Many throughout Summit County may have woken up to smokey skies on Saturday, but the smoke in the air is drift smoke from wildfires in adjacent states, according to the Summit 911 Center. The Summit 911 Center encourages people to only call 911 if they see an organized or established column of smoke that is originating from a single location or flames associated with smoke.

Due to windy conditions and relatively low humidity across the region, the National Weather Service out of Denver and Boulder issued a red flag warning on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 5.

Red flag warnings denote that critical fire weather conditions are “either occurring now or will occur shortly,” according to the National Weather Service.

The red flag warning extends to numerous counties including Summit, Clear Creek, north and west Park County above 9,000 feet and Grand County below 9,000 feet. The red flag warning went into effect at 10 a.m. on Saturday and is set to expire at 7 p.m.

The National Weather Service expects 20 to 35 mile per hour winds out of the west for most of the day with gusts reaching up to 50 miles per hour. The wind mixed with a humidity as low as 10% makes conditions favorable for rapid fire spread.

The wildfire danger in Summit County climbed to “very high” on Thursday, Oct. 3, according to Summit Fire & EMS.