Sunshine Coast RCMP handed out tickets worth more than $10,000 Aug. 7 in what is, so far, the biggest incident involving an illegal campfire since the Coastal Fire Centre and local fire departments issued a complete open burning ban in early July.
RCMP said this week they had a call from an off-duty firefighter who’d spotted a fire on Home Island, a rocky outcrop off the southwest point of Keats Island.
The man tried to convince the group to put out the bonfire they’d started, but they refused.
“Police attended and located a group of males around a large campfire,” RCMP said. “After explaining the province-wide fire ban and the risk and liability of having a bonfire where the embers could be wind borne for kilometres, all nine members of the party were each issued a violation ticket for Light, Fuel, or Use Fire Against Regulation under the Wildfire Act which, carries a fine of $1,150.”
The incident on Home Island followed an Aug. 3 infraction, when RCMP were called out to assist the Gibsons Fire Department in dealing with an illegal fire in the 700 block of Marine Drive. In that case RCMP said they were told the remains of the fire found on the property was the result of used barbecue briquettes being dumped into a fire pit.
Fire investigators didn’t buy that explanation, and the result was a $1,150 ticket.
Local conservation officers have also been levying fines. Sgt. Dean Miller told Coast Reporter last week that they issued three $1,150 tickets between July 28 and 31, including one for an illegal fire “within two kilometres of the 2015 Sechelt Mine fire site that killed volunteer firefighter and tree faller John Phare.”
Earlier in July, RCMP fined one person as a result of illegal campfires on Dunham Road in Port Mellon, after visiting the site earlier and issuing a warning.
Fire danger ratings remain at high or extreme throughout the Sunshine Coast, and the burning ban remains in effect. It includes all campfires, fireworks, bear bangers, burn barrels, tiki torches, chimineas, sky lanterns, and the use of binary exploding targets.
