Campfire ban to come as heat, dry conditions force extreme fire danger ratings

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It may be the perfect weather for camping, but don’t expect to be roasting any hot dogs or marshmallows over the fire.

A fire ban is in the works as a heat wave continues to sweep across much of the province.

Natasha Broznitsky with the Coastal Fire Centre says the heat has led to high and extreme fire ratings along the coast and on Vancouver island.

“It can take something as little as parking in tall grass with a hot exhaust system under your car to spark a wildfire,” says Broznitsky.

The fire ban will go into effect tomorrow at noon for nearly the entire region except for Haida Gwaii and the fog zone. For the time being, the following activities are covered under the ban:

  • open fires that burn woody debris in outdoor stoves
  • the use of stoves and other portable campfire apparatuses that are not CSA-approved or ULC-approved
  • the use of tiki torches, fireworks, firecrackers, sky lanterns, chimineas, burning barrels or burning cages of any size or description
  • the use of binary exploding targets (e.g. for rifle target practice)

 

The ban doesn’t apply to some cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes, or to a portable campfire that uses briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel, if the flame is less than 15 centimetres tall.

Restrictions will likely remain in effect until October 19th, according to the fire centre, but if the danger ratings go down they could lift the ban early.

Meanwhile, fire information officer Claire Allen says 53 fires continue to burn across the province, including nine new ones since yesterday.

“For yesterday, of those nine fires that started, three have already been determined to be person-caused,” she says.

“Around 40 per cent of our wildfires are caused by humans…It’s really a reminder that things are quite dry and any kind of human-caused fire diverts out resources away from responding to naturally-caused lightning fires.”

As for a reprieve, one could be on the horizon.

“It does look like we have a [weather] system heading into northern and central B.C. so that could bring some precipitation to reduce the fire danger rating. However, it could also lead to the development of thunderstorms which may have strong winds and lightning associated with it. Certainly we’ll be watching this quite closely.”

The most noteworthy fire continues to be the East Shuswap fire near Kamloops.

Anyone caught violating the ban could face anywhere from a $1,100 fine to a $100,000 fine or a year in jail.

-With files from Amanda Wawryk

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