VANCOUVER - For the first time in months, campfires are permitted across British Columbia.

The BC Wildfire Service says half-metre by half-metre campfires are now allowed throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre, removing the last, remaining restrictions.

The province's five other fire centres have already dropped their campfire bans, and wetter conditions in the Cariboo centre have now allowed the lifting of restrictions covering an area west of the Fraser River.

It's the first time since early July that campfires have been permitted provincewide.

The Ministry of Forests took the rare step of banning campfires and all open burning earlier this summer as drought-like conditions created an extreme fire risk.

Nearly 2,000 wildfires have been recorded across B.C. since April, with the wildfire service noting just under 3,000 square kilometres of woodlands have been burned.