By admin Published April 15, 2020

Current Fire Restrictions in Garfield, Eagle, and Pitkin Counties, and White River National Forest and BLM Lands in these Counties

We know that throughout the COVID-19 crisis, a lot has changed over the course of a month. As many of our public health and safety officials have been busy trying to combat this crisis and keep our communities safe, it is important that the community does their part in return. We’d like everyone to be aware that these fire restrictions are NOT due to weather conditions, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the virus attacking respiratory systems it is crucial that we help to maintain our air quality for those who may be sick or already having breathing issues and added concerns during this time.

Our hope in enacting these restrictions is to keep our first responders safe and available to continue aiding in the current crisis we are facing. We want to prevent the unnecessary risk of exposure to our teams and keep our resources and response time available for COVID-19 related incidents.

What Stage 1 Fire Restrictions Entail:

From the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office
A “Developed Area” is an area, whether within city limits or rural, that is groomed, manicured and or watered, where grasses, brush, and trees are regularly attended to by landowners. This includes residential and business areas, improved recreational areas, parks, and other common areas.

An “Undeveloped Area” are lands that are not groomed, manicured, or watered, where grasses, brush, and trees have been allowed to grow in a natural environment. This includes green belts that are not landscaped or manicured, open space lands, non-manicured park lands, and other areas where the fire hazard presented by the vegetation is determined by the authority having jurisdiction or designee to be an undue wildland fire hazard.

• Campfires are ONLY allowed within designated fire grates in Developed Areas (i.e. a permanent in-ground containment structure or store-bought fire pit) A temporary fire pans and rock campfire rings will not be acceptable.
• No fires of any type including charcoal in Undeveloped Areas.
• No smoking except within a designated area, enclosed vehicle or building, a developed area or in an area free of combustibles
• No use of explosive materials, including “exploding” targets or bullets and tracer rounds
• Exercise common sense and industry safety practice when welding or operation of an acetylene or other similar torch with open flame – always clear safe areas free of vegetation and combustibles.
• Fireworks are prohibited on BLM, National Forest, and National Park Service lands.

These restrictions will be in place until further notice.

We hope that you will adhere to these restrictions not only for your local emergency response teams, but also for your community members, friends and family. The only way that we will pull through this pandemic is if we do it together. We will keep our community updated throughout this time and wish you safety and good health. If you have any questions, as always, feel free to reach out to your friends at the Carbondale Fire Protection District.