Friday morning, all state-owned and managed lands in Arizona will be under some sort of fire restriction.
Maricopa and Mohave county lands south of the Hualapai Indian Reservation and south of the Colorado River are under stage two restrictions. This limits recreational activities on state lands like building campfires, driving off-road and hunting.
The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management also placed Coconino and Mohave County lands north of the Grand Canyon under stage one restrictions.
All state-owned lands in Coconino County south of the Grand Canyon are closed, as are all lands in Navajo, Apache and Gila counties.
All state parks are under fire restrictions, but will remain open for the Memorial holiday weekend.
Arizona’s wildfire season had an early start this year with the Tinder Fire that has consumed 16,309 acres and 33 homes in north-central Arizona, the Viewpoint Fire near Prescott which took two homes and the Pinery Fire outside Wilcox that closed the Chiricahua national monument.
Those three fires — and the overwhelming majority of other Arizona wildfires last year — were man-made. Officials warn that low precipitation combined with high temperatures can turn the smallest spark into a devastating fire.
