After increased fire activity over the weekend, the province has banned all Category 1 burns across B.C. except for the Haida Gwaii region.
This means all campfires will be banned for the foreseeable future.
Category 2 and 3 burns were previously banned which included the use of fireworks, burn barrels and larger brush fires.
Provincial officials said fire activity was very active over the weekend.
There are 311 active wildfires burning in the province, while 115 wildfires were started over the weekend.
However, there are no evacuation alerts or orders in place in the Southeast Fire Centre.
The province is mulling over enacting a provincial state of emergency.
“While the Wildfire Act already enables all the legislative tools required for us to access resources for fighting wildfires, we continue to closely monitor wildfire and drought conditions and impacts across B.C. to determine if other measures might be required,” said Bowinn Ma, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness in a release.
“We will continue to take actions to keep people and communities safe.”
Residents are asked to be prepared for evacuations by having grab-and-go bags ready and to reduce water use.
The City of Castlegar followed suit with its own campfire ban within city limits, which will remain in effect until the order is rescinded in the Southeast Fire Centre.
“With extended high temperatures and dry conditions, we’re asking the community to take this ban very seriously,” says fire chief Sam Lattanzio. “We do everything we can to keep our community safe and we’re now asking the community to take all the precautions to prevent fires during these times.”
