U.S. Forest Service weather stations in Eagle and Summit counties reported .5 to .7 of an inch of rain over the past 48 hours, but the rainfall wasn't enough for the Forest Service to remove fire bans. The one day of rain was a short-term fix. Forest Service restrictions, as well as those imposed by the Summit County Sheriff's Office, ban all fires in the county, except fires in improved campground fire pits. Fires contained within gas-fueled stoves, fireplaces or charcoal grills on private property are also excluded as well as fires authorized by a fire protection district, the forest service or the Summit County Environmental Health Department. The Forest Service additionally bans smoking, except in enclosed spaces, and restricts the use of chainsaws, welding or other torches.
Rangers say, fireworks are never permitted on public lands.
Until Monday's rain, Bowden said, the local weather stations were recording the highest levels of dryness since the stations began operation 14 years ago. In these conditions, lifting the bans requires sustained rain. The Forest Service makes fire risk predictions by entering all daily weather station data into a computer program which predicts fire behavior. For Tuesday, Bowden said, fire risk was low in Summit County with a smattering of moderate danger near Gypsum and Dowd Junction by Eagle-Vail. The computer program knows the lower elevations will dry out quickly, he said, and predicted all areas will go back to high risk with dry warm weather forecast for the rest of the week.