It should come as no surprise that it has been a year of extreme and turbulent weather.
As a wildfire larger than 1,000 hectares blazes west of 100 Mile House, Vernon breaks a 111-year heat record and a campfire ban is place in the Kamloops Fire Centre. And it all came on the heels of the region’s substantial flooding.
Despite lake level warnings, we have seen, and in fact are still seeing, boaters creating potentially shore-damaging wakes. Despite the campfire ban, we are unfortunately likely to see fires and wreckless behaviour.
And campfires aren’t the only prohibited activities. The burning of waste or other materials; stubble or grass fires of any size over any area; the use of fireworks, sky lanterns, tiki torches, chimineas, burning barrels or burning cages of any size or description; the use of binary exploding targets and the use of air curtain burners are all prohibited.
Contravention of an open burning prohibition may result in a ticket for $1,150, an administrative penalty of $10,000 or, if convicted in court, a fine of up to $100,000 and/or one year in jail. Moreover, if the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs.
It’s important to be cognizant of your surroundings and obey the restrictions put in place — they’re there for a reason.
Yes, it’s summer and it would be nice to sit around a campfire, but the associate gain does not outweigh the risk.
All it takes is one escaped ember or one carelessly thrown cigarette butt to spark a wildfire, as we’ve all seen before.