Fountain, CO Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

44, 'Open Fire and Open Burning Restriction,' was adopted wholesale by Ordinance No. 1777 on June 27, 2022, replacing older scattered burning rules with a stage-based system tied to fire danger. 010 defines 'open fire or open burning' broadly to include bonfires, campfires, warming fires, explosives, fireworks, burn barrels, and the prescribed burning of irrigation or drainage ditches, fence lines, fields, farmlands, rangelands and wild lands. 040 gives the Fire Chief of the City of Fountain, or a designee, standing authority to declare an open fire ban whenever fire danger is found to be high, without any council vote or further proceeding; the declaration must specify the stage level, the parameters of the ban and its duration, and must be published by posting in the same manner as ordinances plus a press release.

050 gives a National Weather Service red flag warning the same automatic force as a fire-chief-declared restriction for the duration of the warning. 060 flatly prohibits burning trash, including yard waste, paper, cardboard, food scraps, plastics, rubber and polystyrene, with no stage-dependent exception. 030 exempts permitted commercial or community firework displays, fires inside liquid or gas-fueled stoves and indoor fireplaces, activity under a fire department permit, and law enforcement or firefighting personnel on duty. 020 separately governs which specific outdoor activities, from blasting to campfires, are allowed or barred once a ban is declared.