kelowna fire tourism

Travel ban in parts of B.C. disrupting tourism as raging wildfires burn

David Eby says the decision was made to ensure accommodation is available for crews and the 30,000 or more people who were forced from their homes across B.C.

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KELOWNA — The central Okanagan is facing weeks without tourism during its peak season after British Columbia’s premier imposed bans on travel to wildfire zones.

Travel ban in parts of B.C. disrupting tourism as raging wildfires burn Back to video

Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., says the travel restrictions mean many tourism operators in the region are “taking a hit,” though it’s too early to quantify the damages.

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“If you look at the entire 12 months of the year, August is typically the busiest month for visitors,” he said.

The ban, which was introduced Saturday under the provincial state of emergency, will be in place until Sept. 4 for hotels, motels, inns, bed and breakfasts, hostels, RV parks and campgrounds in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon.

Premier David Eby has said the decision was made to ensure accommodation is available for crews and the 30,000 people who were forced from their homes across B.C.

Realtor Raymun Khunkhun, who has lived in Kelowna for about three decades, said the ban has left streets usually teeming with visitors eerily bare.

“There’s not a lot of people walking around,” he said in an interview Saturday.

“It’s almost like a ghost town now out here.”

Nearby wildfires have forced the evacuation of thousands in the city and watercraft rental businesses to close their doors, leaving boats and personal watercraft sitting idle, bobbing on the water.

The Kelowna International Airport has also been cancelling flights since Friday to ensure aerial firefighting efforts go uninterrupted.

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Khunkhun said there’s not much that can be done now other than “pray for better days.”

“These streets are usually packed, like it’s hard single-file walking when you’re on the sidewalks, and now it’s almost a little scary that it’s just empty,” he said.

“Hopefully this doesn’t turn into anything worse than it already is.”

Lisanne Ballantyne, CEO of Tourism Kelowna, said in a statement Sunday that the ban will impact the tourism sector, but the current focus remains on the wildfire response effort.

She encouraged people to listen to evacuation orders and avoid impeding firefighting efforts.

“When able, we will move forward to recovery planning,” she said. “We have faced challenging situations before, and while none are the same, we will work through this together, rebuild and also focus on long-term resiliency.”

Judas agreed, adding the ban comes at a time when businesses were already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastating floods in 2021, and were finally expecting to bounce back.

“Many businesses are still not fully up to speed and operational after COVID. Many are still carrying a lot of debt and don’t have a full complement of staff,” he said. “The industry is taking a big hit once again.”

He added that projections showed the tourism industry’s revenue was on track to be comparable with the 2019 season.

“To what degree this will affect overall tourism revenues is difficult to say,” he said.

In the meantime, Judas said the focus should remain on protecting guests, residents, the community and businesses.

The province said the travel ban does not impact other regions, but is asking people to avoid non-essential travel to the central Interior and southeast to keep roads clear for emergency-response operations and other potential evacuations.

A look at the number of wildfires and evacuations in B.C.

Size of Bush Creek East fire on west side of Adams Lake: 410 square kilometres

Size of McDougall Creek fire in West Kelowna: 110 square kilometres

Size of Kookipi Creek fire near Lytton: 105 square kilometres

Estimated total number of people under evacuation orders: 30,000 or more

Estimated number of people under evacuation alerts: 36,000

Number of firefighters working in West Kelowna: 500

Population of West Kelowna: approximately 38,000 people

Number of central Okanagan properties ordered to evacuate: about 10,700

Number of central Okanagan properties on evacuation alert: about 9,500

Number of structures damaged or destroyed: “Significant”

Number of wildfires burning in B.C.: 382

Number of B.C. wildfires considered “of note” because they are highly visible or threatening public safety: 14

— with files from Darryl Greer in Kelowna

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Kelowna resort hopes for tourism rebound after destructive 2023 season

By Raynaldo Suarez

Posted June 10, 2024 5:36 pm.

Last Updated June 10, 2024 6:38 pm.

Kelowna’s tourism industry is looking forward to welcoming visitors this summer, after a brutal wildfire season in 2023.

The start to the wildfire season has been less intense this year. According to the BC Wildfire Service, between April 1 and June 8 of this year, the province recorded 201 wildfire starts compared to 393 starts over the same period in 2023.

Brent Lavery, general manager of Cove Lakeside Resort Kelowna, is among those hoping for a tourism rebound. He says the people who make up the tourism industry are “eternal optimists.”

Lavery tells CityNews the Cove Lakeside Resort has already seen a great start to the spring and hopes that trend will continue into the peak wildfire months ahead.

“Our May and June numbers are 10 per cent above our booking pace last year. And what I can tell you is, in July, we’re actually 20 per cent up in our booking pace,” Lavery said.

He says, so far, bookings for August are looking flat. He says those numbers suggest that, as keen as people are to visit the Okanagan, maybe they are just waiting a bit longer to see what the situation is like later in the summer.  “The Okanagan is spectacular; the wineries are very, very good. So all of those things, we believe, are going to bring people back. We are optimistic and we think everyone is going to come back and we’re going to have a strong July and August.”

Tourism Kelowna says during the first months of this year, industry indicators, including hotel occupancy, were strong and slightly ahead year-over-year.

“We are hopeful and expect that will carry on as strong travel levels over the summer and fall months,” it said in a statement.

Last August, many resorts and hotels became a haven for evacuees fleeing from brutal wildfire conditions across B.C. and the Central Okanagan.

He says the Cove Lakeside Resort housed some of the people who had been forced from their homes, adding virtually every hotel in the area was prepared to assist as well.

The province is working with the BC Hotel Association on “a placement program” for this coming summer, should the wildfire season ramp up and pose an additional risk to the industry.

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British Columbia Wildfire in Photos: ‘A Long-Lasting Scar’

Fire is raging in the suburban fringes of the resort town of Kelowna, British Columbia, as a state of emergency across the province continued.

The McDougall Creek fire approached houses in West Kelowna, British Columbia, on Friday. Thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate the area due to the fire, one of several burning in the west and north of Canada. Credit... Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press

Supported by

By Ian Austen

Reporting from Ottawa

• Aug. 19, 2023

The fire-ravaged Canadian province of British Columbia was under a state of emergency for a second day, as a wildfire in and around the resort city of Kelowna continued to consume houses.

Firefighters said on Saturday that a drop in wind was aiding their efforts to control the blaze, but that the flames and embers continued to blow toward the city.

The fire is one of two in Canada that have led thousands to evacuate their homes in the last week. Hundreds of miles away from Kelowna, a wildfire converging on the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, prompted officials to order a mass evacuation of the entire city.

Officials said Saturday that the fire remained stalled a few miles from Yellowknife, a welcome reprieve, though the danger remained serious and imminent.

Rebecca Alty, the mayor of Yellowknife, a city of about 20,000, said an estimated 1,600 residents were defying evacuation orders and remained in the city.

“The fire is approaching,” she told the holdouts in an appeal aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “We’re working hard to stop it, but let’s not get into a situation where we have to do an emergency evacuation.”

Firefighters battling the fire near Kelowna, which has a metropolitan population of about 200,000, said the fire danger was somewhat alleviated.

Jerrad Schroeder, deputy chief of the provincial wildfire service’s center for the region that includes Kelowna, said that overnight the fire had fallen to an intensity rating of two or three on a scale that runs up to six.

“It’s a good firefighting day,” he said.

“Last night we had a reprieve,” Jason Brolund, chief of the fire service in West Kelowna, the suburban community most ravaged by the flames, told reporters. Nevertheless, he said that 127 firefighters using 41 fire trucks were still dealing with multiple house fires on Saturday and that no end to the blaze was in sight.

“It’s become evident that this event is going to leave a long-lasting scar,” he said.

David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, said the province has used emergency powers to ban nonessential travel to the region around Kelowna, which is best known for its wineries and popular lakes, in a bid to free up hotel rooms and other accommodations for evacuees and emergency personnel including firefighters.

“We shouldn’t need an order; please stay out of these places,” he told reporters in Vancouver.

As of Saturday afternoon, about 30,000 people in the province were under evacuation orders and 36,000 more were told to prepare to leave.

The airport at Kelowna remained closed for a second day to free airspace for water bombers as well as for police and wildfire fighting helicopters. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that drones have illegally flown into fire zones, sometimes forcing helicopters to withdraw, and that police boats have needed to chase sightseeing motorboats off portions of Okanagan Lake where water bombers are swooping in to refill.

Several fire officials said on Saturday that their forces were too busy to tally the number of homes destroyed in the Kelowna area, but they suggested that the number would be large.

“We will start counting the number of houses as soon as we stop fighting the fires,” Chief Brolund said.

On Saturday evening, officials from the Northwest Territories said that a variety of factors, including some light rain, had stalled the fire about 15 kilometers, just over nine miles, from Yellowknife’s city limits.

“It’s good to have another day where it’s sitting at 15 kilometers up in the northwest,” Mike Westwick, the territory’s wildfire information officer, said at an online news conference.

That allowed crews to build a fire barrier that includes sprinklers and water cannons fed by a hastily constructed pipeline.

The stalling of the fire front, he said, also allowed firefighters on the ground to be directly attacking portions of it.

But Mr. Westwick cautioned that the current reprieve did not mean that the territorial capital was out of danger, particularly given forecasts of rising temperatures.

“This fire’s taken a nap,” he said. “It’s going to wake up, and we’ve got a serious situation.”

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto and currently lives in Ottawa. He has reported for The Times about Canada for more than a decade. More about Ian Austen

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Canadian tourism industry puts on a brave face as fires ignite

Canada's tourism industry is trying to put on its Sunday best this week, showcasing itself to more than 500 international travel agents and tour operators at the largest annual tourism convention in Canada.

But as Rendez-vous Canada is taking place at the Edmonton Convention Centre , one of the biggest challenges Canada's tourism industry is facing is playing out in technicolour just a few hundred kilometres away: wildfires .

"Climate change is an essential threat to Canadian tourism , to their reputation and that's what we're seeing," said federal Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada .

Get daily news from Canada's National Observer

Hot, dry weather in Western Canada, exacerbated by climate change , sparked a massive fire last week southwest of Fort McMurray. This week it is forcing more than 6,000 people from their homes.

Some of them are the same residents whose houses were razed by a major wildfire in the same city just eight years ago.

In 2023, Canada recorded its worst wildfire season ever, with more than 6,400 fires burning more than 150,000 square kilometres in almost every province and territory.

This season started out a little slower, but turned quickly over the weekend with major out-of-control fires forcing evacuations and threatening cities and towns in both British Columbia and Alberta.

Beth Potter, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said the direct impact of wildfires is hard enough.

But making matters worse is the fact that many people around the world see headlines about Canada being on fire, she said, then think nowhere in the country is safe to visit.

'The whole country is not on fire': Canadian tourism industry struggles as fires rage. #RVC2024 #CanadianTourism #TourismIndustry #Wildfires

"There are fires right now in northern parts of Alberta and British Columbia, but that doesn't mean that all of Canada stops welcoming visitors from around the world," she said.

"The biggest challenge we had actually (last year) was how big the fires are by comparison to how big our country is. People are...not understanding how big Canada is and that the whole country is not on fire."

Last summer, tourism operators in southwestern Ontario told her about cancellations due to fires largely more than 3,500 kilometres away in B.C., she said.

As fires ravaged parts of eight provinces in June 2023, Destination Canada commissioned a survey of Americans. It found among those who were likely to take a trip to Canada in the next six months, more than half were rethinking their plans.

Two-thirds of Americans planning a trip to Canada said the fires would have at least some impact on their plans, and almost 40 per cent said the fires would have a "large impact."

Americans account for about two-thirds of international visitors to Canada.

Martinez Ferrada said sometimes the solution is to be mindful of what is being said about Canada in places which typically send a lot of tourists to Canada. Last summer, for instance, she said Germany issued a travel advisory warning its citizens against travel to Canada, and B.C. in particular, because of the wildfires.

One option is to reach out to Germany and say "you know Canada is big, maybe you can be more specific," she said.

"When you think about Europe, Canada is four times (the size of) Europe. So you wouldn't put an ad for the whole of Europe, right?"

The concerns reach beyond just fires. Warmer winters are harming cold-season tourism as well. The famous Rideau Canal stayed closed in 2023, and barely opened at all this year, because it was too warm. The ice hotel in Quebec City, a unique draw for tourism, was melting, said Martinez Ferrada.

Potter said the changing weather patterns have made some travellers more careful about booking, and many delay their bookings until they are certain things will be fine weather-wise. She said that makes it hard for operators to plan staffing.

On top of all that, some operators have also been finding insurance more expensive — if they can even secure it — as the risks from severe weather force the insurance industry to rethink costs.

Craig Stewart, vice-president of climate change and federal issues for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said major international reinsurers, who backstop many Canadian insurance policies, have recalculated the risk profile for Canada following several major weather catastrophes.

That raised insurance costs for some, while others couldn't get insurance at all.

Stewart said the insurance bureau created an internal task force to help companies that can't find insurance track down a solution, and since 2020 more than 3,100 businesses have reached out for help. Many of them are tourism-related including hotels, restaurants, heritage properties, and tourist resorts.

Martinez Ferrada said the issue is the main topic of conversation among tourism ministers and it's a problem that has no miracle cure.

"It's not an instant switch," she said. "We need to just work at it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2024.

• Reporter with the Canadian Press

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Kelowna wildfires: Cooler weather brings hope as firefighters make progress

• Published 22 August 2023

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Watch: Drone footage shows town incinerated by wildfires

Wildfires raging across Canada's British Columbia have shown some signs of easing, but blazes from hundreds more have driven out more than 30,000 people from their homes.

Officials said firefighters have made some progress aided by cooler weather but the "battle is not over".

The government is deploying military to help with evacuations in the province.

Smoke blanketing southern British Columbia and Washington state in the US has also prompted air quality warnings.

No deaths have yet been reported in Canada, but officials say some firefighters are continuing to work even after discovering that they have lost their homes to the fires.

West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said on Monday that firefighters have now entered the Upper Bear Creek Road neighbourhood, an area where wildfire burned the hottest.

"What they found was that a hurricane had passed through. Trees were ripped out by their roots, and the force it takes to do that is incredible," he told reporters.

"Our biggest challenge has been air quality," he added. "It is choking."

The lack of visibility due to smoke has made assessing the damages difficult, officials say.

He said that about 50 structures have burned in West Kelowna, but that the most damaged areas have yet to be surveyed.

The air around Kelowna was still hazy and the smell of smoke was still present, said the BBC's Wyre Davies who arrived there on Monday night.

Kelowna fire chief Travis Whiting said that his team of 500 or so firefighters have made significant progress over the last four days, with the help of cooler and calmer weather.

"Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead," Mr Whiting warned on Sunday.

As of Sunday afternoon, the fire covered an area of 410 square kilometres (101,300 acres).

British Columbia remains under a state of emergency, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday that the military will be deployed to the province to help with evacuations.

Officials have also restricted non-essential travel to Kelowna and its surrounding areas - a popular destination for tourists in the summer. Officials have praised tourists who have left, vacating hotel rooms for displaced local residents.

While it is not known yet how many homes and structures have been lost, officials said the damage is "significant", with both the communities of Scotch Creek and Celista near Shuswap Lake devastated by the wildfire.

The numbers behind Canada’s worst wildfires season

The fire department in Scotch Creek was among the buildings that were destroyed.

Homes and properties in West Kelowna have also been scorched, including the historic Lake Okanagan Resort.

A 50-person urban search-and-rescue team, dubbed Canada Task Force 1, has been deployed to Kelowna to help assess the damage, officials said. The team includes fire and rescue personnel, as well as police officers, engineers and doctors.

"Canadians from coast to coast to coast are watching in horror the images of apocalyptic devastation and fires going on in communities that so many of us know and so many of us have friends in," Mr Trudeau said on Monday.

Wildfire evacuees frustrated by Facebook news ban

Honey Williams August told the CBC , external that she lost her two cats, along with her home and garden near Little Shuswap Lake.

"It's going to be hard to go back and see a black earth instead of a green earth," Ms August said.

Smoke blanketing much of southern British Columbia has prompted air quality advisories, with regions like the Eastern Fraser Valley and the Central Okanagan classified as "very high risk" on Monday morning by Environment Canada.

Wildfires continue to rage across Canada, with 1,037 fires burning as of Monday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC). Around 650 of those are considered out of control.

Fires burning further south in the US state of Washington have triggered a state of emergency and blanketed the region in smoke. Over 185 structures have burned, and two people have died, officials say. No details have been provided for the people that died.

Blazes are also raging in the Northwest Territories with thousands still displaced, though a wildfire threatening the territory's largest city Yellowknife has stalled at 15 km (9 miles) from the city's boundary over the weekend.

Officials fear that hot weather in the forecast could ramp up danger going into the weekend.

Last week, fires incinerated the small hamlet of Enterprise in the Northwest Territories.

Although no deaths have been reported in the latest Canadian fires, at least four firefighters have lost their lives during this wildfire season.

Experts say climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.

Extreme and long-lasting heat draws more and more moisture out of the ground - which can provide fuel for fires that can spread at an incredible speed, particularly if winds are strong.

WATCH: Canada wildfires: The past 48 hours in 75 seconds

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More on this story

• Published 18 August 2023

Massive Canada wildfires merge, threatening more homes

• Published 20 August 2023

Canada wildfires: The past 48 hours in 75 seconds. Video, 00:01:16 Canada wildfires: The past 48 hours in 75 seconds

• Published 19 August 2023

'We are an army out there': Crews from across B.C. tackling Okanagan wildfires after weather 'reprieve'

Evacuation alerts expanded on both sides of Okanagan Lake overnight, but there were no new orders for Kelowna or West Kelowna residents to flee the flames of encroaching wildfires.

At a news conference Saturday morning, West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund described the night as a "reprieve," but added that he was hesitant to use that term, since crews still had multiple structure fires to deal with simultaneously, which is a massive workload for his crews under normal circumstances.

"It's become evident that this event is going to leave a long, lasting scar on this community," Brolund said, noting that "multiple structures" were lost again Friday.

The fire chief said he knows residents have two key questions about the fire, but said he doesn't have answers to them yet.

On the question of when residents will be able to return to their homes, he said he doesn't know, but it's not yet safe to do so.

As for how many homes have been destroyed, Brolund said that question can't be answered yet either.

"We will start counting the number of houses that are burned when we stop fighting the fires that are burning," he said, adding that he and many of his firefighters are among those whose properties are currently subject to evacuation orders.

COLD FRONT PASSED

Jerrad Schroeder of the BC Wildfire Service said Saturday morning that the cold front that led to high winds and massive growth of wildfires on both sides of Okanagan Lake had passed, but crews were "still expecting difficult days ahead."

"The winds were quiet through the night," said Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas in an interview with CTV News Channel Saturday.

"We are concerned that, potentially, the winds may come up a little bit again this afternoon."

As of Saturday morning, the last new evacuation order issued in the Central Okanagan Regional District was for residents of the Smith Creek subdivision in West Kelowna around 9:20 p.m. Friday.

After that time, several additional evacuation alerts were issued, including for the Shannon Lake area and Smith Creek agricultural area to Powers Creek (Glen Canyon) and the North Glenrosa neighbourhood in West Kelowna, as well as for Kelowna's Glenmore Highlands.

Thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and thousands more under alerts Saturday. Residents can view the latest evacuation details on the CORD's interactive map, which is embedded below. A full-screen version can be found here . 

WEST KELOWNA WATER ISSUES

Both Brolund and Kelowna Fire Chief Travis Whiting thanked firefighting colleagues from around the province who have been sending resources to help out in the Okanagan region.

"Today on the ground, we are an army out there," Brolund said. "We have 127 structural firefighters working the day shifts today. There are 41 fire trucks, and they were all parked in front of my office this morning."

He said the fire passed over West Kelowna's $75-million under-construction water treatment plant Friday night, but firefighters were able to save the structure from damage.

"It's a piece of critical infrastructure," Brolund said. "It's going to make an immense difference to our community when it gets turned on. And we were not going to let it burn down."

Though the plant was saved, the city's Rose Valley Water System is currently under a "do not consume" order, which Brolund said was necessary due to a water shortage.

"Because of the number of structures that have burned, the water's freely flowing from those structures now, and what's happened is it's depleted the water supply in that area," the fire chief said.

The City of West Kelowna has also implemented stage 4 watering restrictions, which mean no outdoor use of water is allowed, and agricultural users are strongly encouraged to reduce consumption.

STRUCTURE LOSS ACROSS COMMUNITIES

Officials from Kelowna, West Kelowna and Lake Country all acknowledged the loss of buildings in their communities as a result of the ongoing wildfires, though none were yet able to provide an estimate of how many structures had been destroyed.

Images and videos posted on social media suggest the toll is significant.

The McDougall Creek wildfire sparked northwest of West Kelowna on Tuesday, but it was the gusting wind that followed a week-long heat wave that drove its substantial growth on Thursday and Friday .  

Additional fires sparked across the lake in the City of Kelowna Thursday night and Friday morning, prompting the evacuations there.

Wildfire officials said Friday that they couldn't say with certainty whether the McDougall Creek blaze had jumped the lake or the fires on the east side of the lake – including flames threatening homes in the Lake Country area – were separate.

Either way, images from the region capture devastation reminiscent of the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire , which destroyed more than 200 homes and forced 27,000 to evacuate. 

Across B.C., the number of people ordered to flee their homes rose dramatically on Friday – more than tripling from 4,500 to more than 15,000 over just an hour or so – prompting Premier David Eby to declare a province-wide state of emergency .  

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Stay Connected

Thousands ordered to evacuate as wildfire threatens Kelowna, West Kelowna

States of emergency declared in both cities and First Nation due to 'unpredictable' McDougall Creek fire

Visit The Weather Network's wildfire hub to keep up with the latest on the unprecedented wildfire season across Canada.

Thousands of people have been forced from their homes in B.C.'s Okanagan, with evacuation orders issued after a wildfire jumped Lake Okanagan, sparking spot wildfires in Kelowna.

Early Friday morning, evacuation orders were issued for residents of the Clifton Road North and McKinley area of Kelowna, which is north of the downtown, due to the McDougall Creek wildfire.

A state of emergency has been declared by the City of Kelowna, which has a population of almost 150,000.

The City of West Kelowna and the Westbank First Nation also declared a local state of emergency Thursday night due to that same wildfire.

More than 2,400 properties are under evacuation orders, with another 4,800 properties under alert. West Kelowna has a population of 36,000.

The Central Okanagan emergency operations website said early Friday that "officials have confirmed some structural loss" in West Kelowna and Regional District of Central Okanagan West areas. A full assessment will be done in the morning, it said.

WATCH: Fire chief warns of 'dramatic' night Thursday as Kelowna fires approach city

RELATED: Essential items for your emergency "grab-and-go" kit

Jason Brolund, chief of the West Kelowna fire department, said the evacuation order area was likely to grow Thursday night.

Earlier that day, Brolund had warned that drought conditions, a dry landscape and high winds meant conditions could worsen at a moment's notice.

"It will take literally nothing to get a fire started," he said.

A look at the radar from Silver Star Mountain Friday morning (The Weather Network)

Evacuees asked to seek shelter with friends, family

Due to the high number of properties under evacuation orders and alerts, residents are being directed to an interactive map to search by address to find out how individual homes and businesses are impacted.

Evacuees are being asked to register online .

For those in Kelowna, a reception centre has been set up at the Salvation Army at 1480 Sutherland Drive.

People in downtown Kelowna watch as the McDougall Creek wildfire burns in West Kelowna, B.C., on Aug. 17, 2023. (Winston Szeto/CBC)

RELATED: Airspace over Kelowna International Airport closed as crews battle wildfires

Evacuees from West Kelowna who live south of Traders Cove can go to the Information Centre at Royal LePage Place at 2760 Cameron Road . For those who live north of Traders Cove, a reception centre for evacuees has been opened at Kal Tire Place at 3445 43rd Ave in Vernon, located around 60 kilometres north of West Kelowna.

A public information line is also available at 250-469-8490 or 1-877-569-8490.

RELATED: 'Crisis situation': N.W.T. declares territorial state of emergency over fires

The regional district is also asking evacuees to reach out to friends and family as hotels, motels and other tourism operators in the area are at capacity.

Everyone covered by an evacuation alert is asked to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice as the province is facing a highly volatile wildfire situation.

WATCH: What to include in your 'grab-and-go' box

Highway 1 closed, more orders issued.

DriveBC said Thursday that wildfire activity has closed a stretch of Highway 1 in both directions between Hope and Lytton, the community 260 kilometres northeast of Vancouver that was devastated by fire in 2021.

The closure will remain in place until at least Friday morning.

Highway 97 is closed through Kelowna and West Kelowna for a stretch of more than 60 kilometres between the communities of Coldstream and Peachland because of the wildfires.

The Lytton First Nation issued an evacuation order Thursday afternoon due to the Stein Mountain fire. The order covers the Nkaih Indian Reserve No. 10 and Lytton Indian Reserve 9A.

Other evacuation orders were also issued Thursday evening, including for 40 properties south of Kamloops and for residents of the the Ulkatcho First Nation near Anahim Lake.

A list of all evacuation orders and alerts is posted online by Emergency Info B.C.

A critical 48 hours

At a press conference Thursday morning, provincial officials warned the province is headed into the most critical portion of the wildfire season so far.

Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma and Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston were among those who addressed the ongoing wildfire, drought and heat conditions before a cold-weather front was expected to bring strong winds and lightning for virtually the entire province.

"This weather event has the potential to be the most challenging 24 to 48 hours of the summer from a fire perspective," said Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations for the BCWS.

"We are expecting significant growth, and we are expecting our resources to be challenged from north to south of the province over the next 48 hours."

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 16,000 square kilometres of land has burned in B.C. — the most recorded land burned in the province's history.

People across B.C. should be prepared to leave their homes

Neal McLoughlin, a BCWS forecaster, warns that people across the province, particularly in the southern and Interior regions, should be prepared to leave their homes.

In a video released by the provincial firefighting agency on Wednesday, McLoughlin says record-high temperatures earlier this week — with some places reaching highs above 40 C — combined with predicted high winds and dry lightning for Thursday through Friday have turned much of the province into a tinderbox, meaning new fires could start and spread very easily.

"You're probably noticing your lawn is starting to show signs of fall. It's turning brown, and you may also be seeing early signs of deciduous trees turning yellow," he said.

"These plants are experiencing extreme drought conditions and are available to burn more than it typically would be this time of year."

Follow evacuation orders: minister

Ma reiterated the importance of residents being prepared with grab-and-go kits so they can leave their homes quickly should an evacuation order come.

"We are urging people to stay calm, to be alert and to be prepared," she said.

"An evacuation order is not the time to wait and see, especially not under the conditions that are being forecasted."

Environment Canada had issued special weather statements covering much of the province's Interior, including the Cariboo, Chilcotin, Okanagan, Thompson-Nicola and Kootenays for a cold front moving into the province, bringing with it an unstable atmosphere and gusty conditions.

Wind gusts of up to 70 km/h, along with dry lightning and continued heat, could contribute to more or worsening wildfires, the agency warned, with drought-stricken trees more likely to burn and blow over.

Under these conditions, a large fire could "quickly change directions," McLoughlin says, "with the flank of the fire quickly becoming the head, and we could have a large fire growing quite quickly across the landscape."

WATCH: Wildfires light up hills around Kelowna, B.C. during intense situation

Other orders, alerts.

Meanwhile, the Crater Creek wildfire southwest of Keremeos continues to burn over an area of 100 square kilometres.

It led to the evacuation of more than 100 people in the southern Interior community near the U.S. border. Nineteen properties remain on evacuation order due to the fire, and 189 are on evacuation alert.

Around 1,000 properties in the Kootenays are also on evacuation alert due to several fires burning near the communities of Panorama, Radium Hot Springs and Sparwood.

DON'T MISS: Best practices to keep yourself safe from wildfire smoke

They include the Horsethief Creek wildfire burning about 10 kilometres west of Invermere, a fire of note that is currently almost 40 square kilometres.

The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District has also expanded evacuation alerts due to the Lower East Adams Lake wildfire northeast of Kamloops.

The BCWS says it was close to lifting evacuation orders covering more than 200 properties around Gun Lake, north of Pemberton, where the 26-square-kilometre Downton Lake fire has destroyed three properties, but those plans have been stalled because of the incoming wind and potential lightning.

As of Thursday, 372 active wildfires were burning in B.C., with 14 of those being wildfires of note — meaning they are particularly visible or threatening to properties.

Chapman said there are 3,400 firefighters deployed across the province, with dozens from other jurisdictions such as Mexico and Costa Rica.

B.C. taking patients from N.W.T.

Both Ma and Ralston acknowledged the devastation wildfires are having in the Northwest Territories, with Yellowknife under an evacuation order. They said B.C. was standing with the N.W.T. and would be receiving 55 hospital and care home patients from there.

But officials said because of the convergence of a heat wave, drought and already dry conditions in B.C. combined with a threatening weather event, the province would not be able to send any firefighters to the territory at this time.

"There is a strong likelihood of new fire starts that will grow quickly and unpredictably in the coming days," said Ralston about B.C.

Evacuation centres have been set up throughout the province to assist anyone evacuating from a community under threat from a wildfire.

To find the centre closest to you, visit the EmergencyInfoBC website.

Evacuees are encouraged to register with Emergency Support Services online, whether or not they access services at an evacuation centre.

Thumbnail courtesy of Jaclyn Whittal.

This article was originally written for CBC News .

WATCH: Wildfires in Northwest Territories force unprecedented rescue operation

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Canada wildfires: thousands told to flee in British Columbia, as drone-flying tourists criticised

Minister says it is a matter of life and death for residents near city of Kelowna, as drone operators warned against ‘irresponsible’ activity in fire areas

Officials in the Canadian province of British Columbia have implored tens of thousands of residents to heed warnings and evacuate from areas threatened by “severe and fast-changing” wildfires, and urged “irresponsible” wildfire tourists to stop flying drones in the area.

“We cannot stress strongly enough how critical it is to follow evacuation orders when they are issued,” Bowinn Ma, the province’s minister of emergency management, said on Saturday. “They are a matter of life and death not only for the people in those properties, but also for the first responders who will often go back to try to implore people to leave.”

The situation in large parts of the scenic Okanagan Valley, including the city of Kelowna, was “highly dynamic”, Ma said. About 30,000 people were under evacuation orders while another 36,000 were under alert to be ready to flee, she said.

Wildfire tourists and drone operators were urged to stay away to allow emergency crews to operate safely. “Drones are a significant hazard to our air crews fighting fires,” British Columbia’s minister of forests, Bruce Ralston, said on Saturday. “Now is not the time to take the footage of photos of active wildfires. Not only is it irresponsible, but it is illegal to fly them in fire areas.”

Some tourists have posted their wildfires experiences on social media and there are images of people lining up to see forest fires.

Ralston also asked people to stay clear of lakes that water bombers are using to refill water to douse fires.

When asked about her concerns about “fire sighting”, Ma said: “I don’t know if that’s actually a real term … but what we absolutely cannot have on our roads is people ... take photographs, getting out of their cars, visiting communities where there is high wildfires activities, getting in the way of crews.”

Drones could ground aircraft involved in crucial firefighting missions, Ma said.

Kelowna, a city of 150,000, was choked with thick smoke as it became the latest population center hit in a summer of dramatic wildfires across Canada that has left millions of acres scorched. Some 3,400 workers are involved in firefighting in British Columbia, western Canada.

“The current situation is grim,” the premier, David Eby, told reporters on Saturday.

Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season, with official estimates of more than 14m hectares (34.6m acres) already burned – roughly the size of Greece and almost twice the area of the last record of 7.3m hectares. Four people have died so far.

The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said he had spoken to Eby about the “rapidly evolving and incredibly devastating wildfire situation” and pledged federal resources in responding to the disaster.

Blazes further north in the Northwest Territories, meanwhile, have prompted the evacuation of regional capital Yellowknife, leaving the remote city of some 20,000 largely a ghost town. Its health minister, Julie Green, said on Saturday one of 39 hospital patients evacuated from Stanton territorial hospital had died during the journey on Friday. The death had been “expected”, she said.

Winds have been fanning the wildfires towards Yellowknife, but Saturday saw some relief after overnight rain brought a sharp dip in temperatures.

However, city officials warned the warmer temperatures would return on Sunday. Shane Thompson, the province’s environment minister, said on Saturday evening it was not safe to return to Yellowknife yet because the fires were burning deep in the forest and were still active and huge.

Since the evacuation was ordered on Wednesday, more than 19,000 people have fled by road or air, with about 1,000 essential staff remaining in the area. Firefighting crews were remaining to erect defenses from the flames, while water bombers have been seen flying low over the city, with the Canadian military also helping out.

Tony Whitford, a former commissioner for the Northwest Territories and a longtime resident of Yellowknife, arrived in the city of Calgary on one of the first flights out and gave the evacuation high marks. “My compliments to them all,” Whitford, who is 82 and wheelchair-bound, said of the organizers. “It’s so complex – 20,000 people – it’s incredible. It went smoothly.”

Several towns and Indigenous communities were evacuated earlier. The exodus from Yellowknife means half the population of the near-Arctic territory has been displaced.

The ongoing fires had caused “terrible loss”, Trudeau told reporters after meeting Yellowknife evacuees on Friday as they arrived in Edmonton, Alberta, with no idea when they may return home.

Martha Kanatsiak, who has lived in Yellowknife for 28 years, arrived late on Friday in Calgary. “I’m OK, but I feel sad and depressed and worried. I never saw something like this,” the 59-year-old Inuit retiree told AFP.

Some 40 flights carrying about 3,500 passengers from Yellowknife have arrived in Calgary, said officials in the city, which has made nearly 500 hotel rooms available.

In British Columbia, blazes have already destroyed several properties in West Kelowna. Among them is the Lake Okanagan Resort, according to local media, which is known for having hosted high-profile politicians such as British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Eby on Saturday announced an emergency order halting non-essential visits to the area. The order, which bans visitors from checking in at hotels and other temporary accommodation, covers Kelowna and the nearby towns of Kamloops, Oliver, Penticton and Vernon as well as Osoyoos near the US border.

Ma added: “If you are currently in accommodations in these areas, we are asking you to voluntarily check out early and free up those spaces for evacuees and responders.”

With Agence France-Presse and Reuters

• Canada wildfires
• Natural disasters

Most viewed

Pause in tourism, wildfire smoke add to woes for B.C.’s hard-hit wine industry

This article was published more than 6 months ago. Some information may no longer be current.

The McDougall Creek wildfire burns next to houses in the Okanagan community of West Kelowna, B.C., on Aug. 19. CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters

Smoke from the Kelowna-area wildfire and a brief ban on tourism in the wider Okanagan Valley have dealt another blow to B.C.’s premier wine region, exacerbating its twin crises of climate change and a worsening economy.

Miles Prodan, president and chief executive of Wine Growers British Columbia, the trade organization representing 180 wineries making nearly all the commercial wine in the province, said many of his non-profit’s members were grappling with crop damaged by the brutal 2021 wildfire season and the concurrent heat dome when a historic cold snap last December wiped out up to half the grapes due to be harvested in the coming weeks. Plus, he said, a surge in tourists after pandemic restrictions lifted never materialized, as inflation has led to people slowing their spending and smoke from wildfires makes visitors reticent to return.

Most recently, on Saturday, a ban on tourists using hotels in the Okanagan was introduced amid a provincial state of emergency so that evacuees fleeing the wildfire and first responders could find rooms. The ban was originally slated to last until Labour Day, but was lifted Tuesday afternoon by the province for everywhere except West Kelowna starting Wednesday.

Structural losses from wildfires in West Kelowna area estimated at fewer than 90

Patients in B.C. long-term care homes and NWT hospitals displaced by wildfires

But the travel restriction added volatility during the multibillion-dollar sector’s biggest month of the year, effectively shutting down important revenue streams such as wine tours and destination weddings, according to Mr. Prodan, who supported the ban.

“We probably lost those who were coming out before Labour Day,” he said, adding that crop losses mean “there is concern about being able to make it through a year with only half as much wine.”

Trina Plamondon, a Vancouver-based wine consultant, said the larger players can wait out these bad years, but smaller family wineries will be hurt the most. She said one metric for these struggles is that 40 wineries in the Okanagan are now for sale, when very few were on the market a year ago. Most wineries have tasting rooms or adjacent restaurants to show off their products and make money from tourists, she said.

Facing revenue shortfalls from climate-related crop losses, wine producers have raised prices significantly for consumers and the tour operators that bring hundreds of them to the vineyards, according to Krystina Rossworm, who owns and operates Beach Bum Tours in the District of Lake Country with her husband.

Over the past two years, most wineries have at least doubled the fees they charge each person to book a tasting on their property from up to $5 to up to $15, she said. Plus, customers no longer get that surcharge back if they purchased a bottle, said Ms. Rossworm, whose husband spent last Thursday night rescuing people who had jumped into Okanagan Lake to avoid getting burned to death by the fire. Their company had already lost $25,000 in cancelled bookings last weekend and, she fears, many wineries could go bankrupt this year.

“We are going to be looking at pivoting Beach Bum into something that is no longer wine-tour focused,” said Ms. Rossworm, who had five drivers that needed to be evacuated.

Kate Durisek, executive director of the BC Wine Grape Council, an industry-supported research and education body based in Penticton, said different varietals of grape are affected in different ways by lingering wildfire smoke, with some 2021 vintages tasting similar to past harvests and some so damaged certain vineyards declined to release them.

“We’re all just learning about how to be resilient for different climate changes, more so extreme weather going from cold to hot, that’s the challenge – and how do we deal with smoke exposure,” said Ms. Durisek, whose organization held a seminar last year whereby an Australian expert taught vintners how to filter out smoke compounds from different wines.

There are more than 27,000 people under evacuation orders across the province and more than 35,000 on evacuation alert owing to several blazes, including the 110-square-kilometre McDougall Creek wildfire affecting West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country.

Still, residents in that central part of the Okanagan Valley received some good news Tuesday, with local fire chiefs in and around Kelowna reporting no people died and fewer homes were lost than expected. Jason Brolund, West Kelowna’s fire chief, said at a news conference that the total number of structural losses in his community is fewer than 90, and that, in the neighbouring Westbank First Nation, fewer than 20 buildings were estimated to have been razed.

The Kelowna area was still covered in thick smoke on Tuesday, preventing residents from getting a clearer image of the fire’s wrath, but the haze was expected to lift later that day.

Meanwhile, heavy smoke from a wildfire in the Shuswap Lake region east of Kamloops was preventing firefighters from mounting an aerial assault on the blaze that destroyed an undetermined number of properties in Scotch Creek, Celista and other North Shuswap communities.

With a report from The Canadian Press

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Interact with The Globe

On emotional bus tours, some wildfire evacuees return to West Kelowna, B.C., to see what's left of their homes

Regional district has been running bus tours since last week.

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Annick deGooyer knew her family's home of more than 20 years had been destroyed by the McDougall Creek wildfire that consumed scores of properties in West Kelowna, B.C., about three weeks ago.

But she expected more to remain than the pile of "ashy dust" atop the foundations that she and her firefighter husband Rob Baker viewed last Friday, while on a bus tour of the devastated neighbourhood of Trader's Cove on the west side of Okanagan Lake.

"You would think a whole house, when it burns, it would take up more space," said deGooyer.

The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre has been taking homeowners on the bus trips since last week, allowing residents to see the ruin of their homes firsthand.

The tours have been shocking for some, and a counsellor has joined the trips. But homeowners say they have also given communities and neighbours a chance to reconnect and discuss what comes next.

In total, the Kelowna area has seen 181 homes partially or totally destroyed due to wildfires, according to the regional district.

• B.C. declares 2023 wildfires a disaster eligible for funding assistance
• Photos Residents of B.C.'s Shuswap region tour 'dramatically' changed area after wildfire destruction

Pilot Stephen Fuhr, who is also the former MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, lost his lakeview home.

He said neighbours at the meeting point for the tour were in various stages of shock. Fuhr himself could not recall when he did the tour last week; the days since his home burned on Aug. 18 have been reduced to a blur.

"And we did talk about the future, you know, who's gonna rebuild? Who's not? Everyone is just kind of dealing with it in their own way," said Fuhr.

The operations centre said only residents whose properties have been destroyed or are uninhabitable are being invited on the tours.

"This process is to ensure those who have received devastating news have the privacy, time and space to be the first to see their properties," it said in a statement last week.

15 minutes to save belongings

DeGooyer's husband is among 13 members of the Wilson's Landing Fire Department who lost their homes to the wildfire. She said neighbours from six or seven households joined the tour.

Participants were not allowed off the bus, and as it inched toward her property, deGooyer peered from her seat to see what was left. To witness, the destruction firsthand was sad and overwhelming, she said.

But it was also "lovely" to see her neighbours in person for the first time in two weeks. They hugged when the tour ended.

• B.C. firefighters who lost their homes hailed for selfless effort saving their neighbours' houses
• Community rallies around 13 firefighters who lost their homes while protecting others

And she knew that things looked much worse in the aftermath of the blaze. Baker, her husband, told her that the day after the fire, the neighbourhood was a mess of downed trees and power lines.

"They have worked so hard on the infrastructure and cleaning things up. We had two really big pine trees next to our house and they have already been cut down. They have done such an amazing job of cleaning everything up," said deGooyer.

DeGooyer said the fire was like an "ultimate reset" to give her a chance to stop and rethink what she could do differently with her home before moving forward.

Fuhr said he had previously received satellite photos from his insurance company showing the destruction of his home, but seeing it in person was still tough.

"I had an idea of what I was going to find. I think that made it a little easier for me. So, I wasn't completely shocked, but it was still difficult," said Fuhr, adding that the home's destruction was "complete."

"It looks like someone took my house and put it into an incinerator and burned it completely to ashes," said Fuhr.

Fuhr was in Vancouver when he heard about the fires. After driving back to West Kelowna, he had 15 minutes to save what he could.

He didn't get much. It wasn't just a house, that Fuhr had "tried to make as homey" as he could, that was lost to the flames. Beloved mementos of his civilian and military flying career also went up in smoke.

However, Fuhr said he decided to focus on rebuilding rather than lamenting what was lost.

Fuhr said he plans to put on his work boots, pick up a shovel and go back to the site to poke around in the ashes. He has no plans to leave West Kelowna.

"I love living there. I love it," he said.

"So, you know, I will get the site cleaned up and start looking at rebuilding a new house. ... I have the puzzle pieces lying on the table there. I just need to start putting them together."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Reporter, The Canadian Press

Nono Shen is a reporter with The Canadian Press.

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7 easy adventures in Kelowna: beyond the beaches and wineries

K nown for its wine and California vibes, Kelowna summers tend to revolve around lake days and tasting rooms. Point in fact—I’ve lived here seven years and we always hit a beach and go wine touring when guests come to town. 

But I recently discovered a few new-to-me activities—and tried a couple of old standbys a different way — during a staycation at Kelowna’s oldest resort, the historic Hotel Eldorado. It was a good reminder of why my family moved here: easy access to nature and all of the pursuits that are possible when wildlife, water and forest trails are close at hand. 

Here are some ideas for adventuring beyond the beach this summer.

Birdwatch at Robert Lake

North of town, Robert Lake Regional Park packs a lot of birdlife into its two hectares of water ringed by cattails and bulrushes. 

“Every morning you come here is different,” said Kalin Ocaña, a bird expert and interpreter with the Regional District of Central Okanagan. “You just never know what’s going to drop in.”

On a spring morning we saw yellow-headed blackbirds calling from the bulrushes, American coots waddling across a grassy field, and male Ruddy ducks blowing bubbles through their bright blue bills in an effort to impress the ladies. 

Those were just a few of 296 bird species Ocaña has spotted there—the highest species total of anywhere in Kelowna. Other good birding spots include Rotary Mark Park downtown and “Secret” Beach where Mission Creek empties into Okanagan Lake.

Stargaze at a Nocturnal Preserve

High above the city, the Johns Family Nature Conservancy protects 162 hectares of land that was donated by Kelowna residents Alfred and Nancy Johns in 2013. Now a popular hiking and rock climbing spot, the park was named Canada’s third Nocturnal Preserve  by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2023. 

“We’re learning more and more how important it is to have dark skies. Animals need these sorts of spaces,” said park interpreter Rose Maunder on an evening walk to appreciate twilight far from city light pollution. The Nocturnal Preserve designation means the park is committed to preserving darkness, and works to reduce or eliminate artificial light. On clear nights gazers can see thousands of stars. 

The Regional District of Central Okanagan offers night programs  in the park in the spring and fall, and will be leading a full moon hike there on July 18.

Paddle on Okanagan Lake

Early in the morning, before jet skiers and splashing youngsters take over the water, Okanagan Lake is a glassy surface perfect for paddling. I set out in a kayak from the private beach shared between the Manteo and Eldorado resorts, and glided north past Rotary Beach Park and Boyce-Gyro Beach Park, one of only two boats on the water.

More ambitious kayakers can tackle part of Kelowna’s 27 kilometre long paddle trail that passes three lakeside resorts, two bird sanctuaries and numerous beaches. Regular buoys mark distances and alert paddlers to beach access points where they can rest or stop for a swim.  

Kayak and paddle boards can be rented from the Eldorado Marina from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the summer.  

Cycle Myra Canyon

I’ve pedalled through Kelowna’s most popular tourist attraction a number of times, but never with a guide. Ben Vos with Myra Canyon Bike Tours  led our small group over 18 train trestles and through two tunnels on this flat, scenic stretch of the Kettle Valley Rail (KVR) Trail as it curves around steep Myra Canyon.

Thanks to Vos, I learned that the “viewing platforms” on the longer trestles were used to hold water barrels in case a steam locomotive sparked a fire back when the recreational pathway was a railway. Vos also took us through a historic KVR work camp and talked about the hardships faced by railway workers, including a diet of mostly bread that was baked in still visible rock ovens. 

The family-run business also rents out bicycles, adult trikes and dual bikes for self-guided riding, and reserving ahead during summer is recommended. E-bikes are not part of the company’s arsenal.

“I want it to be more like slow travel,” said Vos, who encourages visitors to stop for pictures and views along the way.

Learn about indigenous plants

I knew that powder from the bark of an aspen tree could be rubbed onto skin as a natural sunscreen, but the fact that red willow bark can be turned into a pain-relieving tea (the inspo for aspirin) was news to me on a Traditional syilx Plant Use Walking Tour organized monthly by Kelowna Museums. 

Syilx knowledge keeper Jasmine Peone led our small group through Rotary Marsh Park downtown where native plant species like wild rose, western red cedar, frog leaf, red willow and Oregon grape all grow in abundance. With a great blue heron looking on, she showed us plants that can be eaten (rose petals), turned into medicinal teas (burdock, rose hips), or used to make everything from fish traps (red willow) to axe handles (black hawthorn). 

“You never know how nature might inspire you!” she said. Indeed!

Hike up a volcano

On a busy summer morning, Apex Trail in Knox Mountain Park can feel like the Grouse Grind. But locals know the best views are from the top of the city’s extinct volcanoes, and Knox—the closest to downtown—delivers the biggest reward for lake and city vistas. 

The Okanagan Valley is a small rift valley that formed when tectonic plates pulled apart and released magma that formed a range of volcanoes. They have eroded over millions of years into the rounded humps of Mount Boucherie in West Kelowna, Spion Kop in Lake Country, and Knox, Dilworth and Black mountains in Kelowna. All are hikeable.

I trek to the top of Knox every spring when the yellow Okanagan sunflowers are blooming; in summer, get an early start to beat the heat or plan to cool off in the lake post-hike.

E-bike the new Boucherie pathway

Hitting a few wineries on an e-bike isn’t new, but the Boucherie bike route is. The new 4.8-kilometre mulit-use pathway  alternates between paved and crushed gravel sections and connects quite a few wineries on Boucherie Road along the Westside Wine Trail, including family-owned Volcanic Hills Winery and valley mainstay Quails’ Gate, celebrating 35 years this summer. 

New Heybike e-bikes were waiting for us outside of Grizzli Winery, thanks to a drop off by Lakeside Eco-Sports .  The sustainability-minded company offers e-bike tours and also rents out the scooter-like conveyances—complete with a throttle that makes pedalling obsolete—in two-hour increments. 

After a quick lesson on how to use them, we set off toward Quails’ Gate. As a bonus, the e-bikes’ panniers can hold up to 12 bottles of wine (and throttle mode lets you effortlessly zoom back up the hill to Grizzli). Naturally, I purchased a few bottles to take home with me, and to sip between summer adventures. 

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Wildfires in the Central Okanagan

Support donation centres.

Our community is full of compassionate and caring individuals ready and willing to help support evacuees and emergency personnel. Below are official organizations providing support that will gratefully take donations and distribute to those that need it. 

Donation Centres

• Drop off location: 200 Rutland Road S, Kelowna
• Online donations
• Please visit Instagram for the most up-to-date information on needed supplies
• Drop off location: 120-1735 Dolphin Avenue, Kelowna
• Drop off location: 2310 Enterprise Way, Kelowna
• Drop off location: 3711 Elliott Rd, West Kelowna
• ​ Drop off location: 125 Roxby Road, Kelowna
• For people wanting to offer donations of supplies, please contact your  local shelter  to determine needs.

Information may be updated or changed with short notice, we recommend contacting the organizations or referring to organization information sources for any additional updates.

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Tourism Kelowna would like to thank Westbank First Nation and Okanagan Indian Band for the privilege to live, work, and play on the tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land), that is the unceded and traditional territory of syilx Okanagan peoples, the original stewards of these lands and to whom we give thanks to as our hosts

Kelowna Visitor Centre: 

238 Queensway

Kelowna, B.C. V1Y 6S4 Canada

1-800-663-4345

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