(Image credit: CFJC Today/File photo).

By Aaron Schulze

Burning Prohibition

Category Two open fire prohibition to begin in Cariboo Fire Centre

Jul 14, 2022 | 7:02 AM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — Effective at noon on Friday (July 15), Category Two open fire will be prohibited throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre and the Tsilhqot’in (Xeni Gwet’in) Declared Title Area.

In a news release from BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) Wednesday (July 13), the burning prohibition is to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety. It’s in addition to the ban of Category Three open fires that began on June 6.

The prohibition does not apply to campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide.

Specifically, prohibited equipment and activities will include:

• Category Two and Three open fires, which includes the burning of any waste, slash or other materials, open fires larger than three metres wide by two metres high, stubble or grass fires of any size over any area
• fireworks, including firecrackers
• sky lanterns
• tiki torches
• air curtain burners
• binary exploding targets
• burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description

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The prohibition will remain in place until Oct. 15, 2022, or until the public is otherwise notified. Anyone conducting a Category Two open fire anywhere within the Cariboo Fire Centre must extinguish them by the time the ban is in effect.

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.

Anyone found in contravention of an open-burning prohibition may be issued a violation ticket for $1,150, and may be 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. If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs.

Anyone can report a wildfire, unattended campfire, or open burning violation by calling 1 800 663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone.

As of noon Wednesday, BCWS says the fire danger rating in the Cariboo Fire Centre ranks “moderate” in the south, low in the centre, and very low in the north.

(Image credit: B.C. Wildfire Service).