Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo has lifted the county-wide fire ban.
After one month of restrictions, local fire chiefs now say that the danger is waning. A few weeks of July showers have brought the fuel-moisture level in the county back to near-normal levels. Aspen Fire chief Rick Ballentine said this doesn’t necessarily mean we’re out of the woods.
“If the weather pattern goes back to very dry, very hot and very windy, there’s quite a bit of grass and other vegetation that’s grown up,” Ballentine said. “If that goes dry, it just becomes ladder fuel for bigger fires.”
Restrictions on White River National Forest land will lift on Friday, and officials with the Bureau of Land Management said they plan on the same timeline for the Colorado River Valley.