MT. LEMMON, Ariz. (KGUN) — This season’s fires have not hit Mount Lemmon.Emergency fire restrictions aim to keep it that way.
Because the fire danger is so high, if you’re going camping anywhere in southern Arizona you can pretty much count on being prohibited from using any sort of wood, charcoal, anything that would put any sort of an open flame in a campfire or grill because the fire danger is so high that restrictions are in effect.
A sign at the base of Mount Lemmon breaks the news. No fires.
At the Rose Canyon Campground Helen and Manuel Villanueva have solar panels, even a refrigerator, but they do not have a camp fire, just butane or propane stoves and lanterns.
Helen says “We still enjoy our our fun up here. We saw some deer this morning. The birds, the hummingbirds that come up here, and we still enjoy our time up here.
The Forest Service put the Coronado National Forest under Stage 2 emergency fire restrictions.
The rules say in part,
No wood or charcoal fires even if they’re in a grill or barbeque.
No smoking unless you’re totally enclosed
No open flame welding
No shooting even with air guns
No generators, or chainsaws.
Stoves burning LP gas like propane or butane are OK as long as there's nothing flammable closer than three feet away.
Lyle Patterson says he checked ahead so he knew as he packed to be ready for a camp site that lives up to the fire restrictions.
KGUN reporter Craig Smith asked: “Does it put a kink in your enjoyment out here to not be able to use open flame, or can you just adapt pretty easily?”
Lyle Patterson: “We adapted pretty easily to not being able to have a flame fire. We have propane cook stoves, and that's all we've used. And yeah, we're happy with that.”
And these campers say they feel a sense of responsibility to do what they can to protect the mountain from fire.
