Pile Burns Set for Treasure Mountain to Reduce Old Town Wildfire Risk

Smoke is rising above Old Town as Park City Municipal and Wanship-based Alpine Forestry LLC ignited the first of approximately 11 slash piles on Treasure Hill, the 104-acre open space directly above the historic district. Plumes are visible from the Aerie, parts of Deer Valley, and the Snyderville Basin. Residents with asthma, respiratory sensitivities, or young children should limit outdoor exposure near the hillside and keep windows closed when smoke is present. Public safety officials are asking everyone in Park City not to contact emergency services to report the smoke or flames. No burns are planned for the weekend following today's start, though piles may remain hot for several days, with Alpine Forestry crews staying on-site to monitor every ignition point until all heat is fully extinguished.

The burns are part of a city-authorized wildfire mitigation project running at roughly $4,000 per acre, with the Park City Council having approved an agreement for up to $300,000 for the Treasure Hill acreage. Alpine Forestry, founded by longtime wildland firefighters David Telian and Matthew Castellon, has worked systematically across the property since 2021, clearing ladder fuels, thinning the forest, and stimulating quaking aspen growth. Pile burning is reserved for areas where steep, isolated terrain makes chipping or hauling material off-site impractical.

The risk driving this investment is not abstract. Old Town is among the most fire-exposed neighborhoods in Park City, its tightly packed historic homes climbing onto the surrounding hillsides with limited defensible space. A fire starting on Treasure Hill could race through the neighborhood and spread onto terrain shared by Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort, threatening the tourism economy that sustains the entire region. Park City's Wildland Urban Interface designation reflects that large-scale fire is not a hypothetical; the 2021 Parleys Canyon Fire reinforced just how quickly conditions can escalate.

The April timing is no accident. A 2022 wildlife assessment recommends avoiding mitigation activities on the property from May through July, making this spring window the primary annual opportunity. Telian has explained that safe burning also requires recent moisture, a light snow or rain, to keep ignitions contained to pile areas without killing combustion entirely. Current conditions on Treasure Hill were described as favorable. If weather or air quality disrupts operations before the work is finished, burns may resume in fall 2026.

The hillside at the center of this effort has a long and expensive history. Park City acquired Treasure Hill in spring 2019 in a $64 million deal, the largest open space purchase in the city's history, ending a development dispute that had stretched more than a decade. The city bought the property from the Treasure partnership, composed of the historic Sweeney family landowners and a firm called Park City II, LLC. The land runs along the route of the Town Lift and forms the scenic backdrop to Old Town. In April 2025, the Park City Council approved a formal conservation easement ensuring the hillside remains protected permanently.

Community backing for the work is documented. A wildfire survey conducted last fall drew 409 responses, 70 percent from year-round residents, with a majority in support of ongoing fuel reduction. By spring 2024, Alpine Forestry had cleared most of the acreage, leaving 15 acres of piles remaining, though a drier-than-normal spring and the extended Park City Mountain ski season compressed that year's burn window, pushing roughly three acres and 60 piles into the fall.

Today's ignitions mark another measurable step toward closing the gap between the city's most vulnerable neighborhood and the hillside looming above it.