Evacuation order rescinded for wildfire near Princeton, B.C.

Princeton, B.C., Mayor Spencer Coyne posted this photo to social media showing crews fighting a wildfire near his town. (Credit: Facebook/MayorSpencerCoyne)

Residents of nearly 30 properties near Princeton, B.C., who were forced to evacuate Sunday due to a nearby wildfire are allowed to return home.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen downgraded its evacuation order near August Lake and the Princeton Golf Club to an alert on Monday.

It says that means residents should remain prepared to leave if the situation worsens.

The August Lake wildfire is listed as 14 hectares in size and burning out of control by the BC Wildfire Service.

That update comes after the service warned the Coastal Fire Centre is expected to get its first “outflow pattern” of the season, which could drive more significant fire behaviour.

It says the pattern occurs when air flows out from the mountains toward the water, and will develop Monday and continue Tuesday in the region.

The service says in a post on its website that winds are expected to moderate, although warm and dry conditions will persist early this week before a return to a typical southwesterly flow on Wednesday.

It says the fire centre wants to warn the public about the potential for aggressive fire behaviour and asks anyone who sees a blaze to report it, as early detection is crucial to firefighting efforts.

Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations for the service, told a news conference Monday that winds generally come off the ocean and push to the east. But, he said, an outflow pattern switches that direction and pulls wind towards the ocean, which can be problematic from a fire behavior perspective.

“Given the conditions that we’ve seen so far in the Coastal Fire Center, we don’t anticipate that to be dire, just because we have seen some (precipitation) in the system over the course of the last six to eight weeks,” he said.

Chapman said there are still lots of challenges but the the service is not seeing the potential for extreme fire behaviour.

“Saying that, as we saw this weekend with the fires in the Kamloops Fire Center, there are pockets where we can see that sort of high to extreme fire behavior occur,” he said, adding that resources are spread across the province so crews can attack any new fires quickly.

The service is reporting about 70 active fires burning across the province, 10 of which are in the Coastal Fire Centre.

It says some areas of the province will see smokier conditions this week as a result of ongoing fires, with heavy amount concentrated in the Fort Nelson area.

“B.C. will also see a smoky haze because of the Similkameen fires and shifting winds,” the service’s dashboard says.

It encourages people to take precautions in areas of high smoke concentrations, including remaining inside or wearing a ventilator mask while outdoors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025.