Amid persistent drought conditions and fears of another difficult wildfire season, B.C. officials have unveiled another early-season fire ban, this time in the Prince George area.
Effective at noon on Thursday, March 28, Category 2 and Category 3 fires will be banned across the Prince George Fire Zone, a massive area that essentially covers the entirety of northeastern B.C.
That ban will take effect at the same time as a previously announced ban for the Cariboo Fire Centre.
Campfires, also known as Category 1 fires, are not covered by the bans.
A Category 2 fire is an open fire burning in one or two piles, each no larger than two metres in height and three metres in width or burning grass over an area less than 0.2 hectares.
A Category 3 fire is an open fire larger than two metres by three metres, burning three or more piles smaller than two metres by three metres, or burning an area of grass over an area greater than 0.2 hectares.
Burn barrels, binary exploding targets, fireworks and sky lanterns are also banned.
Breaching the ban could result in a $1,150 ticket or an administrative penalty of $10,000. If the case results in a court conviction, a person could be liable for a fine of up to $100,000 or a year in jail.
A warm and relatively dry winter has left officials warning that much of the province could see drought conditions from 2023 stretch into this year.
Those concerns have been compounded by lower-than-average snowpack levels in many parts of the province.
As of March 1, the average provincial snowpack was about 34 per cent below seasonal averages.