FRIDAY, July 24, 2026|
Photo – US Forest Service logo – Bigfoot99 file photo
The United States Forest Service has instituted Stage One fire restrictions for the entirety of the Medicine Bow National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland, effective today. The fire ban includes all National Forest System lands in Albany, Campbell, Carbon, Converse, Crook, Natrona, Niobrara, Platte, and Weston counties.
Under the restrictions, igniting, building, and maintaining a fire is prohibited unless it is in a permanent metal or concrete fire pit installed by the U.S. Forest Service. Explosives, including fireworks, rockets, exploding targets, tracers, and incendiary ammunition, are also prohibited. Smoking is allowed only in an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while stopped in a cleared area at least three feet wide. Welding or operating a torch with an open flame is restricted to a cleared area at least 10 feet wide with a pressurized fire extinguisher nearby.
The U.S. Forest Service joins Wyoming Game and Fish, the Bureau of Land Management, and Carbon County in adopting Stage One fire restrictions in this unusually dry year. Although recent rains have lowered wildfire risk, experts say far more moisture is needed to stabilize conditions.
