Dozens of tickets given over weekend for abandoned campfires
Posted July 2, 2013 9:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KOOTENAYS (NEWS1130) – Dozens of people got tickets over the long weekend for being careless with their campfires. It was especially an issue in the Kootenays.
It’s been a relatively quiet wildfire season so far, but with temperatures climbing and the ground drying out all over BC, the risk is growing.
Erin Catherall with the Provincial Wildfire Management Branch says that’s why it’s so disappointing they had to hand out 78 tickets in the southeastern part of the province last weekend.
“A large number of tickets were issued for abandoned campfires,” she tells us.
“For an abandoned campfire, you can be issued a $345 ticket,” warns Catherall. “If compliance with regulation continues to be an issue, we are left with no option than to impose [an individual] campfire ban.”
She says of the 305 fires they’ve had to deal with so far, more than 240 of them were caused by people.
