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This has been reported on a few web sites already, but in case you haven’t heard …

People will be sitting around smaller campfires in B.C. this summer under new rules taking effect on Canada Day.

The government is shrinking the size of fires from one metre across to about a half metre as of July 1 to try to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by careless people, Forests Minister Pat Bell said Thursday (June 24).

Since April 1, fire crews have responded to 310 fires across the province, of which 260 were human-caused, Bell said. “As we head into peak camping season, I want to remind people that more than 850 fires resulted from careless human behaviour in 2009. That number must come down,” said Bell.

The new rules also require campers to build a fireguard around their fires by scraping down to the dirt and clearing away potentially flammable debris, such as twigs, leaves and needles.

A shovel or at least eight litres of water must be stored nearby to extinguish the fire. Failure to comply with the new rules will result in a $345 fine. An additional $345 fine will be levied for campfires lit during a ban.

No ban on small campfires is currently in effect, but a fire ban does begin Friday in the northwest portion of the province on any fire larger than a half metre.

Article taken from: www.cbc.ca.

The complete regulations can be read from the BC Forest Fire Information site: www.bcforestfireinfo.gov.bc.ca.

FOLLOW UP …

June 24, 2010 was the announcement and the PDF regulation change (see link in first post) reflects that date.

If clarification on the rules are required, the contact info is also in the PDF:

Contact:
Kim Steinbart
Provincial Fire Information Officer
Provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre
Wildfire Management Branch
250 312-3051 (office)

We called them … The new law simply changes the definition of a campfire from 1 meter to .5 meter and that re-definition comes into effect July 1st. This new law is applicable when a ban in a given area is in effect. Today, in the East Kootneys for example, you can still have a bonfire - larger than 1 meter in diameter. Maybe come July 1st, you can still have that size of a fire because there isn’t a campfire restriction (aka limited ban) in that area. However, as most of you know, there are fire bans implemented throughout the summer and the bans can differ from area to area. One ban is no fires at all and then you can’t light a match or your arse if grass. Another ban is to limit fires to a “campfire” where, come July 1st, the definition is no longer 1 meter but will be 0.5 meters in diameter.

The last sentence in their announcement was totally confusing. It simply means that last Friday, a fire ban began in the northwest portion of the province on any fire larger than a half metre. They couldn’t say that it’s limited to a campfire because today a campfire is still 1 meter, so they said specifically that it’s limited to a 1/2 meter in diameter in that area. Remember, come July 1st, a campfire will be redefined as 0.5 meters in diameter (or less). Anything larger is subject to a fine BUT only when the ban is in effect.

So, the bottom line is to check www.bcforestfireinfo.gov.bc.ca Current Conditions and Bans for daily updates on what bans are in effect for a given area in BC.

More explanation … check www.bcforestfireinfo.gov.bc.ca Fire Restrictions and Area Bans … Notice how it contains ‘Open Fires’ and ‘Campfires’. Thats where the regulation comes into play. So in East Kootney, you can have an Open Fire but not anywhere else. Everywhere else your limited to a Campfire and in 3 days that Campfire has to be no larger than 0.5 meter in diameter.