Red flag warning; Eagle County imposes stage 1 restrictions during warning

The National Weather Service in Grand Junction on Thursday issued a red flag warning for Friday between noon and 9 p.m. The warning covers areas below 8,500 feet elevation due to forecasted gusty winds, low relative humidity and dry fuels.

The forecast for the Colorado River headwaters area calls for winds between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts of 25 to 35 mph. Relative humidity is forecast to drop to 10% to 15%.

That combination means conditions can become favorable for easy ignition and the rapid spread of fires.

Eagle County bumps up fire restrictions one level whenever a red flag warning is issued. In this case, the entire county will go to stage 1 restrictions.

Those restrictions include:

• No personal fireworks use.
• All fires on public or private land must be in a permanently constructed fire pit, fire ring or grate.
• No outdoor smoking in areas that haven’t been cleared of combustible materials.

For more information, go to ecemergency.org.

This story is from Vaildaily.com.