There will now be just two levels of fire restrictions for visitors to the Cleveland National Forest, general use restrictions and elevated use restrictions. Forest spokesman Brian Harris said the lower use restrictions will be the new status quo.
"There are always fire restrictions in place in the Cleveland National Forest. Those are general fire restrictions and they cover such things as not being allowed to shoot armor piercing bullets, to not use fireworks on the Fourth," he said. "Those are very important and those are in place year 'round and people need to know what those are."
Harris said the old system was complicated, with five different levels that sometimes weren’t very distinct from one other.
The forest is still at risk of wildfires even though parts of it burned in the 2007 fires. But Harris said other parts are still vulnerable.
"There’s a stretch that goes from Laguna Mountain pretty much down through Alpine and into the east side of San Diego that hasn’t burned for about 35 years," he said.
Harris said it’s hard to tell what kind of fire season to expect this year. He said that has a lot to do with the strength of Santa Ana winds that could blow through the region.
