Seasonal fire restrictions go into effect for BLM lands in Desert District

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) California Desert District has announced seasonal fire restrictions on public lands for San Bernardino county. The seasonal restrictions will remain in effect from April 15 to October 29, unless conditions allow it to be dropped sooner.

The elevated restrictions apply to activities involving campfires, controlled‑flame devices, recreational target shooting, and smoking on public lands.

The order prohibits recreational target shooting on BLM-managed public lands, but those restrictions do not impact hunting.  Steel jacketed rounds and metal targets can easily spark and ignite a fire. Tracer and incendiary rounds are always prohibited on public lands.

Building, attending, maintaining, or using a campfire, charcoal, coal or wood stove/grill outside of a developed campground is also restricted without a valid California Campfire Permit. Smoking is prohibited, too.

As always – all fireworks are prohibited in San Bernardino County. If you have an Off Highway Vehicle (OHV), make sure it has a spark arrester on it and is in good working order.

The restrictions and rules around campfires and other open flames is mostly common sense – when in doubt do what smokey says and make sure your fire is dead out. 

It is ramping up to be a possibly difficult fire season with a bumper crop of invasive weeds and dry conditions since this winter. Over 84% of wildfires are caused by humans, meaning they are 100% preventable. That math checks out so keep our desert safe and our skies clear this year and do your part to prevent wildfires on our public lands.

Link: BLM fire restrictions