Can I burn brush or slash on my property in BC?

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Outside most towns, yes: one or two piles up to 2 m high and 3 m wide need no registration, more or bigger needs a burn registration number, and a ban stops either; in a town the local bylaw decides. Everywhere, the Province's smoke rules set how far from the neighbours and on which days branches and logs may burn. A report names the lot's municipality and, where the regional district's map is open, its fire protection area. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. Whose rules apply: The Wildfire Act's open fire rules apply in or within 1 km of forest land or grass land, which takes in most rural land. They don't apply inside the City of Vancouver or a municipality, except eight the regulation names (Hudson's Hope, Whistler, Tumbler Ridge, Stewart, Revelstoke, Wells, Mackenzie and the Northern Rockies). In a regional district they apply unless the district or an improvement district has a bylaw on open fires for an area served by a fire department with a way for the public to report fires: there the bylaw decides (Wildfire Act ss. 4, 5; Wildfire Regulation ss. 2.1, 2.2). Where the Act doesn't apply, the local government's bylaw does; many towns ban burning yard waste or allow it only with a permit and in set weeks. A campfire or a small pile (Categories 1 and 2): A campfire is a fire no larger than 0.5 m high and 0.5 m wide, for recreation or a First Nation's ceremony: it needs a fuel break around it and someone watching it with a hand tool or 8 litres of water. A Category 2 open fire is one pile, or two burning at once, each up to 2 m high and 3 m wide, or grass or stubble over up to 0.2 ha: it needs a fuel break around each pile, someone watching with a hand tool, and water or other means at hand to put it out if it escapes. Neither needs registering, and either must be out before you leave (Wildfire Regulation ss. 1, 20, 21). A bigger burn (Category 3): Three or more piles at once, any pile over 2 m high or 3 m wide, windrows, or grass or stubble over 0.2 ha is a Category 3 open fire. It needs a burn registration number from the BC Wildfire Service before it's lit, online or by phone, which isn't a permit and is refused while that category is banned. The fire must be out by the date given with the number, usually two weeks, and you must keep a record of how you made sure it was out (Wildfire Regulation ss. 22, 24). The local government may still require its own permit. Bans: A BC Wildfire Service official can ban or restrict any category of open fire for an area, and the ban applies on private land too (Wildfire Act s. 10). The orders usually cover a fire centre's land outside municipalities. Bans follow the fire danger, most often through summer (our reading), and a regional district or fire department can add its own. A fire lit during a ban can bring a $1,150 ticket, a penalty of up to $10,000 or, in court, a fine of up to $100,000; a fire that escapes and starts a wildfire, up to $1 million, and the cost of putting it out. The Province's own pages list the bans in force by fire centre. Smoke: what may burn, and how far from the neighbours: Under the Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation only vegetation may burn: no garbage, plastics, tires, treated or painted wood, construction or demolition waste, manure or the other materials the Waste Discharge Regulation lists. Burning leaves, grass and twigs under 3 cm across falls outside the regulation. Branches under 10 cm across, burned for a home or farm, need only the Wildfire Act's rules and its bans, the Province's own air quality bans and burning within 5 km of where they grew. Anything with pieces of 10 cm or more must burn at least 500 m from neighbours' homes and businesses and 1 km from a school, hospital or care home; 100 m and 500 m are allowed where the debris is seasoned and in piles no wider than twice their height, with a record of when they were piled, no stumps or pieces over 50 cm, the neighbours within 500 m are told a day ahead, the day's ventilation forecast is good, and the fire is lit an hour after sunrise and out by 4 p.m. or two hours before sunset, whichever is later (ss. 1, 5, 9, 12, 13, 30). So with a neighbour's house within 500 m, stumps can't be burned at all, and within 100 m nothing with pieces of 10 cm or more. Smoke sensitivity zones: The regulation's maps put BC in high, medium and low smoke sensitivity zones. Where the Province forecasts ventilation for the area, a burn starts only on a day forecast good (good or fair in the low zone). In the high zone the debris must be seasoned and the burn last under 2 days, in the medium under 4, in the low under 6. A private lot under 64 ha in the high zone may burn on 12 days a year at most, 6 in a month (ss. 18 to 22). The zone maps and the daily ventilation index are the Province's own maps, not open data, so a report doesn't name the zone: find the lot on them. What it means for a buyer: If you'd clear land or keep up a woodlot, ask the local government whether a bylaw governs open burning at the lot, and look at how far the neighbours' houses are, as the smoke rules above set. Where burning is ruled out, chipping, hauling to a transfer station or an air curtain incinerator are the usual ways out (our reading).

Can I burn brush or slash on my property in BC?

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