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(Image Credit: BCWS)
By Vernon Matters staff
New fire start

Wildfire on west side of lake grows

Aug 1, 2026 | 7:03 PM

7:40 p.m. Saturday

As expected, the fire near Bear Creek Provincial Park on the west side of Okanagan Lake has grown since first being reported earlier on Saturday afternoon.

The latest update from BC Wildfire Service estimated the blaze at 20 hectares. It is burning around 10 kilometres to the northeast of the City of West Kelowna .

Original story

A wildfire has started on the west side of Okanagan Lake near Bear Creek Park. It was measured at 1.5 hectares but was expected to grow, especially given the dry and very windy conditions.

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BC Wildfire Service said Saturday afternoon that West Kelowna Fire and Rescue crews would be holding the fire at the road while BCWS crews will be establishing hoselay up the east flank of the fire to support water delivery to go direct attack.

A closer view of the location of the new wildfire around 10km northeast of West Kelowna
A closer view of the location of the new wildfire around 10km northeast of West Kelowna

Helicopters will support ground crews with bucketing.

Conditions on site are windy and the elevated winds are expected to continue into the evening. Gusts up to 70km/hr are forecast for the Okanagan. 

by Vernon Matters staff
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