Boulder County Colorado sent this bulletin at 09/22/2015 12:17 PM MDT
For Immediate Release September 22, 2015
Media Contact:Carrie Haverfield, Boulder County Sheriff's Office, 303-441-1500
Sheriff Pelle Orders Fire Ban
Fire ban enacted for western Boulder County
Boulder County, Colo.-- On Tuesday, September 22, 2015, Sheriff Joe Pelle enacted a fire ban for the mountain area of Boulder County. The mountain area includes all unincorporated areas west of Highway 93, Broadway Avenue and Highway 36 (North and South Foothills Highways and Broadway Avenue in the City of Boulder) including Rabbit Mountain Open Space and west of Rabbit Mountain Open Space to Highway 36.
The fire ban prohibits:
Slash fires
The use of any kind of fireworks or model rockets
All other outdoor spark or flame producing activities
All outdoor burning not listed below as allowable
This fire ban allows for:
Indoor fires in fireplaces or stoves
Smoking indoors or within an enclosed vehicle
Campfires in improved and maintained 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
Charcoal grill use on private land
Smoking outdoors in areas free of flammable material
Fires contained within maintained fire pits or grates on private land
The fire ban will be in effect until the sheriff finds that the hazardous conditions have subsided. The fire ban does not affect open fires within incorporated cities and towns, however residents must comply with applicable ordinances and regulations in the respective cities and towns.
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.
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.'
