Your days of keeping a campfire in Summit County are numbered.
Just one week after adopting Stage 1 restrictions, Summit and most neighboring counties are jumping to Stage 2 restrictions this Friday, June 26. This means no open fires outside, including campfires, charcoal grills and smokers. Even permitted backyard fire pits and campfires in a fire ring at developed campgrounds are outlawed.
The only flames allowed are those with an off switch, like propane grills and gas-fueled fire rings.
This is the second consecutive summer with a complete fire ban in Summit. Last year we adopted one in August. Before that we had gone four years with nothing worst than Stage 1 restrictions.
Park County today adopted Stage 2 restrictions, meaning no fires in the Alma and Fairplay areas.
By Friday at least two other counties, Grand and Pitkin counties, adopt Stage 2 restrictions for Kremmling, Lake Granby, Winter Park and the Aspen area.
Eagle County, home to Vail, is reviewing fire restrictions this week. Odds are good it too will adopt Stage 2 restrictions, because it shares the same national forest as Summit and most of Pitkin. When the White River National Forest adopts fire limits, the home counties almost always do the same.
Heat with no relief
This fire ban comes during the hottest and driest stretch of the year in Summit.
Temperatures at the Krystalized weather station in Dillon have topped 80 degrees five days in a row. In the past 24 days we have not recorded more than a trace of measurable rainfall. The official record-keeping station in Dillon shows barely a one-tenth of an inch in that time frame.
National Weather Service predicts relief by Thursday with a solid chance of rain in Summit, but it will be short-lived. When the fire ban takes effect on Friday there is a slight chance of rain. By this weekend the forecast will be sunny, warm and breezy.
Preview image via SmokeyBear.com.
