Stage II Fire Restrictions in Garfield County

By admin Published June 28, 2018

From the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office:
Stage 2 Fire Restrictions for Unincorporated Private & State Lands in Garfield County 

• Tomorrow June 29, 2018, beginning at 12:00 AM, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management-Colorado River Valley Field Office and the lands managed by this Office as well as the six Fire Districts in Garfield County, (Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District, the Glenwood Springs Fire Department, Colorado River Fire Rescue, Grand Valley Fire, Gypsum Fire and the De Beque and Lower Valley Fire) will enact Stage 2 fire restrictions, until further notice, on all unincorporated private and state lands within Garfield County.

  This supersedes the previous Stage I Fire Restrictions and is being imposed due to continuing high to extreme fire hazard conditions.

  Fire managers base decisions about fire restrictions on specific moisture measurements in vegetation and other risk factors. With a lower than normal snowpack this past winter; recent hot and dry weather have created high fire danger at elevations below about 9,000 feet.

  Stage 2 Fire Restrictions apply to all state and privately owned lands in Unincorporated Garfield County and are as follows:
  

• No fires/campfires/stove fires, this includes wood or charcoal burning stoves and fireplaces in mountain cabins.
• No charcoal grills and no wood or coal fires for cooking purposes. This applies to personal and park charcoal grills or grates. Only natural gas or propane grills with a shut off valve shall be permitted. Allowed outdoor cooking fires shall be attended at all times until the fire is extinguished and cold.
• No smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building.
• No operating of any combustion engine, including chainsaws, without an approved spark arrester (properly installed), a chemical pressurized fire extinguisher, and a round-point shovel readily available for use.
• No welding, spark emitting cutting, or operating acetylene or other torch with an open flame except for industrial use and then only with a Fire Department permit. This must be in a cleared area of at least 10 feet in diameter and there must be a chemical pressurized fire extinguisher, in possession, which is readily available in the immediate area of operations. 
• No use of any explosive. All explosives are prohibited, including: blasting caps, exploding targets, bullets, tracer rounds, model rockets, etc.
• No fireworks. All fireworks are prohibited, including: toy caps, sparklers, snakes, smoke bombs, fountains, etc.

Those found responsible for starting wildfires will face restitution costs of suppressing the fire.

The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank everyone in Garfield County for their cooperation in doing their part to keep us all safe.

For more information about fire restrictions in these areas, log on to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Website or the Garfield County Web Site at:

www.garcosheriff.com                               www.garfield-county.com  

Tri-fold flyers are also available throughout the County and at most convenient stores that describe the current Fire Restrictions and Ordinances in place in Garfield County.