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EDITORIAL: Where is the sense when it comes to campfires?

It truly boggles the mind that wildfire crews in British Columbia are having to deal with unattended campfires this summer.

It truly boggles the mind that wildfire crews in British Columbia are having to deal with unattended campfires this summer.

In the first week of July, officials at the Kamloops Fire Centre had to deal with 22 unattended campfires. Last month there was another weekend where the number of unattended campfires—those that campers have carelessly left to burn—was higher than 30 over a weekend.

Here in the Alberni Valley, crews were called out to Stirling Arm Main to put out a bonfire that was approximately five metres by 15 metres in size, in a popular—wooded—party spot.

And the fire burning on Comox Main this week has been deemed ‘human-caused’, although the Coastal Fire Centre has not pinned down an exact reason.

What is wrong with people?

The province is lucky the weather has been wetter this year, but campers taking chances with their campfires shouldn’t think that luck is going to hold—Environment Canada has issued a warning for inland portions of Vancouver Island and the southern coast for soaring temperatures, and precipitation is nowhere to be seen in the forecast.

One would think that after seeing the devastation a wildfire caused in Fort McMurray early this summer, people would know better.

Sadly, that point of view is proving too optimistic.

— ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS