More than $11K in fines issued during record Alberta wildfire season

The Alberta government has levied more than $11,000 in fines for wildfire-prevention violations this year.

Nineteen violation tickets, with fines totalling $11,520, were given out between April 1 and July 31, according to statistics provided by Alberta's forestry and parks ministry.

Most of the tickets were for failing to extinguish an open outdoor fire during a fire ban, which comes with a $600 fine.

Tickets have also been issued this year for operating equipment or an off-highway vehicle during a restriction, burning without a permit, and breaking the conditions of a fire permit. All are violations of the Forest and Prairie Protection Act.

A small portion of the tickets were levied under other legislation.

More fines have been levied this year than last year, but in the past five years, 2020 saw the highest number handed out.

That year, 60 tickets were issued, most of which were related to fire ban or fire restriction violations.

Assistant communications director Christi Retson-Spalding said many factors can affect how many violation tickets are issued each year, including the number of fire bans and restrictions in place and weather conditions.

"Depending on the circumstances forestry peace officers may also choose to educate people about the fire ban system and the Forest and Prairie Protection Act, rather than immediately issuing a ticket," she said in an email to CBC News.

Alberta's wildfire season is the worst on record, having surpassed the previous 1981 recordin mid-June for hectares burned.

Both British Columbiaand Alberta have increased wildfire-related violation fine amounts in the past decade.

The penalty for disobeying a fire ban in B.C. more than tripled in 2016.

Last week, during a provincial state of emergency in B.C., conservation officers issued seven $1,150 tickets for illegal campfires in the Kootenay and South Coast regions.

Fines under Alberta's Forest and Prairie Protection Act doubled in 2020. The highest fine amount is $1,200.

According to the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard on Monday, there have been more than 900 wildfires in the province this year.

More than half are suspected to have been caused by humans, 37 per cent are suspected to have been caused by lightning and nearly nineper cent are still under investigation.