As of noon on Friday, May 15, the City of Vernon will follow the request of the Ministry of Forests, Range and Natural Resource Operations by restricting the size of open fires (Category 2 and 3) throughout the Vernon area to prevent wildfires and protect the public. This ban applies to all areas of the City of Vernon including; the Foothills and Blue Jay subdivisions, Predator Ridge, Canadian Lake Estates and the Okanagan Landing.
Currently, the fire danger rating ranges from moderate to high, with some areas already rated extreme. The Clearwater and Salmon Arm zones were originally not going to be subject to the prohibition until June but hot and dry weather conditions have brought it on ahead of schedule.
Since April 1, Kamloops Fire Centre crews have responded to 26 wildfire incidents. All of them were human caused.
The ban will remain in effect until October 15 or until further notice.
A map of the affected areas is available online at: http://bit.ly/1bL1o34
Specifically, prohibited activities include:
- The burning of any waste, slash or other materials (piled or unpiled) at a size larger than 50 centimetres by 50 centimetres.
- The burning of more than two open fires of any size at the same time.
- Stubble or grass fires of any size over any area.
- The use of fireworks, sky lanterns or burning barrels of any size or description.
This prohibition does not ban campfires that are a half-metre high by a half-metre wide (or smaller) and does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes.