The Bald Range wildfire, that has forced 20,000 people out of their homes in the south Okanagan region, burns in Summerland, B.C., late on Aug. 8, 2026. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
The Canadian Armed Forces are on standby to help the wildfire situation that deteriorated rapidly over the weekend in British Columbia’s Okanagan region, where one person has died, thousands have been evacuated and there’s been extensive property destruction.
Defence Minister David McGuinty says B.C. sent a request for assistance to Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski over the weekend, and she approved federal help with shelter and accommodation.
McGuinty says that while the province hasn’t formally asked for military help, the Canadian Armed Forces are in “direct, constant contact” with the B.C. government and Ottawa.
He says the military is ready the moment it receives a formal request to act, and the situation was being assessed “hour by hour.”
Areas around Okanagan Lake have been devastated by the Bald Range wildfire that roared into the outskirts of Summerland on the lake’s western shore on Saturday, forcing 20,000 residents to flee.
RCMP say an 80-year-old woman died as she tried to escape her home in Meadow Valley, west of Summerland, while video shows the community of Faulder has been largely incinerated.
Kyla Gaudiuso said she found out her house in Faulder had been destroyed when she received a photo of the ridge where it once stood, completely engulfed in flames.
Gaudiuso said Sunday that she had not received official confirmation, but the photo left her certain her home was gone, where the village of around 215 residents was reduced to smouldering ruins.
The British Columbia government on Saturday declared a provincial state of emergency and said property losses were significant, though details are scant.
Gaudiuso described the chaotic scene that unfolded as residents learned of the encroaching fire and the community began to evacuate, calling it “pandemonium.”
She said she was able to get to safety and is now staying at a friend’s house in Penticton, but hopes the blaze is contained soon so she can see the destruction for herself.
“I would love to just see like a picture or know for sure like what’s left on our property because I’m kind of one of those people, it doesn’t really seem real,” Gaudiuso said in an interview. “I have to see it to believe it.”
The BC Wildfire Service said late Sunday that the fire was about 136 square kilometres as it burned out of control on the outskirts of Summerland, a community of 12,000 people that has been evacuated.
About 10,000 homes are under evacuation order in Summerland, Peachland, the regional districts of Okanagan-Similkameen and Central Okanagan, and on Penticton Indian Band lands.
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.
The wildfire service said crews had seen fire behaviour increase in the evening to Rank 4, meaning a highly vigorous surface fire, after lower activity in the day.
“A key focus remains the drainage between Fish Lake and Garnet Valley where crews are working to limit further fire growth and reduce impacts to structures,” it said in an update, referring to areas northwest of Summerland.
