Effective noon today category 3 open fires will be prohibited throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre.
Fire Information Officer Natasha Broznitsky explains why.
“This prohibition is being put in place to help prevent human caused wild fires and to protect public safety. At this time of year Category 3 open fires present an increased risk of holdover fires which are fires that smoulder undetected for a long time underground before flaring up as the temperature rises coming up here in the spring”.
Broznitsky says the ban will remain in place until September 30th 2017 or until the public is otherwise notified.
This category 3 prohibition does not ban campfires that are a half-metre high by half-metre wide or smaller, and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.