Effective at noon today (Thursday, April 16,) Category 2 and Category 3 open fires will be prohibited throughout the District of Sparwood and will remain in place until the public is otherwise notified.

This ban is being activated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and aligns with the provincially announced prohibition which is aimed to reduce human caused wildfires and minimize the need to deploy staff, therefore helping to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19.

In addition, these burning prohibitions support the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s recommendation to reduce excess air pollution throughout the province.

Specifically, prohibited activities that would constitute a Category 3 fire include:

• any fire larger than two metres high by three metres wide;
• three or more concurrently burning piles no larger than two metres high by three metres wide;
• burning of one or more windrows; and
• burning of stubble or grass over an area greater than 0.2 hectares.

Activities that constitute a Category 2 fire include:

• one to two concurrently burning piles, no larger than two metres high by three metres wide
• stubble or grass burning over an area of 0.2 hectares; and
• fireworks and burn barrels.

This prohibition does not ban campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide or smaller or approved fire pits and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.

District of Sparwood

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