The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations is planning a series of controlled burns near Chimney Lake and Felker Lake between March 16 and April 31, 2016, weather conditions permitting.

These burns are intended to reduce wildfire hazards in the following areas:

• Felker Lake Recreation Site
• Chimney Lake Recreation Site (north site)
• Chimney Lake Recreation Site (central site)

The proactive use of fire will help clear out accumulations of grass and shrubs around these recreation sites and significantly reduce the threat of a devastating wildfire, since any future fires in the area will have less fuel available and will burn at a lower intensity.

Prescribed fire is often used to help protect communities and infrastructure in the wildland-urban interface, where developed areas border on forests or grasslands. Fire crews may let a portion of the landscape burn within predetermined boundaries or ignite piles of branches and other vegetation that crews have gathered together beforehand.

Trained BC Wildfire Service personnel will carefully monitor the fires at all times.

All prescribed burns must comply with the Environmental Management Act and the open burning smoke control regulation. This helps minimize the amount of smoke generated.

Prescribed fires are only ignited if weather conditions are suitable to ensure that the fire does not get out of control and that it does not create excessive smoke. Important factors that determine whether or not a burn will go ahead include the venting index, temperature, humidity and forecast wind activity.

More information about prescribed burning is available on the BC Wildfire Service website:
http://bcwildfire.ca/Prevention/PrescribedFire/

A Factsheet about prescribed burns and ecosystem restoration burns is available online:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/prescribed-burns-and-ecosystem-restoration-burns