BC Wildfire Information Bulletin: Province-wide Ban on Category 1 Campfires

Effective on Friday, July 12, 2024 at noon Pacific Daylight Time, Category 1 campfires will be prohibited throughout the province, except for the Haida Gwaii Forest District. This prohibition is being enacted to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety.

These prohibitions apply to all public and private land within the Coastal Fire Centre jurisdiction unless specified otherwise in an enactment (e.g., in a local government bylaw). Always check with local government authorities to see if any other burning restrictions are in effect. Category 2 and 3 open fires remain prohibited in Haida Gwaii Forest District.

This prohibition will be in place until Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 12:00 noon Pacific Daylight Time, or until the order is rescinded.

On July 12, 2024, the types of open fires listed below are prohibited throughout the province, with the exception of the Haida Gwaii Forest District:

• Category 1 campfires as defined in the Wildfire Regulation;
• Category 2 open fire as defined in the Wildfire Regulation; and,
• Category 3 open fire as defined in the Wildfire Regulation.

In addition to campfires and open fires being prohibited, the following activities and equipment are also restricted:

• Fireworks;
• Sky Lanterns;
• Burn Barrels or Burn Cages of any size or description;
• Binary Exploding Targets;
• Air curtain burners;
• Tiki and similar kind of torches; and,
• Chimineas

This prohibition does not include the use of outdoor stoves. As per the Wildfire Regulation, an outdoor stove is a CSA-rated or ULC-rated device used outdoors for cooking, heat or ambiance that burns charcoal briquettes, liquid fuel or gaseous fuel, and has a flame height that is less than 15 cm tall.

To learn more about the different categories of open burning, visit the Open Burning webpage.

Anyone who lights, fuels or uses an open fire when a fire prohibition is in place or fails to comply with an open fire prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150 or, if convicted in court, be 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 subject to a penalty of up to $100,000 and ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs.

The Coastal Fire Centre covers all the area west of the height of land on the Coast Mountain Range from the US-Canada border at Manning Park, including Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park in the north, the Sunshine Coast, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Haida Gwaii.

To report a wildfire, call 1 800 663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone. For the latest information on current wildfire activity, burning restrictions, road closures and air quality advisories go to: http://www.bcwildfire.ca

Learn More:

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