As of this Friday, July 12, at noon, no open fires, including campfires, will be allowed in the Province, except for the Queen Charlottes.
The prohibition will remain in effect until 12:00 (noon) on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, or until it is rescinded. Prohibitions apply to all public and private lands unless otherwise specified (e.g. in an enactment or local government bylaw).
Only Haida Gwaii will be exempt from the ban.
The news came hot on the heels of Tumbler Ridge’s first fire of the year, a small fire (0.5 ha) that appears to have started up in an area on the edge of the West Kiskatinaw burn area where they are currently logging. Currently, they think the fire was caused by human activities. The fire was constrained by last year’s burn. BC Wildfire sent a four person crew to deal with it, and they managed to put it out without much difficulty.
Near Tupper, a wildfire grew to just about 100 ha before crews were able to contain it. That fire is now being held.
For now, those are the only wildfires in the area (up to date information on new fires within 100 km of town can always be found at www.tumblerridgelines.com).
In the last week, the number of active fires has gone from under 100 to 148. Most of the active fires are in the far north or in the Northeast, south of the Rocky Mountains, though there are a handful of fires burning out of control in the Kamloops area.
Notably, there are no fires of note.
To date, there have been 473 fires this year, burning about 612,000 ha of forest.
That is far less than last year’s record 2,842,275 ha of forest burned, but well above 2020’s 14,535 ha. It is also still above the 20 year average of 448,575 ha burned.
Of the 612,000 ha burned, the lion’s share of that—607,263 ha—are in the Prince George Fire Region.
And the majority of the fires so far—245—have been human caused. Of the remainder, 42 percent, or 200 fires were caused by lighting while 28 fires (six percent) are still undetermined.
For the last couple weeks, there has been hot weather and little to no precipitation. Over the next few weeks, winds and storms are expected, meaning new wildfire starts are more likely.
In addition to prohibiting the use of open fire of any size, the following activities are prohibited:
• Fireworks
• Sky lanterns
• Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description
• Binary exploding targets
• Air curtain burners
• Chimineas
• Tiki and similar kinds of torches
• Outdoor stoves or other portable campfire apparatus without a CSA or ULC rating.
If you want to cook over an open flame, outdoor stoves that are CSA or ULC rated are allowed. This includes propane fire pits.
Anyone found in contravention of an open-burning prohibition may be issued a violation ticket for $1,150, may be required to pay an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 or, if convicted in court, may be fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail. If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs.
For up-to-date details on wildfire status, fire bans and restrictions visit the Tumbler RidgeLines website, or bcwildfire.ca.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
