WILLIAMS LAKE – Effective at 12:00 (noon) Pacific Daylight Time on Thursday, March 28, 2024, Category 2 and 3 open fires will be prohibited across the entire Cariboo Fire Centre region. This prohibition includes the Cariboo Chilcotin Forest District, the 100 Mile House Forest District and the Quesnel Forest District.
Multiple factors are taken into consideration when assessing wildfire hazards and deciding whether to implement Open Fire Prohibitions, including drought conditions, current and forecasted weather and the availability of fire fighting resources. The Cariboo region has experienced an unseasonable dry fall and winter, resulting in high drought conditions. We urge members of the public and industry to be extra vigilant when monitoring and in ensuring extinguishment of open burns.
Anyone conducting a Category 2 or 3 open fire anywhere within the Cariboo region must extinguish any such fire by 12:00 (noon) March 28, 2024. This prohibition will remain in place until 12:00 (noon) Nov. 1, 2024, or until the Order is rescinded.
Please view a map of the affected areas below. A map is also available online.
The following activities and use of the following equipment, materials and substances will be prohibited:
- Fireworks
- Sky lanterns
This prohibition does not ban campfires that are half-metre high by half-metre wide or smaller. It does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.
The Category 2 and 3 open fire prohibition applies to all BC Parks, Crown lands and private lands, but does not apply within the boundaries of a local government that has forest fire prevention bylaws in place and is serviced by a fire department. Check with local government authorities for any other restrictions before lighting any fire.
A Category 2 fire is an open fire that burns material in one or two piles, each no larger than two metres in height and three metres in width, or burning grass over an area less than 0.2 hectares.
A Category 3 fire is an open fire larger than two metres by three metres, burning three or more piles smaller than two metres by three metres or burning an area of grass or stubble over an area greater than 0.2 hectares.
Anyone found in contravention of an open burning prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150, required to pay an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 or, if convicted in court, 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 ordered to pay all fire fighting and associated costs, as well as the value of resources damaged or destroyed by the wildfire.
The Cariboo Fire Centre would like to thank the public for its continuing help in preventing wildfires. To report a wildfire or open burn violation, call 1 800 663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone. For up-to-date information on current wildfire activity, burning restrictions, road closures and air quality advisories, call 1 888 3-FOREST or visit: www.bcwildfire.ca.
The Cariboo Fire Centre stretches from Loon Lake near Clinton in the south to the Cottonwood River near Quesnel in the north, and from Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in the west to Wells Gray Provincial Park in the east.
Follow the latest wildfire news:
- on the free BC Wildfire Service public mobile app, available for Apple (iOS) and Android devices
- on X (formerly Twitter)
- on Facebook
Contact:
Fire Information Officer
Cariboo Fire Centre
BC Wildfire Service
778 799-2100
Connect with the Province of B.C. at www.gov.bc.ca/connect