Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation

The Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation (OBSCR) outlines the open burning rules. These rules make sure burning is done with minimal risk to human and environmental health, and minimizes smoke from open burning, especially where people live.

On this page:

Before you burn

Before burning, you must explore every reasonable alternative including:

  • Chipping
  • Mulching
  • Transporting your material to a green-waste recycling facility

You also need to minimize the amount of material to be burnt.

Find your smoke sensitivity zone

The Province is broken into three smoke sensitivity zones:

  • High
  • Medium
  • Low

The open burning rules are based on these zones.

Before burning:

Open burning rules based on zones

Read these zone and situation-specific factsheets to understand the open burning rules in your area.

Factsheets have information on:

  • Seasonal burning start and end times
  • Burning setbacks
  • Ventilation index requirements

Zone specific rules

Choose the factsheet that applies to the zone where you live:

Situation specific rules

For a local or Indigenous governments reducing vegetative debris to minimize wildfire risk:

For large amounts of diseased vegetation that you need to destroy by burning to prevent spread of pests or pathogens:

Air curtain incinerators

Regardless of your smoke sensitivity zone, if you are using an air curtain incinerator, follow these instructions:

Keeping records

Use the Open Burning Record sheet (PDF, 78KB) if you need to create a record of your burn.

Contact us

For Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation questions, contact OBSCR@gov.bc.ca 

For general air quality questions, contact B.C. Air Quality

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