Photo supplied, Utah Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management on Monday released new fire restrictions to take effect immediately in several Utah counties.
According to a news release, Juab, Millard, Wayne, Piute, Sevier, Sanpete, Box Elder, Weber, Cache, Rich, Morgan, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, Washington, Kane, Garfield, Iron and Beaver counties are under new fire restrictions due to the severe drought.
The release read that while fire restrictions are in effect, the following acts are prohibited:
The restrictions apply on all unincorporated county, state and federally administered public lands in the listed counties.
“Despite the recent monsoon storms, rainfall has not been widespread, and the majority of Utah remains in extreme drought,” BLM Utah State Fire Management Officer Chris Delaney stated in the release. “While the moisture we received was much needed, it has not been enough to reduce our wildland fire risk. We still need every Utahn to use their Fire Sense and to be a responsible public land user when enjoying the outdoors.”
Fire Sense is a website to help the public identify common sense actions to take when handling fire triggers such as dragging chains, campfires, fireworks and gun usage.
The West Desert District of the BLM covers the west and northwest portions of the state. Weber, Davis, Morgan and Box Elder counties, along with many others under the West Desert District, are considered to be under stage one of fire restrictions.
On June 15, a previous set of restrictions were put in place until rescinded. According to the document, there would be no use of any steel component ammunition of any caliber, steel component target, sky lanterns/fire balloons or similar devices, and any off-highway vehicle that is not equipped with a properly installed and maintained spark arrester.
The BLM West Desert District office did not respond to request for comment.
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