Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Fire bans imposed for corridor

This week the Coastal Fire Centre instituted a ban on campfires and category three fires in the Sea to Sky corridor, effective from noon on July 23 until further notice. The ban applies to all B.C.

This week the Coastal Fire Centre instituted a ban on campfires and category three fires in the Sea to Sky corridor, effective from noon on July 23 until further notice.

The ban applies to all B.C. Parks, Crown, and private land under provincial jurisdiction. Municipal lands and regional districts are excluded from the order, and have their own burning bylaws in place.

The ban was brought in to limit the risk of human-caused wildfires, but does not restrict fires in stoves using gas, propane and briquettes.

Category 1 and 2 restrictions have been in place since June 25. Category 3 refers to open fires that burn material in piles larger than two metres high and three metres wide, or grass over an area larger than 0.2 hectares, and refers mainly to burns by forestry and farming interests.

In Whistler, the barbecues have been taken out of local parks, and signs are in place to ban smoking and other activities. As well, construction crews are not allowed to have open flames or use small motors within 10 metres of the forest interface unless inside a built structure.

The bans come after several weeks of dry weather, including one of the driest Junes on record. July has also been dry, and well below average for precipitation.