Town follows county fire regulations

Watching weather before going to the second stage

By Mark Reaman

The town of Crested Butte will follow Gunnison County if the county decides to enact Stage 2 fire restrictions this summer. Currently the county is under Stage 1 fire restrictions, which essentially echo most of the town’s fire regulations, but because of the continued dry weather and hot temperatures, more restrictive measures may need to be taken this month.

Chief marshal Mike Reily told the Crested Butte Town Council at the Monday, June 4 meeting that moving to Stage 2 could impact contractors because actions such as welding outside or operating a chainsaw during certain times of the day would be prohibited.

“The Gunnison Basin Wildfire Council won’t go to Stage 2 restrictions willy-nilly,” said Reily. “They are carefully looking at the situation. My feeling is that the extra restrictions could come sometime in mid-June if the weather doesn’t change. But you never know. We could get a lot of rain and the monsoons could start early. It just makes sense that the town remain consistent with the county.”

The council gave the authority to town manager Dara MacDonald to impose Stage 2 restrictions in town if the county imposes the same restrictions.