Williams Lake, B.C. – The forest fire season has officially arrived with the Cariboo Fire Centre personnel called  to  respond to half a dozen human-caused wildfires over the long weekend.

 

The fires ranged from spot fires to 10 hectares in size. All six fires are in the mop-up stage or patrol stage at this time. The specific causes of the fires are under investigation.

 

The Cariboo Fire Centre would like to remind the public that an open fire prohibition is in effect throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre region.

 

Anyone found in contravention of an open fire prohibition may be issued a ticket for $345, or, if convicted in court, may be fined up to $100,000 and sentenced to one year in jail. If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person may be subject to a penalty of up to $10,000 and be ordered to pay all fire fighting and associated costs.

 

Last year’s fire season was a mild one, with only one major fire in the province, the Tisigar Lake fire south of the Yukon border which  burned 11 thousand hectares.  The total  fire fighting bill for last year was $66.7 million,  of which nearly half was  the result of sending  B.C. crews to other parts of the country.   The other provinces have paid those costs.    There were 646 fires  in the province last year,  and  438 of them were started by humans.  Of the fires in the  province in 2011,  there were  105 in the Prince George Fire District.