Okanagan Lake Wildfire More Than Doubles in Size as Thousands Evacuate Across B.C.

Subhadarshi Tripathy

8/3/20263 min read

The Bradley Creek wildfire more than doubled in size over the weekend, forcing thousands of people from their homes as evacuation orders expanded across communities near the northern end of Okanagan Lake.

The out-of-control wildfire prompted multiple evacuation orders Saturday afternoon affecting the main reserve of the Okanagan Indian Band, the Township of Spallumcheen and Splatsin First Nation.

At a news conference Sunday, B.C. wildfire operations director Cliff Chapman said more than 5,000 people had been evacuated across the province within the previous 24 hours.

Several highways were also closed because of wildfires, according to DriveBC, including Highway 97 along the west side of Okanagan Lake.

Bradley Creek Fire Grows to 26 Square Kilometres

The B.C. Wildfire Service said the Bradley Creek wildfire in the North Okanagan had grown from approximately 10 square kilometres to roughly 26 square kilometres by Sunday morning.

“We are seeing fuel conditions that we have never seen before. We are seeing fire behaviour and fire growth that we have never experienced in B.C. up until this point,” Chapman said.

Officials said crews recorded sustained winds of approximately 80 kilometres per hour over the fire, with winds reaching 115 kilometres per hour at higher elevations.

Around midnight Sunday, the City of Armstrong issued an evacuation alert affecting 15 properties.

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District also placed approximately 217 properties under evacuation alert. The district estimated that about 500 people were affected by alerts in the region.

Separate Wildfire Expands Evacuation Order

Farther south along Okanagan Lake, the Quilpituk Creek wildfire prompted a separate evacuation order that was expanded Sunday.

The wildfire was discovered Saturday and initially led the Regional District of Central Okanagan to issue an evacuation order for properties north of Nahun and south of La Casa, approximately 30 kilometres north of Kelowna.

Shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, the regional district expanded the order to include all properties between the Okanagan Indian Band’s Indian Reserve No. 1 and the area north of Nahun.

The expanded evacuation order, issued because of the Quilpituk Creek and Bradley Creek wildfires, affected approximately 81 properties.

Residents were instructed to evacuate south along Westside Road and monitor EmergencyInfoBC and local government communications for the latest information.

Thousands of Properties Under Orders and Alerts

The B.C. Wildfire Service said 31 new wildfires had started across the province within 24 hours, while crews declared nine fires extinguished.

In an email to Peazzi, the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness said that, as of 9 a.m. PT Sunday, 42 evacuation orders were affecting approximately 4,000 properties.

Another 40 evacuation alerts covered roughly 4,500 properties.

Those numbers had risen significantly from Saturday afternoon, when approximately 2,900 properties were under evacuation orders and another 2,800 were under alerts.

Tactical Evacuation in East Kootenay

The Wait Creek wildfire, discovered Saturday, was threatening nearly 1,000 properties in the East Kootenay.

The Regional District of East Kootenay issued evacuation orders covering approximately 972 dwellings in the Ta Ta Creek, Wasa Lake and Lazy Lake areas, including campsites.

Emergency personnel conducted a tactical evacuation Saturday afternoon.

Evacuees were directed to an Emergency Support Services reception centre at Parkland Middle School in Cranbrook.

Large Fires Continue Burning Across Interior

The Pear Lake fire, part of the Big Bar Complex, was burning approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Clinton.

At about 1,039 square kilometres, it was the largest active wildfire in British Columbia.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District also ordered the evacuation of approximately 10 properties in the Bonaparte Plateau area Sunday afternoon because of the French Bar Creek wildfire, which had grown to roughly 371 square kilometres.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said cooler temperatures, higher humidity and lighter winds were expected to reduce fire intensity compared with the previous day.

However, officials warned that vegetation remained severely affected by drought and could become highly susceptible to ignition and renewed fire activity under sunny conditions.

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