Smoke rises over the northwest flank of the Bald Range wildfire near Summerland, British Columbia, Canada
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A wildfire that forced more than 20,000 people to flee from their homes in western Canada moved so quickly that crews had to abandon firefighting to help residents escape, a pace British Columbia's premier said on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) may represent a “new normal.”The Bald Range wildfire erupted on August 7 near Summerland, a community of about 12,000 in British Columbia's Okanagan region. By Wednesday (August 12), it had grown to about 184 square kilometres (71 square miles) after destroying homes and killing an 80-year-old woman."There's an important set of lessons for us to take about how quickly this moved and that this may be our new normal for fire speed," Premier David Eby said. He said the blaze outpaced wildfire modelling and left some residents with little time to evacuate.Officials have begun damage assessments, but the area remained unsafe on Wednesday (August 12), and there was no timeline for residents to return.
The Bald Range wildfire, that has forced people out of their homes in the south Okanagan region, burns in Summerland, B.C.
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