The Fremont County Commissioners adopted a countywide fire ban at the Board's regular meeting April 25th at the request of Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker. The Commissioners approved a resolution immediately imposing the fire ban. Extremely dry conditions and recent strong winds led to the decision. It was noted that southeastern Colorado has seen at least a dozen red flag fire danger warnings in recent weeks which is unprecedented for this early in the spring season.
The fire ban includes these prohibitions:
- No open burning or agricultural burning
- No open campfires
- No fireworks
- No welding or use of a torch with an open flame
- No smoking except in an enclosed vehicle or building (the tossing of lit cigarette butts from moving vehicles is strictly prohibited
Under the current fire ban the use of backyard charcoal and propane barbecue grills is permitted. Contained barbecue grills can also be used within established recreation areas and campgrounds.
The resolution adopted by the Commissioners imposes restrictions under the existing county fire ban ordinance. Later on Tuesday's agenda, the Commissioners approved an Ordinance on first reading that will be the guidelines for future fire bans. The new ordinance gets more specific by listing three different stages of fire restrictions. The ordinance change is intended to bring Fremont County’s fire restrictions in line with other federal, state, and local fire district guidelines. That will allow imposition of future county fire bans to parallel those being imposed by other agencies.