Exploding targets causing many area fires

It’s currently illegal to have exploding targets on public lands, but that isn’t stopping people from using them which leads to fires.

“I think when we’re looking at 20 plus days of 90 degree weather, the conditions are such that we’re getting more of these types of fires,” said Kevin Conran, a BLM Fire Investigator.

At least five fires this season have been caused by exploding targets. The BLM says the targets are binary explosives that detonate from the impact of a bullet. They say many of the fires start when exploding targets are not used correctly or when they’re blowing up something else.

“What we see a lot is people bringing out old television sets and other types of things out on the public land,” Conran said. “And then they’re putting these exploding targets in other types of material like that and then shooting that and that’s causing that object to explode.”

The BLM currently has a fire prevention order in place prohibiting fireworks and exploding targets on public lands, but people either ignore it or don’t know about it. When investigating a fire, the BLM first determines where the fire started by talking to witnesses, they identify burn patterns and then look for evidence and rule out causes. The BLM is hoping people will obey the law and help stop fires from starting.

“Just comply with our prevention order,” Conran said. “We’re not trying to take away people’s right to shoot, we’re not trying to restrict that, we’re not trying to restrict access. What we are trying to do is prevent fires and right now with our conditions the way that they are, it’s just too risky to be doing this type of activity.”

The fire prevention order is in place until October 20th. The BLM says they have identified responsible parties for two of the five fires caused by exploding targets and have a lead on a third.