By Christine Reid
Camera Staff Writer

The city of Boulder enacted an "ignition" ban in response to high wildland fire conditions and the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The ban prohibits lighting cigarettes and using grills in city open space and parks. It follows Boulder County's fire ban put in place last month and comes in time for a weekend famous for campouts and barbecues.

"Conditions right now are as bad as they are in August," said Justin Dombrowski, Boulder's wildland fire manager. "Live trees are brittle enough you can snap branches off."

He said the situation is worse than in 2000, which was classified the worst fire year within the last half-century.

Signs warning campers of the fire ban, extra rangers on patrol in fire trucks and constant education of those using city parks and open space will also be prevalent this weekend.

"Our rangers on duty this weekend will be very attentive," said Mike Patton, co-director of the city's Open Space and Mountain Parks Department. "It should be an interesting season. We skated last year — hopefully our luck will hold."

Boulder County's lone state park, Eldorado Canyon, is at Stage II of fire restrictions, meaning no campfires, charcoal grills or open fires of any type. Smoking is only permitted within an enclosed vehicle or building.

Federal parks enacted fire restrictions last month. Patti Turecek, fire prevention technician for the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, said no campfires are allowed except in designated spots in paid campgrounds. There are five paid campgrounds located in Boulder County.

The wet weather that moved into the area Thursday and Friday does provide some relief, Turecek said, and may curtail the usage of parks this weekend. But unless a three-week binge of similar weather hits the area, the fire ban will remain in effect this summer.

Dombrowski said crews have been busy thinning out area forests, and firefighters have been ordered to carry their gear on them at all times to ensure the fastest possible response times. The biggest obstacle is education, he said.

"This weekend is when you start to see all the out-of-state (license plate) tags" who may not be aware of the bleak conditions, Dombrowski said.

The fact that water on the Front Range is becoming a rare commodity has authorities worried about how big blazes will be extinguished. Boulder County Sheriff George Epp said many spots where helicopter buckets are filled for fighting fires have dried up.

"We don't want to find ourselves in the position that we have a big fire and don't have the water to put it out," he said.

Oliver Henry of Boulder beat the weekend crowds by getting out for a hike Thursday at Brainard Lake.

"I can see why they're taking the fire ban seriously," he said while standing a few yards from where gates to a road leading to Brainard Lake remain closed. He said there are usually 15 to 20 inches of snowpack by the gates. This year there is none.

"I hiked up a ski trail to Brainard Lake, and there was nothing but tiny patches of snow. That's very unusual," Henry said.

Camera reporter Justin George contributed to this report. Contact reporter Christine Reid at (303) 473-1355 or reidc@thedailycamera.com.

May 25, 2002

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