Three New Federal Fire Closures Hit Colorado, Washington and Idaho

 8 min read

What Just Changed

Three new national forest fire closures landed inside 24 hours. Colorado, Washington and eastern Idaho each got one. However, all three carry different rules, different end dates and different penalties. Got a trip staged this month? Then the details below decide whether it survives.

One of them is partly good news. Specifically, Pike-San Isabel replaced its July 21 Aspen Acres order with a version carrying a new southern limit, and the Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness came back open. The Forest Service issued no press release and no acreage figure, so the change has drawn almost no coverage.

Everything below comes from the signed orders. Where an agency web page disagrees with its own order, we flag it. Notably, those conflicts are what get people cited. Our 2026 Western fire restrictions guide carries the standing rules for all ten Western states.

All Three National Forest Fire Closures at a Glance

Two of these fires were still moving, so treat every acreage figure as a snapshot.

Colorado: Aspen Acres Fire, and What Reopened

Forest Order 02-12-03-26-32 covers the San Carlos Ranger District of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest. Forest and Grassland Supervisor Ryan Nehl signed this Forest Service closure order. It runs from 12:00 a.m. on July 31 through 11:59 p.m. on August 31. Notably, the PDF carries a signing date of July 30 while the alert page says July 31.

The boundary reads, verbatim: “All National Forest System Lands on the San Carlos Ranger District … south of Colorado State Highway 96, east of Colorado State Highway 69, north of the Greenhorn Wilderness boundary, and west of Interstate I-25.” This is an area closure rather than one of the narrower national forest road closures. Therefore everything inside the polygon is shut: roads, trails, campgrounds and dispersed sites alike.

Now the part most coverage missed. The July 21 order described the area as “south of Colorado State Highway 96, east and north of Colorado State Highway 69, and west of Interstate I-25.” The July 30 version drops “and north of” from the Highway 69 clause. Instead it adds a new southern limit at the Greenhorn Wilderness boundary. Consequently the Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness and the ground south of it came back out of the closure. The incident’s InciWeb page confirms it: “The Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness is now open. Access is only through the Bartlett and Greenhorn trailheads out of Rye, as State Highway 165 remains closed.”

Aspen Acres Fire status and where to go instead

The Aspen Acres Fire started June 29 roughly 10 miles northwest of Rye. It stood at 101,961 acres with 67% containment and 593 personnel assigned in the August 1 update. Anyone rerouting should read our guide to free dispersed camping in Colorado, which lists twelve sites well outside this boundary.

Washington: Skyo Fire Shuts 11 Forest Roads

Gifford Pinchot took a narrower approach. Order 06-03-05-26-03 issues national forest road closures instead of an area closure. As a result the surrounding forest stays open, and only the listed routes are off limits. In addition, it runs from July 31 through December 31, a far longer window than the Colorado order.

Specifically, eleven National Forest System roads are named on the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District in Lewis County: 4710000, 4710015, 4710019, 4710020, 4710023, 4710026, 4710029, 4710040, 4710041, 4710049 and 4710405. Most coverage mentions only the 4710000 mainline. Consequently, drivers assume a spur is legal because nobody listed it. However, the spurs carry the same penalty. Anyone rerouting inside the state should read our roundup of dispersed camping in Washington.

Lightning started the Skyo Fire, first reported at 10 p.m. on July 22 near Skyo Mountain, about three miles west of Packwood. It reached 253 acres at 38% containment on the morning of July 31, with a Level 1 evacuation notice in effect.

Gifford Pinchot also sits under Stage 2 fire restrictions through October 31, although those are a separate order from the road closure. Our breakdown of what Stage 2 restrictions ban explains which stoves, generators and chainsaws remain legal under Stage 2.

Idaho: Big Rock Fire Closes the Snake River Between Conant and Byington

The Idaho closure is the newest, the fastest moving and the only one issued by BLM. It carries no number, because BLM issues these as a Notice of Temporary Closure under 43 CFR 8364.1 rather than as a numbered forest order. Bret Herres, acting Upper Snake Field Manager, approved it.

The closure took effect at 6:00 p.m. on August 1 and currently runs through 11:59 p.m. on August 10. Originally announced as lasting until further notice, it changed twice during August 1, and the end date arrived in the afternoon update.

What is closed in the Conant to Byington reach

As of the August 1 afternoon revision, therefore, four things apply. Camping is closed between Conant and Byington. Specifically, the order covers designated riverside sites, Kelly Island, Wolf Flats, Warm Springs and every dispersed site along River Road. BLM lands, roads, campgrounds and trails in the same reach are closed. Boating is now closed only below Byington, a partial reopening from the original notice, while boaters already in the canyon take out at Byington. Trails are closed at Cress Creek and Stinking Springs, plus all hiking and biking trails around Kelly Canyon and Heise.

One document conflict deserves attention. The signed notice closes BLM lands, roads, campgrounds and trails in the Conant-to-Byington reach and prohibits river camping. However, it says nothing about boating below Byington, and names none of the trails. Both of those appear on the web announcement alone. Treat everything on the announcement as closed. Consequently a ranger enforces what BLM announced, not what fits inside the signed notice.

The Big Rock Fire started early on the evening of July 31. By Saturday morning it had grown from roughly 200 acres to between 1,000 and 1,200 acres, and by Saturday evening it pushed past 1,200 acres and crossed into Madison County with no containment reported. A Level 3 order covers the Heise area north of the Snake through Kelly Canyon, extended Saturday evening north to Lyons Creek Road and 9000 South and east to 7000 East. Readers rerouting should use our state-by-state dispersed camping guide.

What Ignoring National Forest Fire Closures Costs You

The two agencies punish this differently, and the forest closure penalty gap surprises people.

Violating a Forest Service closure order is a Class B misdemeanor. The maximum is $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for an organization, plus up to six months in jail. The authority sits in 36 CFR Part 261 and 16 U.S.C. 551. Penalty amounts flow from 18 U.S.C. 3559, 3571 and 3581. Both Forest Service orders print the penalty language verbatim.

BLM goes further. A BLM temporary closure issues under 43 CFR 8364.1. Meanwhile the penalty sits in 43 CFR 8360.0-7 and 43 U.S.C. 1733(a). Violating one carries up to 12 months in jail, double the Forest Service maximum. Therefore the Idaho closure is the most expensive one on this list to ignore, despite covering the smallest area.

Worth noting: no forest closure penalty requires proof you started anything. Being inside the boundary is itself the violation.

Why Your Map App May Still Show These Roads Open

Motor vehicle use maps are republished once a year. However, a closure order under 36 CFR 261.50 legally overrides the MVUM the moment it is signed. As a result, a road will appear green and legal on your map while being criminally closed in reality. The map is not wrong so much as out of date.

The apps behave differently from each other. For example, onX Offroad flags some temporary closures in red against green for open routes. Gaia GPS, by contrast, mirrors the annual Forest Service layer. In contrast, it publishes no emergency closure-order layer. Neither company publishes a service level for how fast a new order appears, so nobody outside those companies knows the lag. Neither layer is a substitute for the order itself.

The practical rule is simple: treat the app as a planning tool and the signed order as the law. Where they disagree, the order wins and your app will not be in court with you.

How to Check National Forest Fire Closures Yourself

Four free sources answer this faster than a news search.

First, the alerts page for the specific forest, which is authoritative and usually same day. For these three, the pages are Pike-San Isabel, Gifford Pinchot and BLM Idaho advisories. Second, the BLM state advisories page, since forest alerts never list a BLM closure. Third, state-level fire restriction finders, which several states maintain as interactive maps. Fourth, the official Forest Service app, which surfaces closure orders and offline maps across more than 30,000 recreation sites.

InciWeb, meanwhile, deserves a caveat. It carries only incidents a managing agency chooses to post. Aspen Acres has a full InciWeb page updated daily. For Skyo and Big Rock we found no comparable updates. Instead, the freshest information sat on agency channels. Do not treat silence there as an all clear.

Finally, check restriction stage separately from closure. Stage 2 fire restrictions and a closure are different orders with different boundaries, and a forest often carries both at once. On Pike-San Isabel, however, only one is currently live. The Stage 2 order 02-12-00-26-20 expired at 11:59 p.m. on August 1 with no successor posted. Meanwhile the Aspen Acres closure runs to August 31. Check the alerts page before assuming either still holds. Then call the ranger district if your route sits near a boundary.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do national forest fire closures last?

Each order names its own expiry, and the range here runs from 10 days to five months. The Idaho notice expires August 10, the Colorado order August 31, and the Washington road closure December 31. However, agencies routinely replace an order with a new one before it expires, so an expiry date is not a promise of reopening.

Do national forest fire closures ever get smaller?

Yes, and the Colorado order is a live example. Although closures usually grow, this one shrank. Pike-San Isabel replaced its July 21 order with a July 30 version. Adding a southern boundary at the Greenhorn Wilderness pulled the Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness and the land south of it back out. Agencies rarely publicize a shrinking boundary, so compare the current order against the one it superseded.

What is the fine for entering a closed national forest area?

On Forest Service land the maximum is $5,000 for an individual and up to six months in jail, as a Class B misdemeanor. On BLM land a temporary closure violation carries up to 12 months. Neither penalty requires proof you caused any damage.

Does onX or Gaia show current closures?

Only partially. onX Offroad marks some temporary closures in red, while Gaia GPS mirrors the annual Forest Service layer and publishes no emergency closure-order layer. Neither publishes how quickly a new order appears. Check the forest alerts page before you leave pavement.

Is dispersed camping still legal near these fires?

Inside the Colorado closure boundary, no, because an area closure covers dispersed sites. In Washington, by contrast, the closure names roads only, so dispersed camping away from those eleven routes remains legal under Stage 2 fire restrictions. In Idaho, camping is specifically closed between Conant and Byington.

What is the difference between a closure and fire restrictions?

A closure bars you from an area or a road entirely. Fire restrictions, meanwhile, let you enter but limit what you do there, typically banning open flame while allowing enclosed stoves. Forests frequently run both at once under separate orders with different boundaries.