RDOS Wildfire Bulletin – Regional Restrictions To Reduce Potential Wildfires

The Province of BC is under a province wide ‘State of Emergency’ due to wildfires. The current Fire Danger rating for most of the regional district is ‘Extreme’.
Due to the provincial state of emergency and extreme conditions the RDOS Board of Directors haven taken the strong stance and issued a ban on all fireworks, motorized vehicles and smoking in all public wooded, grass and brush areas within the unincorporated areas of the geographic boundaries of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen.

Many other regions and Provincial agencies have already taken steps to mitigate the chance of wildfires:

 Campfire and open burning bans are in place throughout the province.
 Many provincial parks are currently closed due to fire danger.
 Forest use restrictions are also in place in close proximity to wildfires.

While conventional human sources of ignition such as cigarettes and campfires are responsible for many fires you may not be aware of other ignition sources. A spark from a lawnmower blade, chainsaw or a horse shoe hitting a rock can all cause a fire under these extreme conditions. Even a carelessly discarded clear glass bottle can act as a magnifying glass and ignite tinder dry grasses. With no precipitation events forecasted for the immediate future, the most likely cause of any new fire will be human activity.