When we think of ways to start a wildfire, firefighters often point to target shooting, chains dragging from cars or campfires.
The U.S. Forest Service wants to emphasize the dangers of off-roading if you don’t have the proper accessory.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the northern Sierra Front.
The Bug, Stallion and Hawk fires have made this a fire season to never forget. However, there is still lots of time for more human-caused fires to start.
“There are a lot of ways to cause a spark and to cause a fire,” said Chris Buckley, public information officer for the U.S. Forest Service Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. “A lot of things we don't even think about. So going off road, off highway vehicles, that's a major one as well.”
Since 2020, on federal public lands, dirt bikes or other off-highway vehicles have caused 18 wildfires throughout the whole state.
“It's a federal law that when you take a vehicle off road, be that an OHV or dirt bike, anything like that, you have to have something called a spark arrestor on it,” Buckley said.
“A spark arrester goes into the end of your exhaust,” said Henry Anderson, technician at Reno Motor Sports. “It's a way to prevent a lot of back fire that comes from the motor, which then ends up creating a spark.”
Under both state and federal law, not using a spark arrestor on public lands is a criminal offense.
The misdemeanor could result in a $5,000 fine and/or up to six months in jail.
You could also be held liable if a fire happens, and bigger fires can cost millions of dollars in damages.
Reno Motor Sports says a majority of dirt bikes already have spark arrestors installed.
“If you upgrade your exhaust, that's where the numbers can kind of change,” Anderson said.
Some closed track competitions don’t require them.
If you want to check to see if your OHV or dirt bike has one, there are two ways.
The first is taking a metal rod and sticking it into the exhaust. If you hit something after a couple of inches, then that means you have one installed.
The other way is shining a flashlight into the exhaust. If you see a screen-looking thing, then that means it’s installed.
If you've tried both and still have nothing, you can visit a local motor sports shop.
“There's a bunch of options that we can do to get you a spark arrestor,” Anderson said. “We can do a whole new exhaust system or there are bolts on options for spark arrestors to where we can put them to pretty much any exhaust.”
