There will be open burning restrictions throughout the province as of noon next Thursday, April 16, in an effort to reduce the risk of human-cased wildfires during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There will be prohibitions on a number of categories of fires and some activities,” said BC Wildfire Service Fire Information Officer Jody Lucius. “So that includes Category 2 and Category 3 open fires, as well as resource management open fires, and then the use of fireworks, sky lanterns, burn barrels and burn cages of any size.”

Essentially, any fire larger than a campfire will be banned for two reasons.

“The first is we would like to see a reduction in the number of human caused wildfires this spring in order to ensure that our staff and firefighting crews can stay healthy and able to respond to those naturally caused wildfires,” Lucius noted.

“The second is to reduce the impact that smoke may have on anybody who is dealing with COVID-19 at this time.”

Speaking to NL News, she says the bans are being brought in earlier than usual. The idea is to reduce the number of false alarm calls, where firefighters respond to a report of smoke, only to find the smoke is coming from a controlled burn.

“It’s not unusual to start to see these types of prohibitions in effect, especially in the southern parts of the province where we do get those drying valley bottoms fairly early in the season,” Lucius noted.

“This one is probably a little earlier than normal, but not as dramatic as one might think. However, in the north and in those higher elevations, its likely to be a bit earlier than normal.”

Anyone found violating these restrictions may be issued a ticket for $1,150, while being required to pay an administrative penalty of $10,000. If convicted in court, they could be fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail.