Campfire bans now lifted for most of B.C., with southern Vancouver Island the lone exception

As of noon Friday, campfires are once again allowed across most of British Columbia, with only the drought-challenged region of southern Vancouver Island still covered by restrictions.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said campfire prohibitions are now being removed across the entire Kamloops Fire Centre and in the Boundary fire zone of the Southeast Fire Centre.

Campfires, which must be no more than half a metre wide by half a metre high, are also now allowed across much of the Coastal Fire Centre but remain banned across the southern third of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

Several weeks without consistent rainfall left much of the South Coast under serious drought conditions this summer. Authorities in the Gulf Islands said the season's drought was one of the worst they'd experienced in recent memory.

Bans were lifted last month in the Cariboo and Prince George fire centre regions and in the Northwest Fire Centre region in July.

The wildfire service said fire activity is decreasing across B.C. but about 200 blazes are still burning. Two are still ranked as fires of note, with both rated as either under control or being held.

Statistics from the Ministry of Forests and Emergency Management B.C. show 1,585 wildfires have burned 8,686 square kilometres of land — an area three times the size of Metro Vancouver — since the start of the season on April 1.