No Campfires In The High Country
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Colorado's extreme fire danger has triggered extreme restrictions in the High Country for campers. Open fires have been banned in nearly every forest and county along the Interstate 70 corridor.
Stage II restrictions were enacted Friday. The restrictions ban campfires or open fires of any kind. Lighting up a cigarette outside is off-limits and the only source of flame you can use while camping is a gas stove.
"In the evenings and weekends to contact campers, check out the dispersed campsites where people normally camp and make sure there are no camp fires," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Paul Semmer.
The National Forest Service is bringing in more enforcement to make sure all campers know the rules.
"The focus is education and warning folks about the new restrictions," said Semmer.
Over the past few weeks both forest rangers and Summit County deputies have written citations for those not obeying the rules.
"We're going to take a pretty much zero tolerance policy on that and so no more warnings, we are going to take it very serious," said Summit County Undersheriff Derek Woodman. "We do have a lot of National Forest within Summit County, it's over 60 percent so we're going to address those issues in the national forest as well."
Stage III is eliminating access to the forests. That hasn't happened since the Hayman Fire in 2002.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Stage I and Stage II Restrictions
