Smoky skies cloud Breckenridge during prescribed burn

Smoky skies covered Breckenridge Wednesday due to a large controlled burn, lighting burn piles behind the Wellington neighborhood.

Red White Blue Fire Wildland Division Captain Matt Benedict said there could not have been a better time to get going on these, and so far the burn is going faster than expected, a good thing considering they only have select windows when they can and should burn.

"Atmospheric conditions are really good, we have good ventilation which means that smoke is going to be going up into the atmosphere and not down into the valleys where people are," Benedict said.

Tuesday's bitter cold and wind made things a little difficult for crews as they tried to light the snow-covered burn piles, but ended up being a very productive day, putting them ahead of schedule. 

"Today (Wednesday) we are going to try to burn between 300-500 piles," Benedict said."Yesterday we had even better ventilation and we burned 950 piles."

Crews believe if things stay as they are with conditions, they might be able to finish up Thursday.