SALT LAKE CITY — Certain ammunition and shooting targets, as well as specific lanterns, are among items now prohibited under new fire restrictions implemented by the Bureau of Land Management.
Due to Utah's ongoing drought conditions, several restrictions have been ordered across the state to stop the potential of sparking wildfires.
Starting Thursday, the following items and actions are prohibited:
- The use of any steel component ammunition of any caliber.
- The use of any steel component target.
- The use of any sky lanterns, Chinese lanterns, fire balloons, acetylene balloons, or similar device.
- The use of any Off-Highway Vehicle that is not equipped with a properly installed and maintained spark arrestor.
BLM officials said the order covers the following counties:
- Box Elder
- Cache
- Juab
- Millard
- Morgan
- Rich
- Salt Lake
- Summit
- Tooele
- Utah
- Wasatch
- Weber
As packaging may not indicate whether steel is part of the makeup of ammunition, users are asked to test products with a magnet.
The restrictions are enforced seasonally each year, but this year, officials said conditions are about a month ahead of what's normally seen.
“The conditions we're seeing now are conditions typical of July at this point," said BLM Fire Chief Erik Valdez. "And, we've already had large fires, and this is something that we're just preparing for and just making sure that, that any, any chance that we can reduce the fire cause, we're going to take it right now.”
