A quarter of B.C.’s wildfires this year caused by people

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) –  As our second-worst wildfire season on record rages on, the B.C. Wildfire Service says hundreds of the fires were preventable.

Fire information officer Kyla Fraser says of the 1989 provincial wildfires this year, 439 were human-caused. This can happen by an open campfire, ATV-ing through the backcountry, a tossed cigarette butt or a car backfiring.

Fraser says if people are heading out into the wilderness to be cautious about their outdoor activities that could cause a wildfire.

“We have seen quite a lot of lightning-caused wildfires, but unfortunately some human-caused ones as well,” Fraser adds. “We just really want to stress, those fires are entirely preventable and they deter the resources away from the lightning-caused fires, which we can’t prevent.”

With summer break winding down Fraser expects fewer people vacationing in B.C.’s nature, which she says is both bad and good. It’s good because there will be less opportunity for fires to start, but bad because there are fewer people who can inform authorities on new fires when they start.

In the northeast part of the province, the wildfire service says as of noon Tuesday, campfires will no longer be banned in places like Fort Nelson and the Peace forest districts. Weather conditions like rain and cooler temperatures have helped in reducing the risk of wildfires in that region.

So far this year, wildfires have burned about 9,450 sq.kilometres of B.C.’s land. Fines for having open fires range from $1,150 to an administrative penalty of $10,000.

 With files from Sonia Aslam

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