B.C. down to three wildfires of note as Brunswick Creek removed from list

A wildfire in British Columbia’s Fraser Canyon continues to burn out of control, but it is no longer considered a fire of note, leaving three remaining in the province.

The BC Wildfire Service says the change is due to the reduced threat of the Brunswick Creek blaze spreading and the downgrading of evacuation orders.

Still, the service says its crews continue to work on suppressing the blaze on the west side of the Fraser Canyon, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

Victor Teoh, the Australian incident commander for the Brunswick and Ainslie Creek fires, says crews have been taking advantage of cooler conditions to work on the more active areas of the complex that spans nearly 770 square kilometres.

Teoh says in a video update posted by the service that shorter days and higher humidity levels have allowed crews to directly attack the fires more often.

A separate update from the service on Tuesday says hot and dry conditions are expected to return to much of the province this week and crews are strategically placed to respond to any new starts from lightning strikes in the forecast.

The number of active wildfires in B.C. had surged past 180 after the province recorded 11,000 lightning strikes during a storm last weekend, but the figure has since been ticking back down, now sitting at about 160.

The Ainslie Creek blaze is one of three remaining wildfires of note, with an evacuation alert covering about 280 properties in the Nicola Valley and an evacuation order for 61 properties along Highway 5 southwest of Merritt, B.C.

In the south Cariboo, the Village of Clinton has rescinded an evacuation alert for much of the community, but it remains in effect for some properties due to the risk of flooding related to the massive Pear Lake blaze, another fire of note.

The Bald Range fire that forced some 20,000 people to flee and destroyed about 150 structures in the south Okanagan this month is the third fire of note, spanning about 250 kilometres west of Summerland, B.C., though its growth has slowed.

A yellow-level air quality warning had stretched from the Fraser Canyon to Penticton and Kamloops in the east and the Chilcotin region in the north, but Environment Canada lifted it later Tuesday.

A warning remains in effect for the eastern Fraser Valley, with the Metro Vancouver regional district saying there are elevated levels of fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2026.