Kitsumkalum Band Office – Warning

by | Jun 6, 2025 | News, Youth, Elders, Urgent, Community Notice, Public Notice, Community

Category 3
Open Fire Ban in Parts of Northwest B.C.

Starting at 12:00 PM (noon) PDT on Friday, June 6, 2025, Category 3 open fires will be banned in:

  • The Cassiar Fire Zone
  • Parts of the Skeena Fire Zone, including:
    • Old Kalum area (Coast Mountain Forest District)
    • Stikine area (Skeena Stikine Forest District)

This ban adds to an earlier prohibition that began May 9, 2025, which already applied to:

  • Bulkley and Nadina Fire Zones
    • Includes Nadina Forest District
    • Skeena part of the Skeena/Stikine Forest District

What is a Category 3 Fire?

Includes any of the following:

  • 3 or more piles burning at once (each ≤ 2m high & 3m wide)
  • Piles larger than 2m high or 3m wide
  • Windrows (long piles) ≤ 200m long & 15m wide
  • Stubble or grass fires over 0.2 hectares

Also Prohibited:

  • Air curtain burners
  • Carbonizers

Please view a map of the affected areas below.

Where the Prohibition Applies:

This prohibition applies:

  • Everywhere outside municipal boundaries
  • Within municipalities on the following Crown lands:
    • Parks, conservancies, and recreation areas (under the Park Act)
    • Recreation sites, trails, and interpretive forest areas (under the Forest and Range Practices Act)
    • Ecological reserves (under the Ecological Reserve Act)
    • Wildlife management areas (under the Wildlife Act)
    • Private managed forest land (under the Private Managed Forest Land Act)
  • In the Town of Stewart

Municipalities and Local Districts:

  • Municipalities may follow BC Wildfire Service rules or set their own.
  • If you’re in a municipality, check for local rules.
  • If you’re in a regional or improvement district, this prohibition applies along with any local bans.
  • BC Parks follows BC Wildfire Service rules.

What’s Not Included:

  • This prohibition does not include Category 1 campfires or Category 2 open burning.
    (Check official sources for details on burn categories, please click here.)

Category 3 Open Fire Ban – Important Notice

  • All Category 3 open fires in the affected regions must be fully extinguished by 12:00 noon (PDT) on June 6, 2025.
  • The ban will stay in effect until 12:00 noon (PDT) on September 29, 2025, or until further notice.

What You Need to Do:

  • If you burned piles during fall or winter, check your burn sites to make sure they’re completely out.

Penalties for Breaking the Ban (open burning):

  • Fines:
    • $1,150 ticket
    • Up to $10,000 administrative penalty
    • Up to $100,000 fine and/or 1 year in jail if convicted in court
  • If your fire causes a wildfire, you may have to pay the full cost of fighting it, plus the value of any damaged resources.

Thank You

The Northwest Fire Centre thanks everyone for helping to prevent wildfires.

To report a wildfire:

  • Call 1-800-663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone.

For updates:
Visit www.bcwildfire.ca

You can follow the latest wildfire news on:

–Ministry of Forests
BC Wildfire Service

Contact Information

BC Wildfire Service

Information Officer

Northwest Fire Centre

BCWS.NWFCInfo@gov.bc.ca

250-876-6844