In Preparation for Fire Season

A neighbor asked me a question, which I thought I knew the answer to, but I questioned what I knew when informed a USFS personnel disagreed with me. Hmm…nothing I like better than to prove ANY governmental agency misinformed, particularly if I can do it with their own codes, regulations, ordinances – their laws – comes from almost 30 years of fighting the government oppression for my indigent clients.

So, I have found I was correct. I found the CFR and US Codes which govern campfires in the national forests, what is legal, what is not, what the fines are if permitted but not done properly, and what the fines are if campfires have been prohibited by the Forest Supervisor.

Rather than have to research this again in a few years, I decided I would put together a hand-out, if you will, that each of my neighbors and any other interested parties can print out and carry with them (maybe carry multiple copies?) with which to educate the USFS personnel, particularly seasonal workers, F&G wardens, MCSO, AND more importantly, the visiting uninformed. I will post it here next week, after Easter. So look for a little something with which to inform yourself, your neighbors, our enforcers, and more importantly, potential violators. I’m just going to quote the laws and where they can be found. I will not be providing advice, legal or otherwise. Just the law. Arm yourself with the law and you will learn all sorts of things. One way to fight ignorance and hopefully even uncaring individuals.

I saw on a free campsites web page a person who admitted that while she KNEW campfires were prohibited, she had a “little” one anyway to keep the bugs away. We’ve got to get the word out. We can get their information and call it in. Just a few $5,000 fines would pay for all the enforcement we could tolerate.