Effective at 1 p.m. Mountain Time on Thursday, July 23, Category 1 campfires will be prohibited throughout the Southeast Fire Centre, which includes the Rocky Mountain Natural Resource District and the Selkirk Natural Resource District.

This prohibition is being enacted to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety.

Anyone conducting a Category 1 campfire within the Southeast Fire Centre’s jurisdiction must extinguish it by the 1 p.m. July 23 deadline.

This prohibition will remain in place until 1 Mountain Time October 31, or until the order is rescinded.

Also prohibited is the equipment and activities listed below (Wildfire Act, Section 12):

Air curtain burners;

Carbonizers;

Fireworks as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC;

Binary exploding targets;

Burn barrels or burn cages or any size or description;

Controlled air incinerators;

Sky lanterns.

Wood fired hot tubs, wood fired pizza ovens, and other wood fired devices unless vented through a structure that has a flue and is incorporated in a building.

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. More information about outdoor stoves can be found on our Open fire and safer burning webpage.

Reminder that Category 2 open fires have been prohibited since July 10, and Category 3 open fires have been prohibited since May 21.

This prohibition applies to all areas in the Southeast Fire Centre that are outside of municipal boundaries.

In addition, this prohibition applies to the following types of land within municipal boundaries:

Parks, conservancies and recreation areas (Park Act);

Recreation sites, recreation trails, interpretive forest sites and trail-based recreation areas (Forest and Range Practices Act);

Ecological reserves (Ecological Reserve Act);

Wildlife management areas (Wildfire Act);

Private managed forest land (Private Managed Forest Land Act).

Municipalities often follow BC Wildfire Service prohibitions or may impose different prohibitions based on conditions in their local area. If you are in a municipality, be sure to check if local prohibitions are in place.

If you are within a regional district or improvement district, this prohibition applies as well as any local prohibition issued by the regional district or improvement district. BC Parks follows BC Wildfire Service prohibitions.

Offences and fines

Anyone found in contravention of an open fire prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150, required to pay an administrative penalty of $10,000, or, if convicted in court, fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced for up to one year in jail.

If your fire causes or contributes to a wildfire, you may be fined up to $1 million and/or sentenced to up to 3 years in jail, as well as be responsible for all firefighting and associated costs.

Report a wildfire

The Southeast Fire Centre would like to thank the public for its continuing help in preventing wildfires.

Report a wildfire, unattended campfire, or open burning violation by:

Dialing *5555 on a cell phone;

Calling 1 800 663-5555 toll-free;

Reporting through the BC Wildfire App with the Report a fire function.

e-KNOW file photo

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