Campfire bans expanding to B.C.'s Cariboo, southeast fire centres

Ban begins for Cariboo at noon PT Wednesday, expands to southeast at noon PT Thursday

Campfire bans are coming to two more regions of B.C. as the province grapples with a growing number of wildfires and prolonged hot weather.

Effective at noon PT on Wednesday, campfires will be prohibited through the entirety of the Cariboo Fire Centre. The ban will be extended to the Southeast Fire Centre starting at noon Thursday.

The restrictions apply to all areas outside municipal boundaries, including most provincial parks and campgrounds, rec sites, natural resource districts and Crown land. Municipalities often follow B.C. Wildfire Service prohibitions, or impose more strict bans based on local conditions.

The bans apply to "Category 1" campfires, sky lanterns, wood-fired hot tubs, pizza ovens and other devices unless they're incorporated into a building and have a flue.

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The bans don't include outdoor stoves or CSA- or ULC-rated cooking or heating devices that burn charcoal briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel and which have flames smaller than 15 centimetres.

The restrictions come with much of southern B.C. baking under Environment Canada heat warnings, with temperatures topping 30 C in coastal areas and reaching the mid-30s in the Fraser Valley and southern Interior.

Warnings for the east coast of Vancouver Island, Whistler and the Fraser Valley are expected to last until at least Wednesday, while warnings for the Interior could last until Thursday.

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Last week, the province implemented a campfire ban for most of the Coastal Fire Centre, while campfires were already banned in the Kamloops Fire Centre.

Larger fires are banned across B.C., with the exception of parts of the Prince George Fire Centre.

As of Wednesday morning, there were 89 active wildfires in B.C., 36 of them classified as out of control.