RIVERDALE -- Fire restrictions have now been placed along the Weber River by Riverdale Fire Department.
Fire Chief Doug Illum declared the restriction Friday. The restriction limits open fires, open flames, cigarettes and fireworks along the river corridor.
Officials said the restrictions have been put in place because heavy vegetation that has grown along the river corridor is now beginning to dry out and die because of the warmer temperatures, which are making them a fire hazard.
That same area was hit with several wildfires last year, some of them blamed on human carelessness, such as someone flicking a cigarette while walking on the parkway.
One large fire that occurred last July burned five acres of woodland surrounding the parkway. Twenty-seven firefighters had to respond to the fire because of how quickly the heavily-wooded area that had been blanketed with a layer of highly-flammable cotton from the trees had caught fire.
No damages to homes or injuries were reported in last year's fires.
Weber County Fire Marshal Ted Black said Friday that Riverdale is the only city he is aware of in the county that is having any sort of fire restriction.
He said they have not made any restrictions on newly legal aerial fireworks because they are unsure if they will be a hazard or not.
"Really, we don't have any data, so we don't know," he said.
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