned until the next favorable weather conditions are in place.

Southwest District Fire and Aviation 

The Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office is conducting prescribed fire pile burning near the Dawson Draw area, South of Dry Creek Basin, and East of U.S. HWY 491 Colorado.  This pile burn is scheduled to take place during the winter and early spring of 2025 and will be conducted as weather conditions permit.

Specific timing of the operation will depend on favorable weather conditions. Crews will be on site for the duration of the burn.

Smoke will be visible throughout the day of the burn, mostly during the warmest part of the day. With cooler temperatures in the evening, smoke may linger and accumulate in low-lying areas. Firefighters will be on site throughout the day of ignition and will periodically patrol the burns for several days afterward.

The Dawson vegetation treatment project was created by researchers from USGS, CU Boulder, University of Reno Nevada, and UC Berkeley along with the Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office. This projects primary goal is to perform hazardous fuels reduction and evaluate the forest stand response. This treatment includes 530 acres of Pinyon-Juniper stands to be hand thinned and piled in units of 16-28 acres. Piles will be created from the remaining slash and will be burned when weather conditions allow. Project units have been organized to study tree and vegetation response to multiple thinning prescriptions: a uniform thinning prescription and a heterogenous thinning prescription. These project treatments will also evaluate the vegetative response across different elevations. The result of this project will be valuable information pertaining to standard fuel treatment methodologies, drought and other disturbances within the pinyon-juniper stands.

Recent updates will be provided in the "news".

Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. For more information, please visit the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division’s website at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.