PHOENIX — Arizona officials are escalating fire restrictions across much of the state ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, as fire crews battle multiple active wildfires and respond to 40 new fire starts over the weekend. Stage 2 restrictions take effect Tuesday at 8 a.m. on State Trust lands in eight counties, including Maricopa and Pinal.
Under Stage 2 restrictions, campfires, charcoal grills, and wood stoves are banned. Smoking is prohibited except inside enclosed vehicles or buildings. Fireworks and pyrotechnic devices are forbidden, and operating chainsaws or internal combustion equipment is banned from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Tonto National Forest is implementing both Stage 2 rules and an emergency recreational shooting ban. The forest is also the site of the 11,939-acre Sycamore Fire, which continued to burn Monday. Two other major wildfires are burning elsewhere in the state.
> "Fireworks are inherently dangerous. They're inherently unpredictable. That's just part of how fireworks work," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in announcing that state's fireworks ban.
