Wyoming Bonfires or campfires..are they common or permissable??

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by sheridanbound

Your posted example refers to G&F lands not private lands. That means forest lands. Fire pits on private property are not included in that. As others have posted the majority of "Fire Bans" include exceptions. These people are following the rules as they are posted. The people I know are members of the fire department and would not go against the rules. Everyone I know calls the fire department or sheriffs office when having an open fire, even when there is no fire ban.

Please do not continue to paint everyone with the the same brush. Fire pits are allowed. Most people are aware of the fire danger and follow the rules.

Fireworks are very different than a controlled burn in a fire pit.

And you've apparently chosen to ignore that at such times as the cited Ban is issued, it's pretty typical that country fire marshalls, city fire marshalls, the state fire marshall, and controlling federal agencies are all experiencing similar fire danger levels.

The drought caused fire risk doesn't stop at a public property line and end at a private property line, nor does it stop at state land coming over to federal lands.

My point was to illustrate a typical Burn Ban language, and to indicate that I could find similar language in virtually every fire marshall's Ban throughout a high risk fire danger season. If you want to challenge that, then I can start posting those statements ... especially in the most recent years of Wyoming's drought conditions. My impression is that you'd rather pick nits about a specific statement and deliberately ignore the larger concept at hand. The statement I posted certainly didn't leave any room for exceptions ... and that was in an area of the state which typically has more moisture than us folks down here in SE Wyoming.

While "most people may be aware of the danger and follow the rules", many folks simply do not do so, either through ignorance or "it won't happen to me" attitudes because "I know how to do this properly". I've seen a lot of campfires in makeshift fire rings in the backcountry, and I don't think a lot of them would have withstood a typical Wyoming wind gust coming through the camp ... with everybody perhaps down for the night and the embers still burning, it would have gone unnoticed until too late.

You apparently haven't been around to see how one spark carried by our Wyoming winds can be fanned into a fire .... it's why putting out prairie grass fires is so difficult. They must totally saturate the ground and work it over until it's completely soaking wet and cold. When you're talking about the acres of surface area at risk in a fire zone, it's quite a daunting project ... I've assisted our local VFD a couple of times when they needed to immediately borrow a local tractor with a loader to push through the piles of burning tumbleweeds, and it's quite a challenge to take your own farm tractor through the flames and embers and smoke to spread them around so that the water trucks can spray it to cool the burning stuff off and soak it. I've got a 6' wide three-point disc that they've used to create a no burn zone around a pasture, because that helps to give area on fire a defined stop point ... and they can simply let the pasture within that area burn while they deal with soaking down the rest. With a couple thousand gallon water truck as your only tool and the fire department water source 20 minutes away, roundtrip, you simply have to define what you'll accept to allow the fire to burn and what you can work on putting out.

For me, it would be safer to assume that somebody with an open fire during a burn ban order is in violation than to assume that they've got it all under control and that what they're doing is legal. When I see smoke around here during a burn ban, it gets my attention pretty quickly, and I'll be calling the VFD right now. Better the call than to see my (or my neighbor's) fences, pastures, crops, haystacks, infrastructure, workshop, home, and possibly ... livestock, at risk because of somebody else's actions.

I think the difference here in my attitude and sensitivity to the potential of fires is that I've seen the results first hand, and been on the scene working to help assist put the fires out. Perhaps, until you've had that type of personal involvement with the risk and results of fires, you are able to brush it off with impunity. I'm not able to do that ...

[sheridanbound]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

And you've apparently chosen to ignore that at such times as the cited Ban is issued, it's pretty typical that country fire marshalls, city fire marshalls, the state fire marshall, and controlling federal agencies are all experiencing similar fire danger levels.

The drought caused fire risk doesn't stop at a public property line and end at a private property line, nor does it stop at state land coming over to federal lands.

My point was to illustrate a typical Burn Ban language, and to indicate that I could find similar language in virtually every fire marshall's Ban throughout a high risk fire danger season. If you want to challenge that, then I can start posting those statements ... especially in the most recent years of Wyoming's drought conditions. My impression is that you'd rather pick nits about a specific statement and deliberately ignore the larger concept at hand.

While "most people may be aware of the danger and follow the rules", many folks simply do not do so, either through ignorance or "it won't happen to me" attitudes because "I know how to do this properly".

You apparently haven't been around to see how one spark carried by our Wyoming winds can be fanned into a fire .... it's why putting out prairie grass fires is so difficult. They must totally saturate the ground and work it over until it's completely soaking wet and cold. When you're talking about the acres of surface area at risk in a fire zone, it's quite a daunting project ... I've assisted our local VFD a couple of times when they needed to immediately borrow a local tractor with a loader to push through the piles of burning tumbleweeds, and it's quite a challenge to take your own farm tractor through the flames and embers and smoke to spread them around so that the water trucks can spray it to cool the burning stuff off and soak it.
I've got a 6' wide three-point disc that they've used to create a no burn zone around a pasture, because that helps to give area on fire a defined stop point ... and they can simply let the pasture within that area burn while they deal with soaking down the rest.

For me, it would be safer to assume that somebody with an open fire during a burn ban order is in violation than to assume that they've got it all under control and that what they're doing is legal. When I see smoke around here during a burn ban, it gets my attention pretty quickly, and I'll be calling the VFD right now. Better the call than to see my (or my neighbor's) fences, pastures, crops, haystacks, infrastructure, workshop, home, and possibly ... livestock, at risk because of somebody else's actions.

I think the difference here in my attitude and sensitivity to the potential of fires is that I've seen the results first hand, and been on the scene working to help assist put the fires out. Perhaps, until you've had that type of personal involvement with the risk and results of fires, you are able to brush it off with impunity. I'm not able to do that ...

You are not the only one who has direct experience with fire. I had the forest service spend a week using my property as home base while they fought a fire that could take our property and our neighbors.(lightning strike) I spent one horrible night with my belongings and my pets in my vehicle at the top of our property waiting for the fire to enter our property. They even sprayed fire retardent on our home. I saw 100 foot flames shooting from tree to tree roaring its way towards my brand new home.

I take nothing lightly but I also do not allow it to define my life. I am more likely to lose my home to the person who pulls to the side of the road and leaves thier vehicle running on top of dry grass than I am to a errant spark from my neighbors fire pit.

[sheridanbound]

For those that like to be kept up to date on the fire restrictions in the areas you live or will visit, the following webpage is very helpfull.

Wyoming Interagency Fire Restrictions


The following page gives you the guidlines and steps from, no fire ban to a full out closure. You will find that most WY fire ban restrictions will be written using this document.

http://www.wy.blm.gov/wy_fire_restri...strictplan.pdf

Please note that it is basic common courtesy in Wyoming to call your Fire department or Sherriffs office with the location and time of any open fire for the purposes of burning trash or brush during any time of the year. In our area it is the Sherrif's department because they recieve the 911 calls. Phone on their regular line (not 911).