Garfield County Sheriff’s Office

September 22, 2026, 12:15 p.m. – Garfield County, CO, The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Land Management – Upper Colorado River District, and the seven fire districts in Garfield County lift Stage 1 Fire Restrictions throughout Garfield County effective 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

The White River National Forest will be lifting their restrictions on Friday, September 25, 2026.

The recent rainfall in our area along with cooler weather has allowed Stage I Restrictions to be lifted in Garfield County at all elevations. Fire restrictions are implemented based on specific criteria including the moisture content of vegetation, weather outlooks, human “risk” factors and firefighting resource availability.

Please exercise due diligence, be careful if you are building a campfire or partaking of any activity in an undeveloped area that might create sparks. There are still a lot fuels and dry vegetation in Garfield County where a fire could ignite and quickly spread.

Common sense and caution are the rule of the day. Enjoy our great outdoors here in western Colorado but do so carefully. Starting a wildfire would not only ruin your day but could cost someone a life, the loss of a home or other personal property. Undoubtedly, there would be legal consequences if you were to start a fire.

Garfield County Sheriff’s Office

September 2, 2026, 9 a.m. – After careful consideration, Garfield County, CO, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the seven fire districts in Garfield County are moving from Stage 2 Fire Restrictions to Stage 1 Fire Restrictions effective 1 a.m. MST on Friday, September 4, 2026. The fire danger is still high but less than it was for the past several weeks when we were under Stage 2 restrictions.

Fire restrictions are implemented based on specific criteria to include moisture content of vegetation, weather outlooks, human risk factors, and firefighting resource availability.

What Stage 1 Fire Restrictions mean in Garfield County

• Fireworks are not allowed under Stage 1 Fire Restrictions. Professional fireworks shows may be allowed through the permitting process.
• All burn permits are postponed/canceled until further notice.
• Campfires are only allowed within designated fire grates in developed areas (i.e. a permanent in-ground containment structure or store-bought fire pit). A temporary fire pan and rock campfire rings are not acceptable.
• No fires of any type including charcoal in undeveloped areas.
• No smoking except within a designated area, enclosed vehicle or building, a developed area or in an area free of combustibles.
• No use of fireworks or explosive materials, including “exploding” targets or bullets and tracer rounds.
• Exercise common sense and industry safety practice when welding or operation of an acetylene or other similar torch with open flame always cleared safe area of vegetation and combustibles.

Penalties

Causing a fire during fire restrictions can be a class 6 felony and can be punishable by fines. Other possible charges range from a Class 2 Felony to a petty offense depending on the value of the damage caused. You may be held financially responsible for damage caused.

Federal lands

The use of fireworks, flares, or other incendiary devices, including exploding targets, are always prohibited on federal lands.

Definitions

A “developed area” is an area, whether within city limits or rural, that is groomed, manicured and or watered, where grasses, brush and trees are regularly attended to by land owner. This includes residential and business areas, improved recreational areas, parks and other common areas.

An “undeveloped area” are lands that are not groomed, manicured, or watered, where grasses, brush and trees have been allowed to grow in a natural environment. This includes green belts that are not landscaped or manicured, open space lands, non-manicured park lands, and other areas where the fire hazard presented by the vegetation is determined by the authority having jurisdiction or designee to be an undue wildland fire hazard.