The Summit Board of County Commissioners will have a second reading of an updated fire ban ordinance at a July 21 meeting, after hearing the first reading and voting to move forward at a July 7 meeting.

The ordinance has not been updated since 2003, according to a memo written by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons told the commissioners Tuesday that the update will help bring Summit into alignment with other counties’ fire restriction enforcement, particularly with fines.

Currently, the county fines fire restriction violators $150 for their first violation, $500 for their second and $1,000 for their third. Sheriff’s Office deputies can also issue Class 2 misdemeanors and court summons for violations, but the fines are below those of other counties. In neighboring Grand County, for example, each violation can come with a $1,000 fine.

“That $150 fine for a first offense is, I mean, it costs more to write the ticket than the value of the ticket,” FitzSimons said. “I certainly don’t believe that it sends a message that a stiffer fine and a stiffer penalty would send.”

The proposed ordinance would allow Sheriff’s Office deputies to issue fines of up to $1,000 for any infraction, FitzSimons said. By increasing the fine, the county would look to further deter fire restriction violations. FitzSimons illustrated a need for deterrence by mentioning an incident from over the weekend where someone built and abandoned a campfire near the top of Miners Creek Road, prompting a response from deputies and firefighters to extinguish it.

“That’s a perfect example of, here we are in Stage 2 (restrictions), and people are lighting fires where they should be lighting fires,” FitzSimons said.

FitzSimons said that, assuming the board approves the ordinance on second reading, his office will start messaging about the change to help it act as a deterrent. The commissioners said the county would assist in that effort.

Commissioner Eric Mamula asked if deputies and judges would have the discretion to issue fines less than $1,000 under the ordinance, saying there is a difference between the unattended Miners Creek campfire and someone smoking in a parking lot. FitzSimons said they would have that discretion, adding that the Sheriff’s Office mainly focuses on open fires, though it investigates all reported violations.

In response to a question from commissioner Nina Waters about if local police or U.S. Forest  Service law enforcement officers could enforce the ordinance, FitzSimons said that municipalities have their own ordinances, so this proposed one would be enforced by Sheriff’s deputies.

Waters asked that county staff provide more information at the ordinance’s second reading about what the county does with the fine money it collects. FitzSimons said his office does not actually collect or keep the fines, as the ordinance allows them to go to the county.

Fire conditions update

FitzSimons told the board that he does not anticipate recommending a move out of Stage 2 fire restrictions soon. He said that some forecasted moisture could also bring lightning to Summit County, creating another fire risk.

“In the last 30 days, we’ve had less than a half inch of rain measured here in Summit County,” FitzSimons said.

Commissioner Tamara Pogue asked FitzSimons if officials in the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit have discussed going to Stage 3 restrictions, which are a higher tier of restrictions that the county government does not have the ability to implement on its own.

FitzSimons said Stage 3 restrictions come from the federal level and are essentially a closure of Forest Service land — something he said has never happened in Summit County. When it has happened elsewhere, though, he said counties and municipalities follow suit by closing their open space areas. He said officials have discussed the possibility of Stage 3 restrictions, but enforcing a closure would be difficult.

“Without enforcement, what is the point of the exercise?” FitzSimons said. “The feds certainly don’t have the enforcement, and we certainly don’t have the enforcement.”

Officials have also discussed partial forest closures, FitzSimons said, although it would be difficult to communicate to the public which areas would be open and closed.

Mamula asked how members of the management group feel about the availability of state and federal resources with many of them currently responding to fires elsewhere in the state. 

FitzSimons said state and federal resources, even while responding to other fires, would be committed to the initial attack on a new fire. If one started in Summit County, he said, aircraft would leave other fires for 24-48 hours to assist the initial attack on the new fire.