County issues Stage 1 fire restrictions

USFS and BLM follow suit; Burning allowed in permanent containers only

By Katherine Nettles

After weeks of careful consideration, Gunnison County has made the move to join adjacent counties in issuing fire restrictions, which will take effect Friday, July 10 at 12:01 a.m.

The Stage 1 fire restriction prohibits any fires that are not contained within permanent constructed devices. Open fires, dispersed camping fires and agricultural burning will not be permitted. Fireworks are also prohibited, as are other activities related to combustible materials listed in detail on the county website. This is the first restriction of the spring/summer season for Gunnison County.

County commissioners met with Gunnison County sheriff John Gallowich, emergency manager Scott Morrill and Gunnison fire marshal Hugo Ferchau on Tuesday, July 7 to discuss the local fire council recommendations.

Morrill informed the board that the fire council had met Tuesday morning to discuss fire restrictions. The council had met on June 23 as well, and agreed to keep a careful eye on the conditions.

“But continued hot, dry, windy weather and unprecedented traffic in our forests,” said Morrill, have made the danger of fire more intense. Morrill pointed out that Gunnison County has been an island with all other counties on a map around us having fire restrictions in place, in many cases for weeks.

Ferchau said Stage I is not too restrictive, since enclosed, permanent containers can still be used. “We are looking at a proactive approach,” he said.

Commissioners passed a resolution to approve the recommendation. Municipalities including Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, the city of Gunnison, Pitkin and Marble generally follow suit on county fire restrictions but do not have to do so. Public land agencies initially appeared to be split on the decision, but by Wednesday morning had decided to match the county’s restrictions.

The U.S. Forest Gunnison Ranger District confirmed it would enact the same restrictions as the county on the same timeline. But Morrill noted that the Bureau  of Land Management had some reluctance at first because, “We haven’t had any human starts this year. The public has been really well behaved.”

Ferchau said the lack of human starts is one of the metrics that prompt the fire council to make decisions one way or the other. “So that’s why—the BLM doesn’t want to punish people for no reason.”

“I was reluctant to commit to Stage 1 fire restrictions as of this morning. BLM typically makes our fire restriction decisions during a weekly call. I committed to make a decision tomorrow during that meeting and after seeing an updated weather forecast,” wrote Elijah Waters, BLM Gunnison Field Manager, in an e-mail to the Crested Butte News on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Waters confirmed the BLM would enact the same Stage 1 fire restrictions as the county and Forest Service.

Gunnison District ranger Matt McCombs said at the end of June in a commissioner’s update that precipitation and fire danger indices were setting up on average, but predicted that in the coming weeks that trend might be a little higher.

“It is best to ‘move as one’ with other areas in fire restrictions, although things are certainly more crispy down south,” he said.

He also noted that when there is an uptick in human user error, that takes away resources for managing lightning strikes and natural wildfires, and that can lead to restrictions as well.

“From my perspective, we are right on average. We certainly can expect some fire. But by no means are we expecting some of the extremes like what we saw in 2018,” McCombs said.

The restriction will be effective beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning, July 10 and will remain in effect until lifted by county resolution.