A ferocious fire has forced thousands of residents out in Summerland and Peachland along British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake. It’s unclear if homes have been lost in the latest fire to flare up in the province, but it’s been an early and destructive start to the wildfire season with hundreds of homes lost in separate fires. Here is a list of the most destructive fires in British Columbia: 2023: 28,962 square kilometres burned with about 400 homes destroyed. Six firefighters were killed. At the time, the Insurance Bureau of Canada called it the costliest insured event in B.C. history. 2018: 13,543 square kilometres burned and as many as 140 structures were destroyed, including 50 homes. No one fighting the fires died. 2017: The year that started the return of large and expensive fire seasons in the province. More than 500 structures were destroyed, 299 of them homes, and 2,164 square kilometres burned. No one died. 2024: 10,811 square kilometres burned. No lives were lost. 2025: 8,864 square kilometres burned. Catastrophic losses for the season include more than 450 homes in the Shuswap and Okanagan regions. 2021: The year Lytton and the local First Nation were nearly destroyed by a wildfire. A total of 8,600 square kilometres were burned. Two residents of Lytton were killed. 2026: 3,447 square kilometres have burned so far and officials expect the fire season to last into September. Separate wildfires in the Cariboo and on the Okanagan Indian Band reserve have destroyed a total of 350 buildings, most of them homes. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2026.
