Wind a critical factor as fire triggers evacuation alert for 8,000 in Kimberley, B.C.

The mayor of Kimberley, B.C., says his town’s fate depends on the mercy of the wind after the entire city of more than 8,000 residents near the Alberta boundary was put on evacuation alert due to an out-of-control wildfire.

The Matthew Creek fire is about 10 kilometres west of Kimberley, and Mayor Don McCormick said Monday the steep and inaccessible terrain is proving a challenge.

The fire is among about 180 blazes that the BC Wildfire Service said started over just a few days when storms swept over the province, releasing 33,380 lightning strikes.

“The B.C. Wildfire Service is getting (its) plan together on how they intend to attack the fire, and really the thing that we’re most concerned about right now is the wind — what direction and, you know, how strong will the winds be,” McCormick said.

“And as long as the wind stays down, things are good. The wind comes back up again. It could get a little bit unpredictable.”

The wildfire service has now listed the fire near Kimberley and another blaze burning to its southwest among four “wildfires of note” burning in the province.

The wildfire-of-note designation means a fire is threatening public safety and critical infrastructure or is highly visible.

Senior wildfire officer Jeremy Angus said in a briefing Monday that firefighters plan to use heavy machinery to build containment lines between the Matthew Creek fire and Kimberley and, failing that, will fell trees and burn along a road in what he calls a “last-ditch effort.”

The fire is nearly six square kilometres in size and the service said light winds on Monday had reduced its behaviour.

Angus said the thick smoke generated by the fire may also help dampen the fire.

“Hopefully we stay a little bit socked in with smoke to keep that fire activity down until we can get containment,” he added.

For now, McCormick said, the wind “seems to be blowing in a great direction” and the air in the town is “pretty clear.”

The Regional District of East Kootenay said more than 8,000 residents in Kimberley — a town rooted in mining history — have been warned to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

Sarah Schultz, manager of Top Crop Too, a garden and farm supply store in the city, said the fire is about 14 kilometres away from her, which is considered “a safe distance.”

Schultz said it’s not super smoky in her area, as the wind has been helping.

Kimberley residents are no strangers to evacuation alerts.

McCormick said the town was on alert because of a threatening wildfire back in 2018.

“And the experience that we received from that three weeks and the follow-on from that enabled us to update all of our policies and emergency service,” he said.

The Matthew Creek wildfire was discovered on Saturday and is suspected to have been caused by lightning.

There were more than 90 active fires in the province as of Monday evening, up from about 20 in the middle of last week.

Hundreds of properties also remain evacuated or on alert in the Boston Bar area in the Fraser Canyon as two wildfires burn.

Meanwhile, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued an evacuation order for Downing Provincial Park, about 18 kilometres southwest of Clinton.

The district said the order was prompted by the Pear Lake wildfire, which also set off an evacuation alert for about 38 properties in the Bonaparte Plateau area about 55 kilometres northwest of Kamloops.

Environment Canada issued air quality warnings for several locations in the province because of the wildfires, from Fort Nelson in the north to Prince George in central B.C., along with the Fraser Canyon and in the southeast corner of the province where the Kimberley-area fire burns.

Metro Vancouver Regional District also issued a yellow air quality warning for the Eastern Fraser Valley, including Chilliwack, Agassiz and Hope, due to elevated fine particulate matter caused by wildfire smoke. It says conditions pose a high health risk and suggests people limit outdoor activity.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says smoky skies across much of B.C. are expected to last, and may worsen in the northeastern and central regions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2026.

— With files by Chuck Chiang in Vancouver.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press