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A look at B.C.’s most destructive wildfire seasons
As fires force evacuations around Okanagan Lake, a review of B.C. wildfire seasons shows the scale of destruction in recent years and the losses already reported in 2026.
A fierce wildfire has forced thousands of residents from Summerland and Peachland along Okanagan Lake, while it remains unclear whether homes have been lost in the latest blaze.
The fire comes during an early and destructive B.C. wildfire season. Hundreds of homes have already been lost in separate fires, according to a review by The Canadian Press.
The province’s most destructive recent season was 2023, when 28,962 square kilometres burned, about 400 homes were destroyed and six firefighters died. The Insurance Bureau of Canada called it the costliest insured event in B.C. history at the time.
In 2018, 13,543 square kilometres burned and as many as 140 structures, including 50 homes, were destroyed. More than 500 structures were lost in 2017, including 299 homes. In 2025, more than 450 homes were lost in the Shuswap and Okanagan regions.
So far in 2026, 3,447 square kilometres have burned. Fires in the Cariboo and on the Okanagan Indian Band reserve have destroyed 350 buildings, most of them homes, and officials expect the season to continue into September.