Fire Ban Begins Ahead of Holiday Weekend

Just of the Victoria Day long weekend, Category 2 open fires will be banned in the Kamloops Fire Centre which includes Merrit and surrounding area.

As of this Friday at noon, the BC Wildfire Service says Category 2 open fires will be prohibited to help prevent human-caused wildfires.

As of Tuesday, the province reported  there was approximately 135 wildfires burning across B-C and nearly two-thirds of them are either confirmed or suspected to be human caused.

This adds to the pre-existing ban on Category 3 open fires. Category 2 is classified as an open fire that burns material in one pile, not exceeding two metres in height and three metres in width.

This current ban does not include Category 1 campfires that are a half-metre high by a high-metre wide or smaller and it also does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes

Using fireworks, sky lanterns, binary exploding targets and air curtain burners are also included in the ban as well as burn barrels or burn cages.

This ban will stay in effect until October or until the order is rescinded.