KAMLOOPS – Effective at 12:00 (PDT) noon, on May 16, 2025, Category 3 open fire will be prohibited throughout the Kamloops Fire Centre to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety. This open fire prohibition will remain in effect until 12:00 (PDT) noon on October 17, 2025, or until the orders are rescinded. Anyone conducting Category 3 open fires within the Kamloops Fire Centre’s jurisdiction must extinguish those fires by the 12:00 noon May 16 deadline.
A map of the affected area is available below or online HERE
As of May 16, the following open fires are prohibited in the Kamloops Fire Centre
- Category 3 open fires as defined in the Wildfire Regulation.
This prohibition does not ban Category 1 campfires or Category 2 open fires. More information on the types of open burning can be found here.
This category means an open 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, none of which exceed 200 metres in length or 15 metres in width
- Stubble or grass over an area exceeding 0.2 hectares
View the category 3 open fire poster for more information on safe open burning practices.
This prohibition applies to all areas in the 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 (Wildlife Act); and
- 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.
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
People can follow the latest wildfire news:
- on the free BC Wildfire Service mobile app, available for Apple (iOS) and Android devices
- on X (formerly Twitter)
- on Facebook
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.