Updated August 11, 2026 at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time. This is a temporary wildfire restriction that may expand, shrink or be rescinded. Current BC Wildfire Service orders, maps and EmergencyInfoBC notices are authoritative. British Columbia temporarily prohibited recreational off-road vehicle use on Crown land in several fire centres beginning at noon August 10. The easy mistake is to read that as a province-wide ban on every road and every use. The actual boundary depends on the fire centre or forest district, land ownership and purpose of the trip.
If an ATV, dirt bike or side-by-side trip was on the itinerary, the useful questions are where the route sits on the official map, whether it is Crown land, whether the use is recreational and whether a separate fire, road, area or evacuation order applies that day.
| Area | Scope from August 10 | Check before leaving |
|---|---|---|
| Kamloops Fire Centre | Recreational ORVs prohibited on Crown land throughout the centre | BCWS order, bans and current fire conditions |
| Southeast Fire Centre | Recreational ORVs prohibited on Crown land throughout the centre | Rocky Mountain and Selkirk maps plus road conditions |
| Cariboo Fire Centre | 100 Mile House Forest District | Use the order map; not all of Cariboo has identical coverage |
| Coastal Fire Centre | Selected areas; North Island/Mid-Coast, Mid-Island and Sunshine Coast are exceptions | Official map and amendments, not the fire-centre name alone |
The province lists all of Kamloops and Southeast fire centres, the 100 Mile House Forest District in Cariboo Fire Centre, and selected parts of Coastal Fire Centre. Coastal explicitly excludes North Island/Mid-Coast, Mid-Island and Sunshine Coast from this particular order. That is why a fire-centre name alone is not enough; the attached order map defines the line.
The order covers recreational ATVs, motorcycles and side-by-sides on Crown land. It does not apply to private land or national parks, and there are exceptions for emergency response, agriculture and vehicles used for commercial or industrial work. An exception from this provincial order is not automatic permission to enter: parks, private owners, recreation sites, resource roads and local authorities can maintain separate closures and rules.
A contravention can bring a ticket of up to $1,150. If the activity causes or contributes to a wildfire, the responsible person may also be ordered to pay firefighting and related costs. August is traditionally the most active part of B.C.’s fire season, and the province says dry, unpredictable conditions also make backcountry evacuation and rescue harder.
A practical pre-trip check has three layers: open the fire-centre order and map, review province-wide bans and restrictions, then check EmergencyInfoBC and local road information. Yesterday’s screenshot or social post is only a clue because an order can change during the day. If equipment is rented, ask the operator which specific route is open now and keep the official map available offline.
Smoke is a separate decision. A route outside the ORV prohibition may still be a poor choice because of AQHI, visibility or respiratory risk. Our Canadian wildfire smoke and AQHI guide explains the official tools; the Canada travel map and travel resources page can help with alternatives. This safety explainer contains no affiliate link.
Scope, exceptions and the $1,150 maximum ticket come from the August 10 B.C. bulletin. Boundaries were cross-checked with the fire-centre guide and Kamloops order page. Check current prohibitions and EmergencyInfoBC again on departure day.