An illegal firework explodes inside a watermelon during a Fourth of July fireworks safety news conference at the City of Las Vegas Fire Training Center on North Mohave Road Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Saturday, May 4, 2024 | 2 a.m.
ELKO — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has issued a Fire Prevention Order continuing through Oct. 31, mandating fire safety practices on public lands, roads and trails in Nevada.
Elko District Fire Mitigation & Education Specialist Clint Mothershead explained how Nevada residents can follow the four restrictions in the order and how doing so will benefit the environment.
First of all, the order restricts "possessing, discharging, using or allowing the use of fireworks, pyrotechnic or incendiary devices."
"Statewide, even cities and municipalities don't allow for fireworks. But we have to broadcast that out to the public so they know that they are prohibited on BLM lands," Mothershead said. "We do get fireworks-related fires. Other devices that might fall underneath that would be Chinese lanterns."
Second, the order places a restriction on "possessing, discharging, igniting or causing to burn explosives or explosive material, including binary explosive targets."
"Obviously, explosives are prohibited for civilians to possess anyway. Specifically, though, exploding targets can cause problems when not handled properly by recreational shooters, Mothershead said. "We do see an uptick in fires in certain areas this time of year, in relation to the binary exploding targets such as Tannerite. If the conditions are just right, then you can definitely start a fire with those, so they are banned."
The third restriction applies to "discharging a firearm using tracer, incendiary, or steel-component ammunition." The order reminds enthusiasts that "use of tracer or incendiary ammunition is always prohibited on public lands."
"Number three ties in with number two," Mothershead said. While exploding targets are one major contributor to shooting-related fires this time of year, "the other one we noticed was steel jacket and/or steel core ammo, which is typically the cheaper ammunition you can buy in bulk. It comes from the Eastern Bloc in the Baltics."
Kinetic energy spawns the problem, he said. If steel core or steel jacket ammo strikes a hard target such as a steel shooting tree, "that metal will fragment and you can get particulate matter hot enough, if it lands in a fully cured fine fuel bed such as cheatgrass," it could start fires, Mothershead explained.
The last part of the order forbids "operating or using any internal or external combustion engine without a spark arresting device properly installed, maintained and in effective working order."
"We've noticed an uptick of people who get their motorcycle stock right out of the shop and they like to take the exhaust and put a modified exhaust on," along with off-road vehicles like UTVs, Mothershead noted. "It's something that you don't have to take to the shop to have done. You can do it yourself.
"It does help with the performance when you take off the stock exhaust and put something else on, essentially because the motor can breathe easier," he said. "But there's a mesh screen within the stock ones that a lot of these modified ones don't have. Most modified exhausts, without that screen in there when it heats up, can start blowing carbon particulate out the end of the exhaust. In the right conditions, that also can start a fire."
After sharing details on fire hazards, Mothershead explained how Nevada residents can handle the event of a fire.
"Possession of shovel, fire extinguisher and/or at least 5 gallons of water should be on hand in the event of an unintentional fire start," the order stated.
"Do what you can with what you have to put it out and get a hold of 911 or the emergency service as soon as you possibly can. Don't try to be the hero and get out in front of something if the fire is getting larger and picking up steam. Just kind of stay out of its way," he said.
"Fire can move faster than people can run uphill, in the right conditions," Mothershead explained. "Even if you didn't start the fire, if you can wait until an investigator gets there to at least tell them what you saw and let them have that information, that's definitely beneficial for our programs."
How else can people be conscious of how to take care of public land areas, roads and trails?
"I'll start with one thing: trash," Mothershead said. "A lot of people who like to recreate on public lands, tend to go out and shoot things they brought from their homes. But more often than not, they tend not to take that stuff home with them. We just ask them to respect everybody's public lands and pack in what you pack out."
For instance, he said, "If you come across an old dryer that people have been shooting and then you decide to start shooting it, technically, now it's become your burden to remove.
"It's hard to find the owner of a lot of stuff but we've seen people bring their household trash up there and they didn't take their information off of the parcel or postage, so it was easy for law enforcement people to find them and write them a ticket for trespass or littering," Mothershead said.
"Staying on established roads is another good one," he added. "Once the cheatgrass fire fuel is fully cured and dried out, we start getting fires from people who are off-roading and not staying on established roads or trails."
