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Montezuma County Fire Ban Goes into Effect April 16

Austin Cope

As unusually dry weather continues in the region, Montezuma County has become the first entity to enact fire restrictions.

On Monday, the Montezuma commissioners voted to ban open fires and the use of fireworks on county land, effective April 16th. Their resolutioncited risks of grass fires and wildfires in unincorporated parts of the county.

 

The Durango Interagency Dispatch Center has counted23 wildfires in Southwestern Colorado so far this year. Nine of those fires have burned five acres or more. Other municipalities, tribes, and public lands in the region do not yet have fire restrictions in effect, though fireworks are never allowed on public or tribal lands.

Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.
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