Several camp hosts at Green Mountain Reservoir had a talk with sheriff’s deputies for selling firewood during the countywide fire ban.
Summit County Sheriff’s Office says it started with reports of multiple illegal fires at several campgrounds on the reservoir. That’s when deputies learned the camp hosts were still selling firewood and never posted signs about the fire ban, which started Aug. 8.
The camp hosts agreed to post signage and stop selling wood, and deputies let them off with warnings.
Summit and the entire White River National Forest are under Stage 2 fire restrictions, meaning no campfires, charcoal grills or even pellet smokers outside on public or private property. If it does not have an off switch, it is not allowed right now.
This is the first time in four years Summit has adopted Stage 2 restrictions. In a recent disaster emergency declaration Gov. Jared Polis calls fire conditions “historic,” relating them to 2020, when the three largest fires in state history scorched nearly a half-million acres.
The largest fire in Colorado today, the Lee Fire near Meeker, has burned nearly 134,000 acres with minimal containment. Statewide 2,395 personnel are assigned to nine large fires scorching more than 185,000 acres, according to the state.
There are no fires burning in Summit this morning, but for two days Summit and neighboring counties have been coated in fire haze, leading to air quality warnings. Conditions today are vastly improved, according to the Colorado Smoke Blog, with humidity returning and a chance for weekend rainstorms – the first in nearly two weeks.