Large fires classified as Category 3 will be banned in an area of northwest B.C. for the wildfire season as a wildfire mitigation tactic, according to a notice issued by the BC Wildfire Service.

The ban does not extend to campfires, which are classified as Category 1, nor does it apply to Category 2 open burns. The BC Wildfire Service defines Category 3 fires as fires that burn "material concurrently in three or more piles, each not exceeding 2 metres in height and 3 metres in width, material in one or more piles each exceeding 2 metres in height or 3 metres in width, one or more windrows each not exceeding 200 metres in length or 15 metres in width, or stubble or grass over an area exceeding 0.2 hectares." The ban also includes air curtain burners and carbonizers.

The BC Wildfire Service is also asking anyone who conducted a Category 3 open burn during the winter to double-check that those burn sites are fully extinguished.

The ban will take effect at 12:00 p.m. on May 9 and end at 12:00 p.m. on Sept. 29 (or when a notice ending the ban is issued). The ban will be in place for the Bulkley Fire Zone and the Nadina Fire Zone, a large area that stretches roughly from Gitanyow on Hwy 37 down toward Ootsa Lake, south of Burns Lake. Municipalities generally manage their own fire bans, so this ban only includes areas outside of municipalities, some Crown land such as parks within affected municipalities, and the Village of Hazelton.

The BC Wildfire Service warned of serious consequences for anyone caught violating the ban.

"Anyone found in contravention of an open burning prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150, required to pay an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 or, if convicted in court, fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail," the ban notice says. "If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs, as well as the value of resources damaged or destroyed by the wildfire."