- \n
- Material in one pile not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Material concurrently in 2 piles, each not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Stubble or grass over an area that does not exceed 0.2 hectares (2,000 square metres)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
A Category 3<\/a> open fire is a fire that burns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Material concurrently in 3 or more piles, each not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Material in one or more piles, each exceeding 2 metres in height or 3 metres in width<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- One or more windrows, not exceeding 200 metres in length or 15 metres in width<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Stubble or grass over an area exceeding 0.2 hectares (2,000 square metres)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
In addition to Category 2 and Category 3 open fires, the following activities will also be prohibited across the Northwest Fire Centre:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Binary exploding targets<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fireworks, as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Controlled air incinerators<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Air curtain burners<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Carbonizers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Anyone conducting a Category 2 open fire, must extinguish it by June 19, 2026 at 12:00 (noon) PDT. This prohibition will remain in place until September 25, 2026, at 12:00 (noon) PDT, or until the public is otherwise notified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please view a map of the affected areas below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2026\/06\/NWFC_June-17-1024x791.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe prohibitions apply to all areas that are outside of municipal boundaries and the following types of Crown land within municipal boundaries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- parks, conservancies and recreation areas (Park Act<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- recreation sites, recreation trails, interpretive forest sites and trail-based recreation areas (Forest and Range Practices Act<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- ecological reserves (Ecological Reserve Act<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- wildlife management areas (Wildlife Act<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- private managed forest land (Private Managed Forest Land Act<\/em>); and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- all lands in the District of Stewart municipality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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 prohibitions issued by the regional district or improvement district. BC Parks follows BC Wildfire Service prohibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This prohibition does not include Category 1 campfires. For more information on open burning, including a description of each category of burn, please click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Northwest Fire Centre would like to thank the public for its continuing help in preventing wildfires. To report a wildfire call 1-800-663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone. For up-to-date information on current wildfire activity and prohibitions visit www.bcwildfire.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can follow the latest wildfire news on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- the free BC Wildfire Service public mobile app, available for Apple (iOS)<\/a> and Android<\/a> devices, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- on Facebook at: http:\/\/facebook.com\/BCForestFireInfo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Contact:<\/strong>
BC Wildfire Service
Information Officer
Northwest Fire Centre
BCWS.NWFCInfo@gov.bc.ca<\/a>
250-876-6844 <\/p>\n\n\n\nConnect with the Province of B.C. at www.gov.bc.ca\/connect<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SMITHERS \u2013 Effective at 12:00 (noon) Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, June 19, 2026, Category 2 open fire prohibitions will be expanded across the entire Northwest Fire Centre. This includes the Nadina Forest District, Coast Mountain Forest District, and Skeena Stikine Forest District. Category 3 open fires remain prohibited across the Northwest Fire Centre. A … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6973,"featured_media":23827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[543,72,32],"class_list":["post-29411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information-bulletins","tag-app","tag-nwfc","tag-prevention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6973"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29417,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411\/revisions\/29417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- on Facebook at: http:\/\/facebook.com\/BCForestFireInfo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- recreation sites, recreation trails, interpretive forest sites and trail-based recreation areas (Forest and Range Practices Act<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- parks, conservancies and recreation areas (Park Act<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n