As of noon on Monday, the size of open fires is restricted in most of the Coastal Fire Centre to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect the public.
This prohibition will remain in effect until Oct. 15, 2013 or the public is otherwise notified.
This prohibition covers all BC Parks, Crown and private lands within the Coastal Fire Centre, with the exception of the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District and the area known as the “Fog Zone”. A map of the affected areas is available online at: http://bit.ly/120s5c9
Specific activities affected by this prohibition include: the burning of any material, piled or unpiled, smaller than two metres in height and three metres in width, including burning barrels; the burning of stubble or grass over an area less than 2,000 square metres (0.2 hectares); the use of fireworks, sky lanterns or burning barrels of any size or description. This prohibition does not ban campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide or smaller and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.
Anyone lighting a campfire must maintain a fireguard by removing flammable debris from around the campfire area and have a hand tool or at least eight litres of water nearby to properly extinguish the fire. For information about open burning and tips on making responsible burning decisions, please read the open burning guides at: http://bcwildfire.ca/hprScripts/WildfireNews/Bans.asp.
This prohibition covers all BC Parks, Crown lands and private lands, but it does not apply within the boundaries of a local government that has wildfire prevention bylaws in place and is serviced by a fire department.
The Coastal Fire Centre covers all of the area west of the height of land on the Coast Mountain Range from the U.S.-Canada border at Manning Park, the Sunshine Coast, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Haida Gwaii.