{"id":2444375,"date":"2019-05-19T17:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-19T23:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/fire-officials-preaching-caution-with-campfires\/"},"modified":"2019-05-19T17:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T23:20:00","slug":"fire-officials-preaching-caution-with-campfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/fire-officials-preaching-caution-with-campfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire officials preaching caution with campfires"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Lake Christine Fire seen overnight Wednesday, July 4, from the Willits Town Center looking north across State Highway 82 toward El Jebel. The 2018 Colorado wildfire season was one of the worst on record.<\/strong>
Jack Elder | Aspen Times file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VAIL \u2014 It would be really hard to spark a wildfire anywhere near Vail Mountain or Beaver Creek right now. Still, unattended campfires will always draw attention.<\/p>\n

A U.S. Forest Service fire crew was recently dispatched to investigate an unattended campfire in the Booth Creek area above East Vail.<\/p>\n

District Ranger Aaron Mayville said the fire appeared to be at a \u201csquatter camp\u201d in the area.<\/p>\n

The fire was quickly put out. But, Mayville said, people illegally living in national forests can be a problem, especially as terrain starts to dry out.<\/p>\n

Illegal camping can be a particular problem, Mayville said, since if a fire starts at one of those camp sites, those staying there are likely to leave an area without reporting trouble.<\/p>\n

Getting ready for fire season<\/p>\n

Beyond illegal camping, though, officials in Eagle County are preparing for the coming wildfire season.<\/p>\n

The National Interagency Fire Center\u2019s Predictive Services department is calling for \u201cnormal\u201d wildfire potential in the Rocky Mountain region. That\u2019s an improvement from 2018, when a combination of lingering drought and human error sparked a number of large wildfires in the region.<\/p>\n

The unattended campfire near Vail is the only one reported in the area so far this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the (2018) Lake Christine Fire (near Basalt) is still on people\u2019s minds,\u201d said Tracy LeClair, the public information officer for the Eagle River Fire Protection District.<\/p>\n

In fact, LeClair said the department has received calls reporting neighbors for backyard fires. Many of those fires are just fine, although some aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still working on that education piece,\u201d LeClair said. \u201cIf people have recreational fires, they need to make sure they\u2019re the proper size, and they\u2019re not burning pallets or other things they shouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Cada, the wildfire specialist for the Vail Fire Department, noted that it\u2019s still early, but camping season has started.<\/p>\n

Unattended campfires \u201care a habitual problem,\u201d Cada said. For those camping any time of year, Cada noted that, \u201cIf you\u2019re going to have a fire in the woods, it\u2019s your responsibility to put it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, he added, \u201cattended\u201d means that someone is next to the fire at all times.<\/p>\n

With the spring snowmelt well begun, area fire officials along the upper Colorado River have already started meeting, in large part to talk about consistent messaging. That\u2019s going to be important if and when a dry spell strikes and fire restrictions are imposed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lulled into complacency\u2019<\/p>\n

In Eagle County, consistency about fire restrictions can be tricky, due to the diversity of terrain.<\/p>\n

While the high mountains may have snow cover, much of the county is high desert terrain that burns more easily than high-elevation areas.<\/p>\n

And, Cada added, the grasses popping up now could be dangerous later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get a dry spell, and we typically do, there\u2019s a lot more fuel for a fire,\u201d Cada said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be lulled into complacency because we\u2019re having a wet spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vail Daily Business Editor Scott Miller can be reached at smiller@vaildaily.com<\/a> or 970-748-2930.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lake Christine Fire seen overnight Wednesday, July 4, from the Willits Town Center looking north across State Highway 82 toward El Jebel. The 2018 Colorado wildfire season was one of the worst on record.Jack Elder | Aspen Times file photo VAIL \u2014 It would be really hard to spark a wildfire anywhere near Vail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 11:20:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}