As the weather significantly gets hotter & dries up, all natural areas move to the “high” fire danger range, which is number 4 on a 5-point system which includes very low, low, moderate, high, or extreme.
If the same weather persists, experts suggest Vancouver is a couple weeks away from falling under the “extreme” rating.
Prohibitions in parks go hand in hand with the ratings and rate of danger, so if the rating goes over to the extreme side, then there could be possible prohibitions on barbeques and fire pits.
“Once we go into extreme, then all campfires are prohibited, including our supervised campgrounds. Briquette barbecues and stoves are prohibited in all public areas, all of our signage is changed in our parks to ‘extreme,’ all portable campfire apparatus, meaning the propane gas ones, there’s restrictions made on those,” said David Leavers, division manager of Visitor and Operations Services for Metro Vancouver (via NEWS 1130).
All parks regulatory organizations urge people to practice fire safety and be extremely mindful of how they are using the natural spaces. This is particularly important for smokers, as municipalities urge them to “butt-out responsibly”. There are fines associated with being irresponsible, for example, smoking in Coquitlam’s parks can cost $150 – $500 in fines during the summer months.
The fire danger is not limited to natural spaces but can easily spread to homes and buildings as there are no isolated natural spaces. Most of them are found among areas with residents, making the loss of life and property damage a huge concern.