Gov. John Hickenlooper lifted the statewide fire ban Sunday in the wake of wetter weather and with forecasts calling for more, but cautioned counties across the state to assess their need for fire restrictions individually.

“We’re still urging counties to be cautious and not to take unnecessary risks,” Hickenlooper told reporters. “We’re asking citizens to be careful out there, but we’re not in the same place we were three weeks ago and that’s certainly good news.”

When the statewide fire ban went into effect on June 14, at least 44 of Colorado’s 64 counties were classified as having “high,” “very high,” or “extreme” fire danger. On Sunday, more than 60 counties were forecast to move to “moderate” or “low” fire danger in the next seven days.

The fire ban has impacted Colorado’s tourism over the past few weeks, and as soon as there was a sign of relief, Hickenlooper said, his office wanted to lift the ban.

“We wanted to make sure that the moment we got a change in the weather, the moment Mother Nature began to smile on us again, we wanted to rescind the fire ban and make sure people knew we’re ready,” he said. “That we were open for business.”

Hickenlooper said he worked with Steven Pischke , the president of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs Association , and Steve Gage , a commander with the U.S. Forest Service , to decide when the ban would be rescinded. The decision to lift it came after assessing a forest service map that displayed almost all of Colorado as having “low risk” for fires.

He said his office would work to continue to monitor the weather, but urged individual counties to put restrictions in place as needed.

“We’ll have to see (what the forecast is) in the next few weeks,” he said. “We’re being very specific in asking our local county officials to see what’s appropriate for them.”