Boulder County Moves Forward With Complete Fire Ban

Since Monday, wildfires have consumed the Front Range here in Colorado.

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The largest, the Alexander Mountain Fire, is still burning west of Loveland and has just reached over 8,000 acres with only 1% of it contained. At least 24 structures have been damaged.

Jefferson County has the Quarry Fire, which is much smaller at 400 acres.

Boulder County has unfortunately had two fires, with the first one being the Stone Canyon Fire, which is over 1,500 acres with 20% containment. However, the Lake Shore Fire fortunately has been 100% contained. 

With Boulder County getting two fires within a day of each other, they decided to take drastic measures to prevent another fire from starting.

Boulder County Enacts Stage 2 Fire Restrictions

On Thursday, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office put into place some seriously strict fire restrictions for the entire county, to the point where it is in essence a complete ban.

On July 1st, Boulder County actually enacted Stage 1 fire restrictions, but it has now been upgraded to Stage 2. 

Stage 2 fire restrictions prohibit the use not only of many different types of outdoor fires in Colorado, but many different activities and tools as well.

For example, you are not allowed to use firearms recreationally, smoking is heavily regulated, fireworks are completely banned to the point where you cannot sell them, along with off road driving. 

For a full list of the restrictions, you can visit bouldercounty.gov. 

Are There Fire Restrictions Anywhere Else in Colorado?

At the moment, there’s quite a few different counties across both the Front Range and Western Slope that have fire restrictions enacted right now.

This includes Larimer, Jefferson, El Paso, and Mesa to name a few, but the full map can be seen at coemergency.com.

At the moment, Larimer County has a pretty similar ban to Boulder County.

You are allowed to burn a fire in a fireplace inside a home or on gas-powered grill equipment in your backyard or on a campsite.

Larimer County’s restrictions are set to last until August 31st, but the county’s commissioners have the option to extend restrictions past that date.

This is entirely possible, with the National Forest Service saying the Alexander Mountain Fire has a 50% chance to last for multiple weeks, and a 10% chance of it being a multi-month fire.