File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Get Your Marshmallows Ready

Campfire ban to be rescinded in Cariboo Fire Centre

Jun 15, 2023 | 10:28 AM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — Campfires will be allowed in the Cariboo Fire Centre (CFC) this weekend.

Effective 12:00 noon Friday (June 16), the CFC says its Category One campfire prohibition will be rescinded throughout its area and the Tsilhqot’in (Xeni Gwet’in) Declared Title Area.

A campfire is defined as an open fire that burns piled material no larger than 0.5 metres high and 0.5 metres wide. The following precautions must be in place when lighting or making use of a campfire:

• there is ready access to a shovel or at least eight litres of water the entirety of the time the campfire is lit
• there is a fuel break around the campfire, free of any debris or combustible materials
• the fire is fully extinguished and the ashes are cold to the touch before leaving the campfire for any length of time

However, Category Two and Three open fires remain prohibited, including fireworks, sky lanterns, burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description, binary exploding targets, tiki and similar kinds of torches, chimineas, and air curtain burners.

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The CFC 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, the BC Wildfire Service lists the fire danger rating in most of the CFC as “low”, with some stretches of “moderate” and “very low.”

Image credit: BC Wildfire Service