Stranded man plucked off cliff amid B.C. wildfire lands in jail

There’s been an unusual addition to a wildfire fight in steep terrain burning near Hope, B.C. 

RCMP say their officers arrived to help other first responders on Thursday as the fire burned on the side of a mountain when they heard a man yelling for help. 

Once the fire was contained in the area, police say search and rescue crews found a 27-year-old man stranded on the face of a cliff. 

The man was taken out by a helicopter long line and wasn’t hurt, but it turns out there were several warrants out for his arrest and he was taken into custody.

The BC Wildfire Service says in an update on Friday that the fire was discovered Wednesday near the popular Serpent’s Back hiking trail and is now classified as being held.

Brad Fandrich with Valley Helicopters, a charter helicopter operator, says the wildfire service called for help and he dumped about 100 buckets on the fire on Thursday alone. 

Fandrich says the steep cliffs made it difficult for crews to get close to the blaze, so the fight had to be done by helicopter.

The District of Hope says the BC Wildfire Service is supporting its local fire department with air suppression and a 10-person groundcrew.

A wildfire near Lytton remains the only wildfire of note burning in the province. 

The Izman Creek fire has grown to 155 hectares in size and is listed as out of control, although an evacuation order issued by the Neskonlith Indian Band for about 40 properties has been downgraded to an alert. 

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District says some properties under its jurisdiction near the fire remain on evacuation alert, just over four years after much of the town of Lytton was destroyed by a wildfire. 

Mounties said this week that the fire was triggered after a wheel fell off an RCMP trailer, which sparked grasses in a ditch. 

The regional district also says that an evacuation alert that had been in place for homes threatened by the Mount Scatchard Wildfire, west of Chase, B.C., has been lifted as of Friday. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2025.