BC Sheriff imposes fire ban

Boulder County

On Wednesday, June 12, at 12:00pm, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle enacted a fire ban for the central mountain corridor of Boulder County. The central mountain corridor includes all unincorporated areas between Highway 93, Broadway Avenue, and Highway 36 (North and South Foothills Highways and Broadway Avenue in the City of Boulder) and Highways 119, 72 (Coal Creek Canyon Drive and Peak to Peak Highway), 7 (South Saint Vrain) including Rabbit Mountain Open Space and west of Rabbit Mountain Open Space to Highway 36.

State statutes authorize counties to impose a fire ban “to a degree and in a manner that the Board of County Commissioners deems necessary to reduce the danger of wildfires within those portions of the unincorporated areas of the county where the danger of forest or grass fires is found to be high based on competent evidence.”

This fire ban allows for:

Indoor fires in fireplaces or stoves

Smoking indoors or within an enclosed vehicle

Campfires in improved and maintained public campgrounds that are currently open to the public, as long as the fuel for such fires are smaller than two feet in diameter by three feet in height.

Liquid or gas fuel stove use on private and public lands

Charcoal grill use on private and public land

Smoking outdoors in areas free of flammable material

It bans all other outdoor burning, slash fires, use of any kind of fireworks, model rockets, and all other outdoor spark or flame producing activities.

The fire ban does not affect open fires within incorporated cities and towns; however citizens must comply with applicable ordinances and regulations in their respective cities and towns.

The fire ban will be in effect until the Sheriff finds that the hazardous conditions have subsided.

Anyone found in violation of the fire ban may be convicted of a class 2 petty offense and may be subject to a $500 fine, in addition to any possible civil penalties. Higher fines may be imposed for subsequent offenses.

For current fire and shooting restrictions for United States Forest Service properties go to the following website:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/arp/alerts-notices

As always, you can find the current fire-ban information through the links on the right hand side of our website.