The state of emergency declared earlier this month in B.C. due to wildfires came to an end Thursday. The declaration was first made Aug. 8, as evacuations and fire activity surged. “The state of provincial emergency was enacted to ensure emergency powers and other tools could be made available quickly if needed. Fortunately, the province did not need to use those emergency powers,” a statement from the Emergency Ministry said. Rescinding the province-wide declaration does not mean an end to any local states of emergency and does not impact evacuation orders and alerts in place, the province noted. As of Thursday morning, there were roughly 1,300 properties under evacuation order and approximately, 2,200 properties on evacuation alert A temporary ban on off-road vehicles will also be lifted Friday at noon, officials also announced. The restriction was brought in for the Southeast, Cariboo, Coastal and Kamloops Fire Centres earlier this month in an effort to decrease the risk of human-caused wildfires. It applied to all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, and side-by-side vehicles on provincial Crown land. “Restrictions are only considered when multiple factors indicate an elevated wildfire risk, heightened wildfire activity and limited capacity to respond to new fire starts,” an update from the B.C. Wildfire Service on Thursday said. “With improving conditions in some regions of B.C., and cooler wetter weather in the forecast we are now able to rescind these prohibitions. We continue to monitor wildfire risk and prohibitions may be implemented or rescinded as conditions change.” The fine for violating the ban was set at $1,150.
