Coastal Fire Centre Status Report for the week ending July 6, 2023

Overview

Over the previous week the Coastal Fire Centre has seen increasing temperatures and falling relative humidity, leading to an increase in the fire danger rating across the region. As a result, effective at 12:00pm PST on Friday, July 7th, a Category 1 fire (campfire) prohibition for all of the Coastal Fire Centre except for Haida Gwaii. This prohibition is being enacted to help prevent human-caused wildfires and to protect public safety.

Category 2 and Category 3 fires are prohibited throughout the entire Coastal Fire Centre, including the Haida Gwaii Resource District.

The Category 2 and Category 3 prohibition also restricts the following activities and equipment:

• Fireworks

• Sky Lanterns

• Burn Barrels or Burn Cages of any size or description

• Binary Exploding Targets

• Air curtain burners

• Tiki and similar kind of torches; and,

• Chimineas.

Current prohibitions do not include the use of outdoor stoves or portable campfire devices as defined within the Wildfire Regulation. As per the Wildfire Regulation, an outdoor stove is a CSA-rated or ULC-rated device used outdoors for cooking, heat or ambiance that burns charcoal briquettes, liquid fuel or gaseous fuel, and has a flame height that is less than 15 cm tall.

Any fire that violates any of the above guidelines is an illegal fire, and can be reported to the RAPP line: 1-877-952-7277

So far this year in the Coastal Fire Centre, there have been 104 fires, 97 of which are suspected to be human-caused. This number is likely to even-out as we move into the summer as the prevalence of lightning increases. Last year on this date, we had responded to 17 fires. However, last year we received significant precipitation in May and June.

There are currently ten active fires in the Coastal Fire Centre and the majority are suspected to be human-caused. With the possibility of lightning in the forecast for the coming week it becomes increasingly important for the public to be vigilant while engaging in any activities in the backcountry. Human-caused wildfires are preventable, and can divert resources away from natural-cause wildfires.

There are currently no Wildfire of Notes in the Coastal Fire Centre.

Please check www.bcwildfire.ca for the most up to date information on open burning bans and current wildfires within the Coastal Fire Centre.

Coastal Contact Information

Fire Information Line:
250 951-4209

Public Info Line:

1 800 336-7378

To Report Wildfires:
1 800 663-5555

*5555 on a cellphone 

Active Fires

• V10588 – Chehalis River – Fraser Zone – 767 ha. – Being Held

• V11064 – SE Jones Lake – Fraser Zone – 0.32 ha. – Under Control

• V30952 – Millar Creek – Pemberton Zone – 0.009 ha. – Under Control

• V31141 - Crawford Creek - Pemberton Zone - 21 ha. - Out of Control

• V61092 – Tugwell Main 3KM – South Island Zone – 0.25 ha. – Under Control

• V70600 – Cameron Bluffs – Mid Island Zone – 229 ha. – Under Control

• V71098 – Klanawa River – Mid Island Zone – 15 ha. – Out of Control

• V80527 – Newcastle Creek – Campbell River Zone – 230 ha. – Being Held

• V81044 – Filberg Creek – Campbell River Zone – 0.04 ha. – Under Control

• V81105 – Browning Creek – Campbell River Zone – 1.96 ha. – Being Held

Learn more about Wildfire Rank and Stages of Control. 

Learn more about Fire Danger Rating and Zone Activity Levels.

Weather Forecast

OUTLOOK: Saturday to Monday:

For the weekend the warm, unstable convective pattern will continue as an upper trough persists just west of the Coast. Isolated, wet-ish afternoon thundershowers will continue over the higher terrain of Vancouver Island and the Mainland. Highs will be in the low 30s over the inland mainland and upper 20s over Vancouver Island. Winds will be light SW inflow; afternoon RHs in the 20s over the Mainland valleys and 30s and 40s over Vancouver Island.
Monday should see a change as the trough is forecast to swing across Vancouver Island late in the day. This could produce more organized showers/wet thundershowers especially over the upper reaches of the inland mainland zones. Temperatures should cool to the mid to upper 20s and RHs will trend upwards.

6 TO 10 DAY: Tuesday - Saturday

An upper trough will move into the Interior Tuesday and more stable westerly flow will develop over the Coast. Temps will be close to seasonal.
Thereafter, fair confidence in a trend towards building 500 mb heights and W-SW flow aloft mid week. This should cause conditions to warm and RHs to trend down; expect the convective threat to be pushed east of the Coast mountains.