Officials outline summer fire restrictions for Southern Nevada parks, recreation areas

It’s going to be a scorching summer in Southern Nevada, and state parks and recreation areas are rolling out fire restrictions with the hope of preventing man-made wildfires.

The restrictions, which take effect Monday, prohibit the use of fire outside of established campgrounds, but specific restrictions vary from site to site.

Representatives from the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Clark County Fire Department and the Nevada Division of Forestry met with the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday to outline the restrictions and highlight the agencies’ collaborative efforts.

The lands maintained by the agencies will prohibit using a campfire or charcoal stove, welding or operating an acetylene torch with open flames, using any explosive or fireworks or firing a tracer, or operating an off-road vehicle without a spark arrestor. Using portable gas stoves is generally OK, even at makeshift campsites.

In 2015, 61 percent of the 106 wildland fires on BLM lands were caused by humans, according to the agency’s Southern Nevada fire mitigation and education specialist, Zachary Ellinger.

That’s why the bureau is prohibiting steel-jacketed ammunition and explosive targets, which can start fires easily. Smoking is allowed only in enclosed vehicles, he said.

Campfires at the Desert Pass Campground at Desert National Wildlife Refuge are allowed only in fire rings, U.S. Fish and Wildlife fire operations specialist Brian German said. Campfires are not allowed at the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Armagosa Valley, about 90 miles northwest of the Las Vegas Valley. Grills in the day-use area of Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, can be used during the summer.

The key is to use the areas that were already built for fires.

Things are trickier at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Makeshift campfires using wood or charcoal are allowed only at developed picnic areas and campgrounds with a host who works for the recreation area — or on the shore if it’s 100 feet away from any brush. Barbecue grills can be used on private boats outside the harbors of Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, as long as they’re 100 feet away from vegetation.

A common problem at the lake is that people don’t always discard cigarettes and the remnants from fires properly. Dumpster fires, which can spread to nearby brush, are common, said Tiege Downes, assistant fire management officer for Lake Mead.

The officials said it’s also important for the agencies to manage the vegetation that could fuel wildfires, including the aggressive foreign grasses cheatgrass and red brome that have flourished in this year’s wetter-than-normal spring, because the fires could spread into residential areas. They manage the vegetation with prescribed burns.

Clark County Fire Department Assistant Chief Larry Haydu said there are about 400 homes on Mount Charleston and only about 100 fire engines in Southern Nevada that could respond if a blaze breaks out.

He said it’s wise for homeowners on the mountain to prepare their properties by trimming long-branched trees and clearing brush that has accumulated, such as dried pine needles.

Ellinger said the fine for having an illegal fire is about $250 dollars.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find @WesJuhl on Twitter.