Dry, hot conditions with no real reprieve in sight have prompted the county commissioners to reinstate the county fire ban, effective Monday.

At the recommendation of Cortez Fire Marshal Frank Cavaliere and Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez to protect the public and reduce the chance of wildfires, the commissioners voted to ban all open fires until the moisture content improves.

The ban includes burning ditches, crop fields, and trash piles. No campfires will be allowed during the ban. Fires contained in an incinerator-type enclosure such as a trash can will still be allowed, but need to monitored closely.

Montezuma County’s move to prevent controlled burns from becoming uncontrolled was preceded by similar bans state and nationwide. Reacting to huge wildland fires in New Mexico this month, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a month-long ban on any additional prescribed burns on federal lands.

Statewide, Gov. Bill Owens has followed suit. In a May 18 letter to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and U.S. Department of Agriculture Dan Glickman, Owens officially suspended all state-issued permits that allow prescribed burns to take place on federal lands.

"My decision is based on a determination . . . that burning activities by federal agencies would constitute a substantial danger to public health and safety and that current circumstances imperatively require emergency action," Owen’s letter states.

Owens also ordered that the state health department place a moratorium on all pending federal burn applications.

Owens said that the state ban is in response to reports that National Park Service employees set the Bandelier fire despite National Weather Service warnings advising that weather conditions were inappropriate for prescribed burns. He expressed concern that Colorado’s federal land agencies may also be acting irresponsibly, citing a federal prescribed burn near Durango in 1998 that violated National Air Quality Standards.

Under normal conditions, before a local federal land agency can commence a prescribed burn, a smoke permit must be issued by the state department of health to insure air-quality and other standards are met. It is those permits that have been suspended, explained Tom Kelly, Forest Service fire manager for the Dolores Ranger District, noting that locally planned burns for this spring had already been canceled.

"We had already made the decision that the spring window for prescribed burns was gone due to dry winds and hot weather in the last three weeks," Kelly said.

More state oversight of prescribed burns on federal lands within Colorado appears imminent in light of the New Mexico debacle, Owens indicated.

Prescribed burns that are necessary in an emergency will be reviewed on a case by case basis, the letter states.

"We will have to wait and see what additional safeguards they want," said Scott Steinberg, fire program leader for the San Juan National Forest. "Right now our permits are in limbo until we get more direction."