RCMP are investigating the cause of the deadly wildfire that forced 20,000 to evacuate as it roared towards the Okanagan community of Summerland in British Columbia’s Interior, while saying they also want to stamp out “misinformation” about how the fire started.
Widely circulated social media videos show someone lighting a bear-banger device, and they are blamed for the fire, but police say the incident occurred kilometres for where the Bald Range blaze started last Friday and the person was interviewed by police as a witness and not a suspect.
“The public is cautioned against making false statements and to stop the continuation of misinformation on social media,” police said in a statement on Monday.
Cause of fire remains under investigation
Investigators are looking into “all reports of suspicious activity which may have led to the start of the fire.”
Police want to speak to witnesses who may have seen something around Princeton-Summerland Road and Bathville Road, near the Crump and Trout Creek recreation sites.
They say that they want dashcam footage, videos, photos and information from the afternoon of Aug. 7, when the BC Wildfire Service says the fire started.
Police say an 80-year-old woman died as she tried to evacuate her Meadow Valley home, west of Summerland on the shores of Okanagan Lake over the weekend.
About 10,000 homes are under evacuation order in Summerland, Peachland in the regional districts of Okanagan-Similkameen and Central Okanagan, and on Penticton Indian Band lands, while more than 3,200 homes are subject to lower-level evacuation alerts that stretch north past Peachland to Highway 97C, and south past Penticton along the city’s western outskirts.
Thousands remain under evacuation orders
The B.C. government said in a statement Monday that it has booked more than 1,000 hotel rooms in Penticton, Kelowna and West Kelowna to accommodate evacuees, while also setting up more than 1,000 beds for group lodging.
The City of Penticton has also set up an emergency donation centre to collect much-needed items for evacuees, which include diapers, baby formula, hygiene products, clothing, pet food and gift cards.
Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said there was “false information floating out there” about the cause of the fire, which the wildfire service says is undetermined.
RCMP in Salmon Arm, about 160 kilometres north of Summerland, said Monday they have arrested a suspect alleged to have deliberately set a fire on Saturday along the Trans-Canada Highway.
Bushes and trees were on fire and a business was threatened, but police said that officers and bystanders helped put out the flames.
Police said they realized the fire was deliberately set and arrested a suspect the next day, although no charges have been laid.
The Bald Range fire continues to burn out of control on the western shores of Okanagan Lake, spanning about 156 square kilometres on Monday, up from an estimated 136 square kilometres the day before.
Clearer conditions were expected Monday, helping with visibility for aerial suppression efforts. But the direct sun could contribute to increased fire behaviour, the BC Wildfire Service said in an update.
The B.C. government issued a ban Monday for off-road vehicles on Crown land in the Kamloops and Southeast fire centres, as well as parts of the Cariboo and Coastal centres, the areas where most of the fires are burning in the province.
Parmar said violators could face fines of up to $1,100, and the Natural Resource Officer Service with the Ministry of Environment and Parks has been tasked with enforcing the ban. They “will not hesitate” to issue fines, he said.
The temporary ban covers all-terrain vehicles, off-road side-by-sides and motorcycles. It does not apply to private lands or national parks, while emergency responders along with agricultural and commercial users are exempt when operating off-road vehicles for emergency, farming or business purposes.
Fire continues to spread
While the B.C. government has not costed the wildfire fight or what comes next, Parmar said it would spend what it needs “to respond to wildfires and keep people safe.”
What comes next is unclear, even as federal government pledges help for evacuees amid a provincial state of emergency.
Brian Callow wanted to stay at his property outside Summerland to protect his home and mushroom farm from the oncoming inferno late Friday. But it became unsafe, with embers flying, and he needed to get his dog out after his wife and two young children had already fled.
Callow’s home was spared, but the fire would destroy “every single building” on the farm itself, he said in an interview on Monday.
“My business partner Thor Clausen, he lost his home, lost his shop,” said Callow, who has been building the business, What The Fungus, for 12 years.
While the losses hadn’t fully sunk in, Callow said the task of rebuilding his farm and others destroyed by the fire would be “too big” for the local community alone, and they would need help from higher levels of government.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said the Canadian Armed Forces were on standby to help manage the wildfire situation that deteriorated rapidly over the weekend.
He said the B.C. government sent a request to Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski and she approved federal help with shelter and accommodation.
While B.C. had not formally asked for military assistance in the wildfire emergency, McGuinty said Monday that the Canadian Armed Forces were in “direct, constant contact” with federal and provincial officials.
The military was ready the moment it received a formal request to act, the defence minister said, adding the situation was being assessed “hour by hour.”
Callow said he wanted to rebuild, “but there’s nothing left and I don’t know how we’re going to do it yet,” he said, noting that clearing rubble would be the first step.
Residents begin to assess losses
He said he’d been looking into funding through Ottawa’s agricultural recovery program. “If they can assist farms to get back to functioning, we need it.”
Callow recalled a roaring sound and thick, black smoke rolling over his property as the disaster was unfolding overnight Friday.
He said it was very hot and embers were flying, sparking new flames. “It wasn’t even just a case of the fire kind of moving; it was spreading through the air as well.”
Callow said a friend with a farm down the road went to check on his pigs on Sunday and sent pictures confirming the destruction.
Prime Minister Mark Carney issued his condolences about the death of the woman in Meadow Valley, saying in a social media statement on Monday that the news was “heartbreaking.”
“My thoughts are with her family, loved ones, and everyone in her community,” he said. “Our government will continue to support British Columbia and everyone affected by this summer’s wildfires in the days and weeks ahead.”
The B.C. wildfire fight continues on other fronts, too.
In the Cariboo, there was progress on the massive Pear Lake fire, about 10 times the size of the Summerland fire at 1,468 square kilometres.
The wildfire service said the blaze was expected to be less active, with increased humidity, lower temperatures and some rain in the forecast.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District downgraded evacuation orders for the communities of south Green Lake, 70 Mile House and Hutchinson Lake, moving more than 670 properties to an evacuation alert because of that fire.
But forest fuels continue to drive the flames, the wildfire service said.
“After a week of hot, dry weather, fuels are highly receptive and the fire continues to spread outward wherever there is fuel to carry it.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2026.
— With files from Brieanna Charlebois and Chuck Chiang in Vancouver and Wolfgang Depner in Victoria