Eagle County updates fire restrictions ordinance

This week Eagle County Sheriff James Van Beek, along with the Eagle County Board of County Commissioners signed an updated fire restrictions ordinance. The updates will help to clarify fire restrictions with what is allowed and not allowed and includes the implementation of automatic fire restrictions during periods of a ‘Red Flag Warning‘throughout unincorporated Eagle County (excluding Federal lands). Anytime the National Weather Service issues a Red Flag Warning for our area, fire restrictions will automatically be implemented.

This means that Eagle County will automatically move into fire restrictions during the specific time frame of a Red Flag Warning, without any further action from the Sheriff. During times that Eagle County is not implementing regular fire restrictions and a Red Flag Warning is issued, all of unincorporated Eagle County (excluding Federal lands) will automatically move into Stage 1 Fire Restrictions. The fire restrictions listed in the attached image under “Stage 1 Flag Restricted Activity” will be implemented throughout the duration of the Red Flag Warning.

In the event that Eagle County has already enacted “Stage 1 Fire Restrictions” and a “Red Flag Warning” is issued, all of unincorporated Eagle County (excluding Federal lands) will then automatically move to “Stage II Fire Restrictions”. The fire restrictions listed in the attached image under “Stage 2 Flag Restricted Activity” will be implemented throughout the duration of the Red Flag Warning.

*Undeveloped Lands: 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 to be an undue wild land fire hazard.

*Portable Outdoor Fireplace: A portable outdoor, solid fuel burning fireplace that may be constructed of steel, concrete, clay or other non-combustible material and equipped with a screen or other approved spark arrestor. A portable outdoor fireplace may be open in design or may be equipped with a small hearth opening and a short chimney or chimney on top.

• A red flag warning is a forecast warning issued by the National Weather Service to inform area firefighting and land management agencies that conditions are ideal for wildland fire combustion, and rapid spread. *After drought conditions, when humidity is very low, and especially when there are high or erratic winds which may include lightning as a factor, the Red Flag Warning becomes a critical statement for firefighting agencies.
   
• A map depicting the areas of Eagle County affected by fire restrictions can be found at: http://www.ecemergency.org/p/eagle-county-fire-restrictions-info.html.
   
•  In addition, the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office strongly encourages citizens to stay aware of the latest emergency and weather notifications by signing up for EC Alerts at www.ecalert.org.