Lytton First Nation in B.C. orders wildfire evacuation of 2 reserves

Evacuations are undeway near Lytton as the Cantilever Bar fire burns out of control, thereatening several communities.

The Lytton First Nation in British Columbia that was devastated four years ago by a wildfire has ordered that some of its reserves be evacuated again.

The First Nation has issued an evacuation order for two sparsely populated reserves due to immediate danger posed by the uncontrolled wildfire burning nearby, about 10 kilometres south of the Village of Lytton.

The order signed Thursday said residents must leave the Lytton 26A and Skwayaynope 26 reserves immediately and head to a reception centre.

Officials with the Lytton First Nation say there are only two households on the reservation plots, one of which is unoccupied, while the other belongs to a member of the First Nation fire fighting team on the front lines of the fire.

A spokesman for the First Nation said it was not the same area that was evacuated in June of 2021, when much of Lytton was destroyed by a wildfire and two people were killed.

The current Lytton wildfire was recently measured at 6.5 square kilometres and continues to burn out of control, causing the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and local First Nations to issue a series of evacuation alerts this week.

Barj Dehaan said he was driving back home to Vancouver on Wednesday when he started seeing smoke about 30 kilometres east of Lytton.

“As I got closer, I could see this huge plume of smoke. And as I got closer, I could see the literal fire as well, trees on fire. I have not seen a live fire like that before,” he said Thursday.

He said the region has been very hot.

“The air quality was poor, and I could feel a burning sensation in my throat, strong smell of burning wood. And then I started thinking about the people who live in that town, that here they are again, having to deal with a fire that seems to be out of control,” he said.

The fire near Lytton is one of a handful of significant fires burning in the province in areas where Environment Canada has issued heat warnings this week, with temperatures in the high 30s.

“High temperatures will moderate towards seasonal values on Friday,” a weather statement said.

In the Okanagan, police and fire crews went door-to-door Wednesday night to evacuate residents from 400 properties near Peachland as a fast-moving wildfire burned near the community.

Another 225 properties are on evacuation alert because of the fire that started Wednesday afternoon and quickly spread through tinder-dry scrub and forest.

The BC Wildfire Service has upgraded a blaze in the Fraser Valley to a “wildfire of note” and is warning campers to leave the Harrison Lake area as roads are closed ahead of the long weekend.

The 65-hectare Bear Creek fire is the first fire of note in B.C. since July 9, when the Izman Creek blaze near Lytton lost that status.

The designation is reserved for fires that are “creating an increased level of interest.”

There are more than 70 fire burning across the province, with about a third of them starting in the last 24 hours.

- With files from CHNL

This report by Ashley Joannou and Fatima Raza, The Canadian Press, was first published July 31, 2025.