{"id":100112,"date":"2018-04-26T18:34:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T00:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/residents-urged-to-practice-fire-safety-during-dry-conditions\/"},"modified":"2018-04-26T18:34:44","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T00:34:44","slug":"residents-urged-to-practice-fire-safety-during-dry-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/residents-urged-to-practice-fire-safety-during-dry-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents urged to practice fire safety during dry conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Taylor
Taylor Goff, a volunteer with the Mancos Fire Protection District, looks for hot spots last year after putting out a brush fire along U.S. Highway 160 west of Mancos. The cause of the fire was unknown, but a cigarette thrown from a passing vehicle was suspected.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The summer fire season has arrived early this year, and the Colorado State Patrol in Southwest Colorado says it has zero tolerance for behaviors that could result in wildfires.<\/p>\n

Southwest Colorado has already experienced several brush fires along roads and near residences. The U.S. Drought Monitor lists Southwest Colorado as being in \u201cexceptional drought<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to an April 19 snow and precipitation update report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the snow-water equivalent is at 33 percent of the 1981-2010 median and the water year-to-date precipitation is 46 percent of the average for the Animas, San Miguel, Dolores and San Juan river basins.<\/p>\n

CSP reminds Durango-area residents of last summer when the Lightner Creek Fire<\/a> started at the end of June northwest of Durango. The wildfire consumed 412 acres before it was contained, and forced 170 residents to evacuate, with 173 fire-fighting responders called to the scene.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, CSP has issued a list of illegal and unsafe behaviors that could lead to wildfire:<\/p>\n

Leaving, neglecting, disposing or throwing burning material from vehicles, such as cigarettes or cigars \u2013 lit or ashed.<\/em>Failing to remove lit or burning matter on roads.<\/em>Unlawful possession, sale or use of fireworks.<\/em>Even intentionally-ignited, seemingly well-contained fires, such as campfires in a ring, can easily burn out of control. Residents and visitors must adhere to fire bans whenever and wherever they are issued, according to the CSP.<\/p>\n

Low fuel moisture levels, moderate-to-high winds, high temperatures and terrain that varies in elevation can contribute to out-of-control fires. Fires that damage public lands or private property, or cause injury or death, carry a range of arson charges. Charges can apply even if a fire is unintentionally started or intentionally started but not maintained in a reasonably cautious manner.<\/p>\n

Residents will be subject to automatic summons to court for:<\/p>\n

Unlawful conduct on public property \u2013 such as a starting a fire.<\/em>Building fires in prohibited areas.<\/em>Additionally, drivers in Colorado are reminded that it is illegal and unsafe to:<\/p>\n

Fail to yield the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle.<\/em>Follow too closely behind fire apparatus.<\/em>Drive a vehicle over fire hoses.<\/em>Park in front of a fire hydrant.<\/em>CSP asks people to be aware of their actions this summer while driving, camping and enjoying the summer.<\/p>\n

Drivers should in mind where vehicles are parked; hot exhaust components can easily ignite brush or dry grass and the car itself.<\/p>\n

For information about fire bans and National Forest Service burn permits, visit www.fs.fed.us\/visit\/know-before-you-go\/fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

fstone@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

announces \u2018zero tolerance\u2019 for reckless behaviors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-100112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100112"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=100112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}