While the men and women fighting B.C.’s wildfires are working around the clock to keep communities across the province safe, photos posted to social media are prompting some backlash.
The photos show a group of workers in Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations uniforms gathered around a campfire near Adams Lake in B.C.’s Shuswap region.
Several comments on the social media post were critical of the firefighters, given the province is under a campfire ban. Others defended the crew members, saying they were more than capable of extinguishing a fire.
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A province-wide campfire ban was put into effect earlier this week.
Before that, several regions had imposed bans. Coastal Fire Centre was the first to impose a ban, with Cariboo, Kamloops and Southeast following suit days later. Northwest Fire Centre was the last to join, expanding the ban across the region.
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Kevin Skrepnek, B.C.’s chief fire information officer, said Wednesday that the ministry is aware of the photos.
“The ministry is taking the matter very seriously,” he said. “We are going to be investigating.
“There is an open burning and campfire ban in place across the entire province and that ban applies to everyone.”