New Activities Added to Category 2 Prohibition

The BC Wildfire Service has updated the activities that are prohibited in the Cariboo Fire Centre.

Category 2 Fires have been prohibited as of noon Friday, May 10.

Firecrackers, the use of burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description, and the use of air curtain burners are now included in the ban.

Other prohibited activities include:

• the burning of any waste, slash or other materials
• open fires larger than 0.5 metres wide by 0.5 metres high
• stubble or grass fires of any size over any area
• the use of sky lanterns
• the use of fireworks
• the use of tiki torches and similar kinds of torches
• the use of binary exploding targets

The prohibition does not include campfires that a half meter high or a half-meter wide or smaller and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane, or briquettes.

Larger Category 3 open fires have been prohibited throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre since April 15.

A drying trend has resulted in an increase in fire danger ratings throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre.

“Anyone found in contravention of an open burning prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150, required to pay an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 or, if convicted in court, fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail,” stated a release.

“If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs, as well as the value of resources damaged or destroyed by the wildfire.”

The Cariboo Fire Centre stretches from Loon Lake near Clinton in the south to the Cottonwood River near Quesnel in the north, and from Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in the west to Wells Gray Provincial Park in the east.