Southern California Club Xterra
Southern California Club Xterra => SCCX General Discussion => Topic started by: Bobby B. on February 21, 2011, 08:49:10 PM
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It's that time of year again; time to get your California campfire permit. Why, you ask? Because you can get ticketed and fined for not having one, even for operating a stove. "I've never heard of that," you say? Well, California is broke and tickets are being written for lots of things that once were ignored.
Besides, it's free and easy so why not? Make two copies; throw one in your chuck box and the other in the glove box, have a shovel with you and you're covered.
Why do it now? Well, once fire season starts, even though a particular day-to-day fire rating may be low, you might not be able to get one. You can pick one up from forest service offices or you can go to the Sequoia Natl. Forest site, which hosts them online. Read the page and print one out.
Go here to get your free campfire permit. It's good until the end of the year.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/passespermits/campfire_permit/campfire-index.html
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Thanks Bobby. I got my permit. Now I think I'm going to go build a campfire in my front yard. :D
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Nice job got the permit now and I dont have to worry about it when the time comes.
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While I agree that getting one of these is easy, I don't think this has to do with California's budget -- they're issued by the US Forest Service, not the state. Federal forest rangers handle the enforcement.
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It's that time of year again; time to get your California campfire permit. Why, you ask? Because you can get ticketed and fined for not having one, even for operating a stove. "I've never heard of that," you say? Well, California is broke and tickets are being written for lots of things that once were ignored.
Besides, it's free and easy so why not? Make two copies; throw one in your chuck box and the other in the glove box, have a shovel with you and you're covered.
Why do it now? Well, once fire season starts, even though a particular day-to-day fire rating may be low, you might not be able to get one. You can pick one up from forest service offices or you can go to the Sequoia Natl. Forest site, which hosts them online. Read the page and print one out.
Go here to get your free campfire permit. It's good until the end of the year.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/passespermits/campfire_permit/campfire-index.html
Thanks Bobby! Printed mine too
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While I agree that getting one of these is easy, I don't think this has to do with California's budget -- they're issued by the US Forest Service, not the state. Federal forest rangers handle the enforcement.
Any leo can choose to ding you for it if they want to; at least that was the word from a ranger way back when. Hence the name, "California fire permit," not "Federal fire permit." The key words form the second sentence on the Website "You must have a California Campfire Permit to use a stove, lantern, or campfire outside a developed campground or recreation area." I figured if he made a point of telling me about it -- and this didn't take place in a national forest, BTW -- it might be worth it to print one out every year.
Like it or not, agencies are using the tools at their disposal to write more tickets and boost revenue during the budget crunch. The agencies in charge of the great outdoors, state, county or federal, are no different. Anyone who thinks otherwise is being a bit naive, IMO, and only has to look around to see more tickets being issued everywhere from national forests to BLM land. While this "permit" was originally designed by the forest service to be an educational tool with a bit of teeth to teach the irresponsible camper a lesson, times are changing and, in this case, it's easy to avoid being low hanging fruit that gets picked simply by printing out a piece of paper and having a shovel.
Have it or not have it, it's your choice. But this permit wouldn't exist and there wouldn't be a mechanism for fining you if there wasn't a reason for it.
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Thanks for this post Bobby, very thoughtful.
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Thanks for that!! I just did it myself.
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Thanks Bobby. I got my permit. Now I think I'm going to go build a campfire in my front yard. :D
I'll bring the smores Don.
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I've not seen anyone mention yet how they did on the 4-question quiz you were supposed to take in order to get the permit. For the record, I got them all correct, but I was really tempted to choose "happy" rather than "responsible" for the one asking about what type of person at the camp should be in charge of keeping an eye on the fire.
Thanks for posting this Bobby.
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I've not seen anyone mention yet how they did on the 4-question quiz you were supposed to take in order to get the permit. For the record, I got them all correct, but I was really tempted to choose "happy" rather than "responsible" for the one asking about what type of person at the camp should be in charge of keeping an eye on the fire.
Thanks for posting this Bobby.
I cheated. Wrote the answers on the palm of my hand.
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Done.
I've got two or three years worth of them in the glove box. Need to get the Wilderness Permit too.
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Not sure if I'll ever need it but thanks for posting it up!!