Okanagan wildfire driven by drought and climate change, experts warn of worsening crisis

The Bald Range wildfire near Summerland, B.C., which has burned more than 135 square kilometres and forced as many as 20,000 people to evacuate, is one piece of a much larger crisis unfolding across North America and beyond, according to experts studying the connections between fire and climate change.

Severe drought and more frequent heat waves are hemispheric in scale. The evacuated B.C. towns of Summerland and Peachland are the latest to experience the conditions that produce fast-expanding infernos. The blaze is being investigated by RCMP for a possible death related to the fire, and the province declared a state of emergency.

The Okanagan Valley, a vacation destination known for vineyards and orchards, has dealt with drought for the past three years. This spring, Okanagan Lake received just a third of its normal recharge through snowmelt, streams and rainfall, according to the Okanagan Basin Water Board.

Dr. Mike Flannigan, professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, said a universal recipe exists for wildfires: dry vegetation for fuel, lightning or a human-caused ignition source, and hot, dry, windy weather. All converged in the Okanagan. "The warmer we get the more fire we see," he said. "I can't be any more direct: I attribute this to climate change."

Statistics show the top six years for area burned in B.C. have all occurred since 2017. More area has burned in that nine-year period than between 1950 and 2016.

Over the past decade, wildfires have become larger and more destructive, ripping through Fort McMurray and Jasper, Alberta; Lytton and West Kelowna, B.C.; and several First Nations across Canada. Insured losses across the country hit a record high of $9.4 billion in 2024 when Jasper burned, followed by $6.5 billion in 2016 when Fort McMurray was destroyed and more than 80,000 people were forced to flee.

The main culprit is changing weather as global greenhouse gas emissions climb. In Canada, this means higher average temperatures, thinner snowpack and drier conditions in heavily forested regions, according to the Canadian Climate Institute. Fires can help forests regenerate naturally, but they are becoming far more damaging as they burn hotter and consume forests quicker.

Some fires globally are becoming so intense they generate their own thunderstorm clouds, known as pyrocumulonimbus, which can produce lightning. Some active fires in the Okanagan have ignited on burn scars from past wildfires, which fire ecologist Robert W. Gray said should be unsurprising to policy-makers.

Without regular prescribed burns — crucial to reducing fuel loads in grassland ecosystems — wildfires will keep igniting in scarred areas. The Okanagan's native landscape under Indigenous fire stewardship would have resembled "a mangy dog," with clumps of mature trees, burned areas with grass regrowth, wet meadows and aspen groves acting as natural fire deterrents. Today, the area is heavily populated with Douglas fir and lodgepole pine — tree species that are not particularly fire-tolerant and crowd out other growth.

Experts say resilience must be the top priority. Local solutions such as prescribed burns and growing native, fire-resistant vegetation are part of rebuilding nature's "speed bumps" to slow wildfire spread. Builders and homeowners should follow actions recommended by FireSmart Canada, including constructing with fire-resistant materials and keeping vegetation away from homes.

Dr. Flannigan is calling for additional money, full-time personnel and resources directed toward firefighting, perhaps within a national disaster relief system. For author John Vaillant, who has studied the connections between fire and climate change, the ultimate answer is public policy that accelerates the shift away from fossil fuels.