In Vancouver, the park board has banned charcoal barbecues from several city green spaces as a result of a heightened fire risk caused by hot, dry weather in the region.

The ban came into effect at shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday and covers Stanley Park, English Bay and Sunset Beach.

"What we're mainly concerned with right now is what we call the duff layer, and that's basically the surface fire load that can spark," Lt. Michael Heslop of Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services told CTV News.

Disobeying the barbecue ban or the smoking ban currently in place in city parks can land you hundreds of dollars in fines.

And the risk is serious.

"Earlier this month we had a grass fire that started to impinge on a building and caused some significant damage and ended up being a structure fire," Heslop said.

Propane barbecues are still allowed for now, as long as cookers are at least 30 centimetres off the ground, the park board said in a tweet.

The ban is just one example how the hot weather and tinder-dry conditions are forcing communities across Metro Vancouver to impose fire prevention measures.

But not everyone seems to be getting the message.

Firefighters in West Vancouver had to extinguish what they called an "intentionally set" brush fire Tuesday afternoon.

The blaze broke out at around 5 p.m. in the 800 block of Main Street in a wooded area behind the Park Royal mall.

"There were several pieces of wood that were put in the shape of a campfire and had been lit," Asst. Fire Chief Jeff Bush told CTV News in a phone interview, calling the behaviour "very, very irresponsible of whoever did it."

Luckily, a person walking their dog spotted the fire in its early stages and crews were able to respond quickly, but Bush said the blaze could have easily gotten out of control.

"It's really, really difficult to understand the logic behind doing something like this," he said. "With the amount of media attention and with the amount of education that's been out, I'm really surprised that someone has done this."

Wildfire risk remains high despite cooling weather

With many people already preparing to leave Metro Vancouver for the August long weekend, the BC Wildfire Service branch is raising the alarm about being cautious in the backcountry.

"Off-road vehicles, discarded cigarettes, things like that—we're definitely going to see that heightened just based on the numbers we're seeing out there and that's definitely compounded by the fact we're seeing so much lightning activity right now," said Kevin Skrepnek, the province's chief fire information officer.

Officials say B.C. has seen tens of thousands of lightning strikes in the past day and several new fires are burning across the province with more dry lightning in the forecast in some areas.

And the cooling temperatures won't do much to help for now, even if rainfall comes alongside wind and fresh lightning strikes.

"We've got drought conditions in many parts of coastal B.C. right now," Skrepnek said. "It's going to take more than a brief rainfall to really hit the reset switch."

With files from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos