Returning home different for everyone after ‘monster’ wildfire in B.C.’s Okanagan

The Sunflower Ukrainian Cafe in Summerland, B.C., is still restocking, but it’s already serving limited quantities of borscht and cabbage rolls to residents returning home after the community’s wildfire evacuation.

Iuliia Borysenko owns the business with her husband and said it was “so nice” to see customers again.

“They try to help each other and support us,” she said.

The cafe’s display fridge was damaged in the power outage prompted by the fire that bore down on the Summerland on Aug. 7, but Borysenko said the couple found a replacement in the region and a church group from nearby West Kelowna, B.C., was set to deliver it on Wednesday.

The reopening is part of a staged re-entry unfolding for residents of Summerland, where evacuation orders for most homes have been lifted, even as the Bald Range wildfire continues to burn out of control. But the fire activity is mostly away from perimeter of the fire that faces the community on the western shores of Okanagan Lake.

More than 4,500 properties in Summerland were taken off the evacuation list this week after about 10 days, although they remain on evacuation alert, meaning they should be ready to leave at short notice.

Others who live on the outskirts of the community and in rural areas were still waiting as crews assess ongoing risks and work on repairing power infrastructure.

Erick Thompson with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said Wednesday that returning would be different for everyone, especially as some people don’t have houses to go back to.

The blaze has destroyed about 150 structures, with about 110 in and around the communities of Faulder and Meadow Valley, and 40 in the District of Summerland.

Thompson said he toured parts of the area scorched by the fire this week and saw “serious damage” in rural areas outside Summerland.

“It was challenging to see in the sense that you can get a good sense of how frightening it must have been for those people who were there.”

In Summerland, Thompson said residents, including himself, were returning to the stench of wildfire smoke, “a lot of dust and ash” and potentially rotting food in their fridges following the rapid evacuation of the community.

He said it was sobering and sad to see homes destroyed, and there was nothing he could say to make those residents feel better.

But Thompson also saw how hard firefighters and structural protection crews worked to protect neighbourhoods in Summerland, he said.

“The fire came down the hill and reached the backyards of houses and those houses were saved,” he said in an interview. 

Still, he said the fire was a “monster,” tearing through the area within hours of its discovery and forcing firefighters to pivot from attacking it to helping people flee.

Erin Catherall with the BC Wildfire Service told a briefing hosted by the regional district on Wednesday that fire suppression equipment had been reported stolen in the area, something the service “cannot afford” as its crews battle the blaze.

“If you see suspicious activity or you have knowledge of stolen BC Wildfire Service equipment, we really ask you to report this to the non-emergency RCMP phone number,” she said.

Thompson said he saw burned hydro poles and “danger trees” that must be felled before it’s deemed safe for some people to return.

Geotechnical assessment of slopes scorched by the fire was ongoing, he added.

“I know that crews are working home and there will be no unnecessary delays,” Thompson told the online briefing.

The Bald Range fire spanned about 227 square kilometres on Wednesday.

The eastern flank of the fire facing Summerland has calmed enough to allow most residents to return, but an update from the BC Wildfire Service said it remained active in other areas, particularly along its southwestern flank.

A spot fire had spring up 30 metres beyond the main blaze, but it was extinguished by helicopters and ground crews, Catherall told the briefing.

The service has said crews were working along the Princeton-Summerland Road corridor to the west of the community and along the fire’s southwestern flank.

It said the forecast called for high temperatures and shifting winds, while challenging terrain was also hindering suppression efforts.

The blaze has been growing by an average of about eight square kilometres per day, the service said.

“The area has received 1.8 millimetres of rain over the past 47 days, and fuels remain exceptionally dry,” it said.

People in the area could expect to see smouldering ground fire and smoke from within the fire’s perimeter over the coming weeks, the service said.

“This is common following large wildfires and is typically not a concern,” it said. 

The Bald Range fire is one of about 130 active blazes across B.C., mostly in southern parts of the province, with roughly a third burning out of control.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2026.