Pitkin County enters Stage 2 Fire Restrictions amid ‘extreme’ conditions

Pitkin County announced a Stage 2 fire ban effective Friday, Aug. 8, following persistent dry conditions, high winds, and low fuel moisture content.

According to David Boyd, public information officer for the White River National Forest, the current energy release component of wildfire fuels is comparable to 2020, the year in which the three biggest fires on Colorado record burned cumulatively over 500,000 acres. An energy release component is a measurement of how hot and intense a fire will burn through fuels and is used to determine how intense a wildfire could be if it started in a specific area.

“Our rating for low elevation, middle elevation, high elevation — it’s all extreme,” said Angie Davlyn, the executive director for the Roaring Fork Valley Wildfire Collaborative. “I don’t want to say unprecedented, but it’s certainly high to an extent that should keep people on incredibly high alert. I think everyone in the valley should know that we are in an extremely dangerous time right now for wildfire, and they should do everything they can to not start a human-caused fire.”

Based on the low fuel moisture content and especially high energy release components, it is expected that the Pitkin County fire restrictions are going to continue through the summer and possibly into September, according to Heather Marsh, public affairs specialist for the BLM Colorado River Valley.

“I have heard anecdotally from some of our fire specialists saying that we could be in some stage of a fire restriction even through the beginning of hunting season in September just because we had such a dry winter, and we didn’t really have the monsoon effects that we typically get,” Marsh said.

According to Jake Anderson, fire chief at Aspen Fire Protection District, the area might need several weeks of consistent, heavy rainfall to restore moisture to fuels enough to lower the fire danger. He noted that the short, frequent afternoon storms Aspen has experienced recently may not sufficiently wet anything and, more likely, is running off or too localized to affect a larger area.

Chris Breitbach, the emergency manager for Pitkin County, said the largest current contributing factor to the extreme fire danger and the Stage 2 escalation is the lack of moisture and rain, although the increased temperatures and high winds also play a role. 

Some of the Stage 2 restrictions include banning open fires from campfires, non-compressed gas fueled stoves, and other open flames in all outdoor recreation spaces and public property, according to a press release from Pitkin County. Driving or parking off established roads is also prohibited. 

Smoking is prohibited unless inside an enclosed building or vehicle. Chainsaws with working spark arresters are allowed, so wildland fuels mitigation can continue to be done by professional crews, Boyd confirmed.

According to Marsh, the maximum punishment for a fire restriction violation is a fine of $100,000 and/or 12 months in prison, as well as restitution for the cost of suppression and damage done by the fire. Different agencies have different enforcement policies and strategies.

“There are several large wildfires even in our state, and so when you have a lot of big wildfires like that, you have a lot of resources that are focused on fighting those fires, which means there are fewer resources locally,” she said. “We want to be able to respond to new fire starts, and we do so as quick as we can. So the less human-caused ones that we have to worry about, the better we can handle (that).”

Breitbach asks the public to stay vigilant to the rules and restrictions currently in place. He also recommends continuing to follow a heightened readiness to evacuate, including always having an evacuation kit ready.

According to Marsh, visitors to other parts of the state or the Western U.S. should research the fire restrictions at their destination before visiting, as the restrictions vary widely across the state and country.