Western Slope
Fire restrictions in Montezuma County depend on the exact jurisdiction
A Porch Note from Colorado Porch — plain-English local details for all 64 Colorado counties.
Cross a property line in this corner of the Western Slope and the fire rule can change under your feet, because no single countywide answer covers all of it.
The fire-restrictions page is built around that reality. It breaks the county into separate lines: unincorporated county areas, the nearby towns, tribal governments, San Juan National Forest, BLM land, and Mesa Verde National Park. The status on any of those can flip fast during a dry stretch, but the rule that binds you is set by the ground you are actually standing on, not by the county as a whole.
Campfires are only the obvious case. Open burning, fireworks, charcoal grills, chainsaws and other spark-throwing equipment, and target shooting can all fall under fire-danger and land-manager orders. Something perfectly legal on your own parcel may be flatly prohibited a few miles up the road on forest or tribal land.
So the move is to check the page the same day you plan to light anything, then follow the specific link or agency listed for your exact spot, whether that is inside Cortez, Dolores, or Mancos, on tribal land, on federal land, or out in unincorporated county. The neighbor’s rule is not yours to borrow.
Sources
Official or primary sources used for this note. Local details can change, so confirm before acting.