After nearly three dozen abandoned campfires were discovered and extinguished over the B.C. Day long weekend, provincial fire crews are asking the public to be more careful with their fire use.
BC Wildfire Service says blazes sparked by people can divert resources from dealing with naturally occurring fires and warn that abandoned campfires can lead to wildfires.
"These sorts of incidents are preventable," a statement from the province says. "If the ashes from a campfire are not cold to the touch, the campfire has not been fully extinguished."
If someone is caught leaving a campfire unattended, they could be given a ticket for $1,150. If the fire escalates, the person responsible could be told to pay all firefighting and associated costs, as well as the value of resources damaged by the wildfire.
While campfires are still not banned in the province, officials say the fire danger rating in the Kamloops Fire Centre is mostly "moderate" to "high," with some areas ranked as "extreme" near Lytton, Princeton and parts of the southern Okanagan region.
Right now, a 900-hectare fire is burning near Oliver and it's believed to be human-caused.
Since April 1, BC Wildfire Service has responded to 118 wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre and 92 of them were believed to caused by people.
