Evacuation alert issued as out of control fire burns in southern B.C.

KAMLOOPS — The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has issued an evacuation alert for properties in a community west of Princeton, B.C., due to an out of control wildfire.

The BC Wildfire Service says the so-called Grasshopper Mountain fire is about 57 hectares in size and is believed to be human caused.

It is one of two fires currently classified as burning out of control on the service’s website — a designation that means the blaze is spreading or is anticipated to spread beyond its current perimeter.

The second fire under that banner was discovered Wednesday, is believed to be human-caused and is burning along Highway 97 in the Cariboo region, north of the Village of Clinton.

That update comes after wildfire fighters got their first test of the season on Tuesday with a blaze near West Kelowna that had temporarily forced about 350 people out of their homes.

The Kalamoir Park wildfire was downgraded to “being held” on Tuesday afternoon and the Central Okanagan regional emergency management centre downgraded the evacuation order a few hours later, allowing people to return home.

That blaze was listed Wednesday as being eight hectares in size as of Wednesday and the BC Wildfire Service says 26 firefighting personnel are responding to the fire.

Neal McLoughlin, superintendent for predictive services, told a Tuesday news conference that current drought patterns are worse compared with those recorded at the same time of year in the historic fire seasons of 2017, 2018 and 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2026.