WILLIAMS LAKE – The Cariboo-Chilcotin Natural Resource District will be continuing a Wildfire Risk Reduction project approximately three kilometers southeast of Puntzi Lake Airport along the Chilanko Forest Service Road, north and south of Highway 20.
When and where
- Pile burning may start as early as November 17, 2025, continuing into next year, until March 20, 2026.
- The project includes burning multiple prepared piles along the Chilanko Forest Service Road.
What to expect
- Using hand torches, crews will ignite piles under favourable conditions and will closely monitor all fire activity.
- Burning may occur over multiple days, as weather and site conditions allow.
- Personnel will remain on-site each day to ensure fires are controlled and will only leave once the fires have safely burned down and no longer pose a risk of spreading.
- Fires will continue to be monitored and extinguished once burning is complete.
- Smoke and flames will be visible to surrounding communities.
- This project does not include private property.
Objectives of this Wildfire Risk Reduction project
- Reduce wildfire risk to Chilanko Forks and surrounding communities.
- Strategically remove fuels, reducing the ability of wildfire to spread from ground to canopy and reducing overall intensity of a potential wildfire.
Learn more
Fire is a natural process in many of B.C.’s ecosystems. The BC Wildfire Service works regularly with land managers to undertake fuel management activities, including the use of prescribed burns and wildfire risk reduction projects, to help reduce the severity of future wildfires and related threats to communities.
The Ministry of Forests has completed several wildfire risk reduction projects in the Cariboo-Chilcotin Natural Resource District, including Puntzi Lake.
Contact
Shelly Harnden, RFT
Land and Resource Coordinator
Cariboo-Chilcotin Natural Resource District
250-706 6276
Shelly.Harnden@gov.bc.ca