05/14/2026
As fire danger increases across our area, please take a moment to review and follow the current fire stage restrictions shared by the Gila County Sheriff’s Office.
Thank you to everyone doing their part to help protect our forests.
U.S. Forest Service-Tonto National Forest
44m
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With increasing fire danger across Arizona, Tonto National Forest officials will implement emergency stage 1 fire and recreational shooting restrictions for the entire forest beginning Friday, May 15, at 8 a.m.
Visit the Tonto National Forest website to learn more about stage 1 fire restrictions, including recreational shooting restrictions, and exemptions to the rule: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/tonto/fire/fire-restrictions.
❗Prohibited acts when visiting the Tonto during stage 1 fire restrictions:
▪ Building or using a fire outside a Forest Service installed metal or concrete fire structure within a designated developed site such as campgrounds or picnic areas.
A designated site has permanent fire rings or grills maintained by the Forest Service. A stove fire must be inside a fully enclosed metal stove or grill with a chimney at least 5 feet tall and a spark arrestor with ¼‑inch mesh.
🚭Smoking, except inside an enclosed vehicle or building, at a developed recreation site, or in a cleared area at least 3 feet wide that is free of flammable material.
▪ Discharging fi****ms, including air rifles or gas guns.
Emergency stage 1 fire restrictions also include recreational shooting restrictions to protect the public, wildland firefighters, and our natural resources from the risk of a recreational shooting-caused ignition due to Very High fire danger conditions across the forest. Restrictions will remain in effect until Forest Service officials determine that conditions have changed sufficiently to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfires.
The decision to implement emergency fire and shooting restrictions is based on various factors, including fire danger criteria, live fuel moistures, observed fire behavior, control difficulty, resource availability, predicted weather, potential high-risk ignition events, and other factors. This decision was made in conjunction with other federal and state land management agencies in Arizona.
The public can obtain current state and federal fire restrictions information across Arizona on the Arizona Interagency Wildfire Prevention and Information website: https://wildlandfire.az.gov/fire-restrictions.
