Smokers who like to light up while at the park will have to quit the habit for a while. The B.C. Wildfire Management Branch has declared a temporary provincewide ban on open burning, which includes cigarettes as well as campfires and fireworks.

Although the ban only officially applies to provincial parks, Crown and private lands, city staff decided to extend it to all city parks and natural lands.

"Combustible material ignites easily if unnoticed, especially with something like a discarded cigarette," said John Hatch of the New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services. "A wind can come up, and all of a sudden it ignites the ground fuels under the trees. Then we have a tree fire, which can leap to other trees, and then all of a sudden we've lost a 150-year-old cedar we can't replace."

The ban does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes, or to portable campfire apparatus with a CSA or ULC rating using briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel, that aren't capable of producing a flame longer than 15 centimetres.

Hatch said he wouldn't be able guess how long the ban will be in place, saying that it depends on the weather and decisions made by the Coastal Fire Centre. Hatch said he hopes people will exercise common sense during the current dry spell.

"We just want people to be aware of the situation and be careful out there."