Changing Wildfire Behaviour Results in Devastating Fires in the BC Interior

In the summer of 2023, in what became British Columbia’s (BC) worst wildfire season on record, the massive (45,613 ha) Bush Creek East fire (Figure 1) in the BC Interior emerged from the amalgamation of two separate fires that had been burning since July 12 (BCWS, 2023; Parisien et al, 2024). On August 18, in the span of 12 hours, the fire advanced more than 20 km, a previously unheard of rate of spread in BC (Matassa-Fung, 2023). Over 11,000 people from eight communities were forced to evacuate (Pawson, 2023).

During the escalation of the fire it moved from sparsely populated areas to communities along the shores of Shuswap Lake. More than 270 structures were destroyed as well as public infrastructure at a loss of over $240 million in insured damage (Weltman, 2023). The cabin I spent many weekends and holidays at (Figure 2), was one of those buildings lost. Built in the 1930s, it contained family heirlooms and was the source of many happy memories.

Record increases in global temperatures (Lindsey & Dahlman, 2025), drought conditions (Brown et al., 2023; Jain et al., 2024), and historic fire suppression (Daniels et al., 2025) have contributed to an abundance of dry forest fuels, all of which drive more extreme fire behaviour (Luo et al., 2024). This research also shows that increased fuel dryness due to drought can increase night fire activity, historically a period of lower fire activity. Previous patterns of fire behaviour are no longer able to guide our mitigation and adaptation strategies. Wildfire intensity and frequency, total area burned, and length of the fire season are all increasing (Jain et al., 2024; Luo et al., 2024).

After the BC wildfires of 2023, the provincial government established the Premier’s Expert Task Force on Emergencies, a collaboration between First Nations, local and provincial governments, and wildfire and emergency management organizations to provide recommendations to improve preparedness and prevention (Province of BC, 2024). Measures include collaborating with local communities and First Nations, moving to a year-round Wildfire Service, advanced tools such as night vision imaging systems, increasing cultural and prescribed burning, promoting FireSmart activities, and enhancing education and training.

References BC Wildfire Service (BCWS). (2023). 2023 wildfire season summary. BC Ministry of Forests, Victoria, BC. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status/about-bcws/wildfire-history/wildfire-season-summary

Brown, P., Hanley, H., Mahesh, A., Reed, C., Strenfel, S., Davis, S., Kochanski, A., & Clements, C. (2023). Climate warming increases extreme daily wildfire growth risk in California. Nature, 621, 760–766. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06444-3

Daniels, L.D., Dickson-Hoyle, S., Baron, J.N., Copes-Gerbitz, K., Flannigan, M.D., Castellanos-Acuna, D., Hoffman, K.M., Bourbonnais, M., Wilkinson, S.L., Roeser, D., Harvey, J.E., Laflamme, J., Tiribelli, F., Whitehead, J., Leverkus, S.E.R., & Gray, R.W. (2025). The 2023 wildfires in British Columbia, Canada: impacts, drivers, and transformations to coexist with wildfire. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 55, 1–18

Jain, P., Barber, Q.E., Taylor, S.W., Whitman, E., Castellanos Acuna, D., Boulanger, Y., Chavardès, R.D., Chen, J., Englefield, P., Flannigan, M., Girardin, M., Hanes, C.C., Little, J., Morrison, K., Skakun, R.S., Thompson, D.K., Wang, X., & Parisien, M-A. (2024). Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season in Canada. Nature Communications 15, 6764 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51154-7

Luo, K., Wang, X., de Jong, M., & Flannigan, M. (2024). Drought triggers and sustains overnight fires in North America. Nature 627, 321–327. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07028-5

Matassa-Fung, D. (2023, August 19). Wildfire near Shuswap Lake runs 20 km in 12 hours, new order issued Saturday afternoon. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/9907452/wildfire-shuswap-lake-order-issued/

Parisien, M-A., Barber, Q., Bourbonnais, M., Daniels, L., Flannigan, M., Gray, R. Hoffman, K., Jain, P., Barber, Q. E., Taylor, S. W., Whitman, E., Castellanos Acuna, D., Boulanger, Y., Chavardès, R. D., Chen, J., Englefield, P., Flannigan, M., Girardin, M., Hanes, C. C., Little, J., Morrison, K., Skakun, R. S., Thompson, D. K., Wang, X., & Parisien, M-A. (2024). Drivers and impacts of the record-breaking 2023 wildfire season in Canada. Nature Communications 15, 6764. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51154-7

Pawson, C. (2023, August 24). Evacuees in B.C.'s Shuswap struggle to cope with anxiety, angst over wildfire threat. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-shuswap-evacuee-experiences-1.6945751

Province of BC. (2024). Summary of recommendations: The Premier’s expert task force on emergencies. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/embc/reports/premiers_task_force_on_emergencies_report-april2024.pdf

Weltman, B. (2023). Okanagan and Shuswap area wildfires cause over $720 million in insured damage. Insurance Bureau of Canada, Toronto, ON. https://www.ibc.ca/news-insights/news/okanagan-and-shuswap-area-wildfires-cause-over-720-million-in-insured-damage