The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management conducted pile burns Tuesday near Durango city limits: one along the 2000 block of Florida Road (County Road 240) near Chelsey Acres and another in the Falls Creek area along County Road 205.
According to inciweb.wildfire.gov, the Bureau of Land Management was conducting the burns near Chelsey Acres.
National Forest Service spokeswoman Lorenna Williams said the Forest Service was burning piles in Falls Creek. Snow and rain in the region made conditions safe to conduct the pile burns, which are meant to remove flammable materials from forests around Durango, she said.
“(The burns) will continue through the week,” Williams said. “We’re burning on all three districts of the San Juan National Forest. It’s not just Durango. We accomplished burn units in Pagosa Springs, and tomorrow we also are adding the Dolores Ranger District.”
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— Patrick Dillon (@PatrickDillons) February 17, 2026
The burns prompted some alarm among residents. Durango Fire Protection District received dozens of phone calls from concerned onlookers.
“There are no wildfires,” said Chief Randy Black. “They are doing mitigation and burning piles since there’s moisture on the ground, and they have all the criteria to be able to make that decision.”
Black asked residents to avoid calling 911 or DFPD to report the fires unless there is a real emergency.
An earlier version of this article erred in saying the Forest Service was conducting pile burns near Chelsey Meadows due to incomplete information provided to the reporter.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
