Recent warm and windy conditions are bringing an early start to stricter fire restrictions beginning Wednesday in the eastern part of the Arizona.
The Department of Forestry and Fire Management is implementing the new fire restrictions across Gila County. Officials said the county is skipping stage I and going straight to stage II restrictions.
The more stringent rules are in response to more human-caused fires and dry conditions.
“So stage II we're going to be a little bit more restrictive, including no campfires at all, you cannot have any type of open flame, no chainsaw usage from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., obviously no discharging of a firearm," said Tiffany Davila from the agency.
The restrictions apply to state-owned and state-managed lands near Payson.
Davila said stage II fire restrictions are usually implemented every year, but are coming earlier this year.
