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Category 2 Open Burn Prohibition Coming To The South Coast

Open Fire In BC

Effective at noon Pacific time on Thursday, May 30th, 2019, a Category 2 open burn prohibition will be in place throughout the Coastal Fire Centre’s jurisdiction. This is to reduce wildfire risks and protect public safety.

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Specifically, this prohibition applies to:

  • The burning of any material (piled or unpiled) smaller than two metres high and three metres wide;
  • The burning of stubble or grass over an area less than 2,000 square metres;
  • The use of fireworks, firecrackers, sky lanterns, burning barrels or burning cages of any size or description; and
  • The use of binary exploding targets (e.g., for rifle target practice).

This prohibition that’ll go into effect applies to all public and private land unless specified otherwise. However, this open burn ban does not apply to larger Category 3 fires or to campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide or smaller, or to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.

Open Burn Prohibition

The Coastal Fire Centre covers all of the area west of the height of land on the Coast Mountain Range from the U.S.-Canada border at Manning Park, including Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park in the north, the Sunshine Coast, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Haida Gwaii.

For anyone who is found to be in violation of this prohibition, they could be issued a violation ticket for $1,150, or required to pay an administrative penalty of up to $10,000.

Likewise, if convicted in court, they could be fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail.

This prohibition will remain in effect until the public is otherwise notified.

A map of the affected areas is available online here.

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