As the forest fire season heats up, reminders for taking all possible precautions are worth heeding.  One costly campfire that lead to a wildfire in the woods has already ended up in court, after the Ministry of Forests charged a Cariboo-area man the full cost of their firefighting efforts — $861,356.

In an interview yesterday, Brian Simpson, director of the B.C. Wildfire Management Branch, said “If you look at things like temperature, drought conditions, wind conditions, we’re finding now there are periods during our fire seasons that are much higher-risk than we have historically experienced. We’re getting to these much higher intensity fires much more quickly than in the past. We need to be prepared much earlier. If you go back 10 years, our crew organization, preseason preparation, never really got cranked up until the middle of April. We are doing that now at the beginning of March” (Source). The current fire situation across the province is available at at the Wildfire Management Branch website.