Sacramento, CA….Effective Jan. 10, the Bureau of Land Management is implementing fire restrictions on public lands managed by the Mother Lode Field Office. This includes lands managed by the BLM in El Dorado, Amador, Sacramento, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa Counties. The fire restrictions will remain in effect until further notice.

BLM Fire Management Officer Jerry Martinez said the restrictions are needed due to unseasonably dry fuels and fire danger throughout Central California. “A wildfire under these conditions could pose a serious threat to public land visitors and resources, and adjacent private lands and communities,” he said.

According to Martinez, all campfires and barbeques are limited to designated fire rings in designated campgrounds. Portable stoves with gas, jellied petroleum or pressured liquid fuel are authorized with a valid California campfire permit, but the public is asked to be extremely careful with their use and carry a shovel and water at all times.

Other restrictions include:

Do not operate tools powered by internal combustion engines off established roads or trails.
No smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, or at a designated developed recreation site, or other designated areas.
No motorized vehicles off established roads or trails.
No shooting using incendiary, tracer, steel core or armor piercing ammunition.
No fireworks, including “safe and sane” fireworks.

The BLM advises homeowners to “Take Responsibility” and keep 100 feet of clean, open space around their homes to provide defensible space and improve the chance that their homes and families can be saved in an uncontrolled wildfire.

For further information on the fire restrictions, contact the Bureau of Land Management Mother Lode Field Office at (916) 941-3101.