With Salt Lake County's foothills and canyons primed for an "Oakland type" wildfire, Commissioner Randy Horiuchi implemented an emergency fire mitigation plan Wednesday.

"Our expectation is that this summer and summers yet to come all of the factors are in place for a disastrous fire," Horiuchi said, citing eight years of drought, dry brush, the prospect of canyon winds and urban encroachment up the mountains."This summer, we certainly have in Salt Lake County the makings of a fire similar to Emigration Canyon four years ago and potentially as terrible as the fire that ravaged Oakland, California," he said.

Forecasting the worst, Horiuchi announced that he has instructed County Fire Chief Larry C. Hinman to take emergency steps to prevent such a disaster. "The Oakland fire clearly demonstrates that once a fire of horrific magnitude begins, it cannot be controlled."

The county's mitigation plan includes:

- A prohibition against all open burning in unincorporated county areas except for strictly controlled agricultural purposes.

- A prohibition against recreational fires or barbecues in the canyons within 25 feet of a structure or combustible material unless contained in a barbecue pit.

- A requirement that buckets, shovels or garden hoses be readily available for use during a recreational fire.

- A daily assessment of the fire hazard to determine whether to ban smoking, campfires and other activities.

- Use of a red flag system to alert residents of high fire danger.

- Possible restrictions on access to the canyons during critical conditions.

- A ban on fireworks in the canyons.

- Availability of a fire hand crew beginning June 15 assigned to brush control, firebreaks and early detection.

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- Contact with homeowners in wooded areas regarding fire mitigation.

- Full prosecution of anyone who maliciously starts a fire, including recovery of the full cost of fighting such fires.

- Establishment of a Wasatch Wildland Fire Cooperative - already in place - to coordinate firefighting efforts of local, state and federal departments and agencies.

"This will be our most dangerous summer in many years," Horiuchi said. "I appeal to all residents to be fire conscious this summer. This is serious business."

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