Wildland firefighting crews with the Durango Fire Protection District burned 75 piles of slash on 3½-acres of city-owned property adjacent to the Sky Steps in Durango on Wednesday.

The crews are working in conjunction with the city. The slash piles were created by the wildland crews in June and July as part of a mitigation project. The burn was closely monitored by fire crews and staff from the La Plata County Office of Emergency Management.

“So they just needed to get those burned and they felt like this was a good window based on the fact that there’s still snow on the ground and not likely conditions where the fire is going to get away from them,” said Durango Fire Protection District Chief Hal Doughty.

La Plata County and U.S. Forest Service dispatch centers were notified before the burn to ensure incoming calls about smoke from the fire did not trigger a response from emergency services.