SMITHERS – Effective at 12 p.m. (noon) PDT on Friday, July 3, 2026, Category 2 open fire prohibitions will be rescinded across the entire Northwest Fire Centre, due to forecasted precipitation and below-seasonal temperatures. Category 3 open fires remain prohibited across the Northwest Fire Centre, which includes the Nadina Forest District, Coast Mountain Forest District and Skeena Stikine Forest District.
These prohibitions will remain in place until 12 p.m. (noon) PDT on September 25, 2026, or until the public is otherwise notified.
A Category 3 open fire is a fire that burns:
- Material concurrently in 3 or more piles, each not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width
- Material in one or more piles, each exceeding 2 metres in height or 3 metres in width
- One or more windrows, not exceeding 200 metres in length or 15 metres in width
- Stubble or grass over an area exceeding 0.2 hectares (2,000 square metres)
Additional prohibited activities and equipment
The following activities and use of the following equipment, materials and substances will also be prohibited:
- Air curtain burners
- Carbonizers
Please view a map of the affected areas below.
The prohibition applies to all areas that are outside of municipal boundaries. In addition, this prohibition applies to the following types of Crown 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 (Wildlife Act);
- private managed forest land (Private Managed Forest Land Act); and
- all lands in the District of Stewart municipality.
This prohibition does not apply to Category 1 (campfires) than are half-metre high by half-metre wide or smaller, or the use of cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes. It also does not apply to Category 2 open fires, which refers to any fire that burns material in one pile not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width, material concurrently in 2 piles, each not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width, or stubble or grass over an area that does not exceed 0.2 hectares (2,000 square metres).
Municipalities may align with BC Wildfire Service prohibitions or impose their own prohibitions based on local conditions. If you are within 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.
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 three years in jail, as well as be responsible for all firefighting and associated costs. More information about the Wildfire Act and Regulation is available here.
Contact
BC Wildfire Service
Information Officer
Northwest Fire Centre
BCWS.NWFCInfo@gov.bc.ca
250-876-6844