Nearly $113k in fines handed out for campfire violations across B.C. this summer

Conservation officers in British Columbia say they handed out more than $100,000 in fines to people who violated campfire bans this summer.

The BC Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) says officers on weekend patrols between July 1 and Sept. 9, issued 98 tickets under the Wildfire Act worth $1,150 each, for a total of $112,700.

It noted the majority of tickets were issued in the South Coast region, which includes the Sea-to-Sky corridor and the Lower Mainland.

While the BCCOS said the Squamish area was the “hot spot” for illegal campfires this summer, with 32 total violations for a total of $36,800 in fines, officers were also deployed to 70 Mile House, Clinton, Okanagan Lake and Boston Bar to support wildfire response efforts over the summer.

Campfires are allowed again across the province, but larger Category 2 and 3 fires are still not permitted in the Kamloops and Cariboo fire centres and in parts of the Coastal Fire Centre.

While temperatures have returned to seasonal levels for the past several weeks, the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says there is the potential for higher-than-normal fire activity later this fall, as well as warm and dry winter conditions that could affect existing drought and snowpack levels.

“Above-average temperatures and drier-than-normal conditions are probable through September for northern B.C., the South Coast and parts of the Interior,” the BCWS’s fall 2026 outlook reads. “Drought conditions also remain above average in the Kootenay, Thompson, Okanagan, Cariboo and northeast regions of B.C.”

“Although the conditions may allow fires to start more easily than in other recent fall seasons, the fire behaviour will not be as elevated as in summer months.”

BCWS also cautioned with El Niño intensifying over the winter, coastal areas in B.C. may see more precipitation while areas across the Interior could experience warm, dry conditions and a low winter snowpack.

“Long-range guidance indicates that B.C. will see a warmer-than-normal fall with below normal precipitation, a low winter snowpack in interior regions and low likelihood that regions experiencing above normal drought this fall will recover ahead of the 2027 fire season,” the outlook added.