Image Credit: Contributed/Regional District of Central Okanagan
April 15, 2022 - 11:00 AM
An open fire ban has been implemented in Northern B.C. starting today.
The B.C. Wildfire Service announced in a news bulletin starting today, April 15, it is be implementing a Category 2 and 3 open fire prohibition due to current and forecast weather conditions in parts of the Northwest Fire Centre. The fire centre covers 25 million hectares, stretching from the west coast to just west of Endako and from the Yukon border to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park.
The prohibition will take effect at noon today.
Despite the current cooler temperatures throughout the region, relative humidity levels are low throughout areas of the fire centre. Strong winds, little precipitation and a warming trend is in the long-term forecast and are the trigger points for this proactive open fire prohibition, according to the wildfire service.
The Northwest Fire Centre has recently responded to several escaped grass fires with one fire burning down an outbuilding. With a low humidity forecast, burning conditions become more hazardous; and with windy conditions a grass fire can spread very quickly. Local winds are often strongest in the afternoon and just as the sun is going down.
This Category 2 and 3 open fire prohibition restricts all backyard burning projects and larger industry pile burning which are leading causes of wildfires in the centre this time of year, according to the wildfire service.
The prohibition covers the Nadina and Bulkley Fire Zones in their entirety and a portion of the Skeena Fire Zone known as the old Kalum District. A map of the zones is available here.
The ban includes:
Category 2 open fires
a) material in one or two piles not exceeding two-metres in height and three-metres in width, or
b) stubble or grass burning over an area that does not exceed 0.2 hectares.
Category 3 open fires
a) any fire larger than two-metres high by three-metres wide,
b) Three or more concurrently burning piles no larger than two-metres high by three-metres wide,
c) One or more burning windrows, or
d) stubble or grass burning over an area greater than 0.2 hectares.
This prohibition does not include campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide or smaller, or fireworks, firecrackers or sky lanterns.
To report a wildfire, unattended campfire or open burning violation, call 1-800-663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cellphone. For up-to-date information on current wildfire activity download the B.C. Wildfire Service app or visit the service's website.
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