As the risk of forest fire heats up in British Columbia, open fires are being banned on Crown land and at provincial parks in the southwest part of the province.
Starting Wednesday at noon, a campfire ban takes effect in the Squamish district.
The banned area starts just north of Horseshoe Bay and extends through Whistler all the way to Joffre Lakes Provincial Park just east of Pemberton.
The ban is implemented as the fire danger reaches critical levels in southern B.C. In the Interior and Okanagan, fire ratings are high or extreme.
Fire crews across the province are busy fighting several blazes, including the rapidly growing wildfire burning just south of Fort Steele, B.C.
That fire started Tuesday afternoon - and now covers more than three square kilometers.
Near Lumby, B.C., more than three dozen firefighters have made significant progress on the 10 hectare Harris Creek fire just south of town. It is not threatening any homes.
The Forest Service quickly extinguished a one-hectare fire in Gallagher's Canyon, south of Kelowna, after an abandoned campfire flared up Tuesday afternoon.
July has been one of the driest months on record across southern B.C.
