Category 3 fire prohibitions to start in Kamloops Fire Centre



KAMLOOPS – Effective at 12 p.m. (noon) on Thursday, June 30, 2022, Category 3 open fires will be prohibited throughout the Kamloops Fire Centre. This prohibition is being enacted to help prevent human caused wildfires and protect public safety.

This prohibition will remain in effect until 12 p.m. (noon) on Saturday Oct. 15, 2022, or until the order is rescinded. Anyone conducting Category 3 open fires within the Kamloops Fire Centre’s jurisdiction must extinguish those fires by the June 30 deadline.

Specifically, prohibited activities that would constitute a Category 3 open fire include:

  • burning material concurrently in three or more piles each not exceeding 2 metres in height by three metres in width,
  • burning material in one or more piles each exceeding 2 metres in height or 3 metres in width,
  • burning one or more windrows, or
  • burning stubble or grass over an area greater than 0.2 hectares.

A map of the affected area is available online at: http://ow.ly/SzJ030smCgz

This prohibition applies to all public and private land within the Kamloops Fire Centre jurisdiction, unless specified otherwise in an enactment (e.g. in a local government bylaw). Before lighting any fire, people should check with local government authorities to see if any other burning restrictions are in effect.

This prohibition does not ban campfires that are a half-metre high by a high-metre wide or smaller and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane, or briquettes.

This prohibition also does not ban Category 2 fires, which include one or two concurrently burning piles up to two metres high by three metres wide each, or the burning of stubble or grass over an area less 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 firefighting and associated costs.

The Kamloops Fire Centre would like to thank the public for its continuing help in preventing wildfires. To report a wildfire, unattended campfire or open burning 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

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Contact:

Fire Information Officer
BC Wildfire Service
Kamloops Fire Centre
250 554-5965

Connect with the Province of B.C. at www.gov.bc.ca/connect.