There will be no campfires allowed in the Bulkley Valley this B.C. Day long weekend.
Communities with fire departments have to implement their own bans. Smithers, Telkwa and New Hazelton all confirmed that they are enforcing bans at the same time and with the same rules as the Northwest Fire Centre outside of their boundaries, starting Friday at noon.
Read more: Northwest fire ban starts Friday
That means no campfires, fireworks, firecrackers, tiki torches, sky lanterns, chimineas or burning barrels in or out of town.
Category 2 and 3 open fires — backyard and industrial burning — are also not allowed during the ban.
Anyone in Smithers or within eight kilometres of the Smithers firehall who wants an update on when bans are put in place or end, along with a lot of other notification options, can sign up for the Everbridge application.
It’s not just for smart phones: home phones, emails, fax, pager and more ways to be contacted can be included when signing up.
The Town of Smithers uses this new system to alert residents about a variety of events, ranging from fires, floods and other emergencies, to more routine announcements, such as service disruptions, water utility maintenance and civic events. Whatever notifications you want, you get. Whichever you don’t want, you don’t get; only emergency notifications like an evacuation order are mandatory.
If you do not have access to a computer and would like to register, call Smithers Fire Rescue at 250-847-2015 (extension 2). Otherwise you can sign up at smithers.ca or by clicking here.
Read more: Smithers launches emergency notification system
The fire prohibitions do not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes, or to portable campfire apparatuses with a CSA or ULC rating that use briquettes, liquid fuel or gaseous fuel, as long as the height of the flame is less than 15 centimetres.
Smithers fire chief Keith Stecko said no Smithers firefighters have been requested to help with wildfires by the Province yet, but they wil certainly step up like they did last year if asked to.
Read more: Recruitment top priority for Bulkley Valley Emergency Support Services