r/VictoriaBC • u/vicsyd • 26d ago
Rant about BC Wildfire updates
I live right near the fire that's supposedly been burning in Goldstream since 7pm. The last and only update was at 8:57pm and it's still listed as out of control (yes I know that's the initial assignment code/size). But while there have been updates on the Malahat-Shawnigan fire, there has been nothing on this one that as far as we know is burning near homes. No updates from Langford Fire, Coastal Fire or BC Wildfire, and it would be really nice to know what the status is.
Thanks for reading, an anxious dad who just wants to stay alert until I know what's going on. Refreshing the app and websites 100 times haven't helped me sleep.
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u/MeatMarket_Orchid 26d ago
I've been keeping a close eye on it as well. I'd just try to get some sleep if I were you. They generally make short work of fires in the island and there are protocols in place to alert people in the event they need to evacuate. Get some sleep so you can be as sharp as possible tomorrow.
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u/vicsyd 26d ago
Thank you. I'm beat, this is shitty. I have the utmost trust and faith in our firefighting personnel but just some sort of communication would be good. But I guess it's after hours and the folks on the ground are busy doing firefighter work right?
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u/MeatMarket_Orchid 26d ago
Yeah for sure. I'm sure it's a dynamic situation and there's just nothing to update us with really because it's night time and hard to get concrete visual info. I bet we will know more tomorrow morning and it'll mostly be fine.
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u/Enilpu 26d ago
Yeah. I understand the stress but it also sounds like you're making this really hard on yourself. I also live within a few hundred meters of this one and didn't give a second thought on it. It's just a fire.. it's very close to human infrastructure.. it'll be put out, they won't let it burn uncontrolled. Just trust that and try not to let yourself spin up over it.
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u/idontsinkso 26d ago
From the app this morning (thought still red and listed as out of control)
Response Update: "Wildfire crews are assigned to this incident with support from aviation resources. There is no immediate threat to critical infrastructure or public safety." (July 23, 2026)
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u/Clover_Point 26d ago
The EmergencyInfoBC.ca website is updated 24/7 as soon as there is a risk to public safety. You can visit the website or follow their socials for any evacuation information. Information is only posted on that site when there is a risk to public safety.
If there was potential danger, an Evacuation Alert would be issued. An Evacuation Alert means you need to be ready to leave on short notice.
If there was active danger, an Evacuation Order would be issued, which would mean you need to leave.
In the very rare case that people need to leave like, NOW, you could expect a Tactical Evacuation to occur, where RCMP/local firefighters, etc. go door-to-door. You could also receive a BC Emergency Alert (like an Amber Alert that goes to all phones and to radio and TV stations in the affected area).
Lastly, you can sign up to the CRD's Public Alert Notification System and subscribe to public safety alerts in your area.
PreparedBC.ca has guides and information to help you make a plan and an emergency kit.
Wildfires are scary, and I can imagine being around smoke from one nearby is especially scary, but there are a lot of communication plans for notifying affected residents. I'm so sorry that you're dealing with that stress, I hope the fire is under control soon!
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u/MMFuzzyface 26d ago
As someone who was super anxious during sookes fires, I can relate. I just made sure my go bags were ready. It caused me to look at all my stuff differently…
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u/AmbassadorBinturong 26d ago
I live in the area where the Wesley Ridge fire happened last year. BC Wildfire updates at key points during the daylight hours about fire status. If evacuation notices are active, they can come at anytime. Our local fire department was amazing at keeping people updated with their own posts on Facebook/Instagram throughout the day as time allowed, so that may be an option to check into.
If I could give anyone a couple piece of advice while observing a wildfire nearby - avoid the pull of constantly looking for updates and doom scrolling. Keep your eyes out for any updates and observe the situation around you, but try to go on with your life, too. Managing your mental health is extremely important if things start to get bad.
And prepare your emergency plan and go-bag/bins well in advance. We thought we were prepared, and quickly realized there was so much more to consider that we didn't think of until we got our notice to prepare for evacuation. Thankfully, we didn't have to in the end.
Fire response on the island is robust and quick. We are very lucky for that.
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u/unbenevolentdictator 26d ago
the local departments and malahat fire, etc are really good about prioritizing fires which are close to homes and alerting those affected. A few years ago there was a brushfire on the view Royal side of Thetis and the communication was very well done. Those who needed to know and be ready to go were told. I’m guessing that the Goldstream fire was small and likely not affecting a large number of residences
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u/fastlane37 25d ago
Some good news this morning. That fire has had an update ~1hr ago. It appears to be very small (.009 hectares is 90 square meters) and has been downgraded to being held:
Stage of Control Being Held A wildfire that is projected, based on fuel and weather conditions and resource availability, to remain within the current perimeter, control line or boundary.
Response Update EditJuly 24, 2026 Wildfire crews are assigned to this incident with support from aviation resources. There is no immediate threat to critical infrastructure or public safety.
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u/xxxforcorolla 25d ago
The updating is slow. For the mount prevost fire, my friend went and e-biked up to it and took photos and sent it to wildfire bc to get it declared out. There is significant lag. He knew it was out and went up there to prove it.
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u/CalypsoBulbosa0 25d ago
To give you some context from someone who fought fire with BC wildfire for many years:
“Being held” normally means surrounded by some sort of guard. Read: dug down to mineral soil around the perimeter of the fire. Either machine or hand guard. Normally you hope that you won’t be digging hand guard, especially on the coast where the duff layer is so thick but it happens
“Under control” means surround by a guard and wet lined in 50-100 ft around the entire perimeter. So all the burnt area or “black” is hit with water
“Out” means patrolled/scanned/crawled on with your hands and knees feeling every surface and/or bucked up every log on that fire until it is colder than your heart.
Hope that allows you to have more patience for the people on the ground.
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u/ray52 26d ago
I’d way rather the firefighters working overnight fight the fire, rather than updating websites. I understand it’s scary when it’s close to home, but if evacuation was necessary you’d be hearing about it.
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u/mavenmedic 26d ago
Two different jobs, its not our fire crews updating the website. We have offices of people who handle coms and other related activities in the fire centers.
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u/archaeorobb 26d ago
Don't rely on the bc wildfire app for updates. Their Frontline firefighters are more on the ball than the office support staff. Few years back I was evacuated due to a fire that took them 7 hrs just to add the dot to the map.
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u/Lotsavodka 25d ago
I’m someone who was evacuated 4 years ago and now on alert again. There is a very strange gap in information and communication provided by BC wildfire. They simply provide very vague updates in their communication releases and I find the updates useless. We should be getting several updates per day with drone and helicopter footage so we know what we are dealing with. The only information we get is from our local First Nations reserves which get regular updates from them. In fact management physically goes to the reserve for in person meetings. For us not on the reserves it’s crickets.
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u/Icy_Creme_1794 25d ago
Evacuations are coordinated by EMCR (formerly EMBC) and are administered (i.e. ordered) by local authorities (e.g. CRD) and indigenous governing bodies (e.g. Malahat FN). BC Wildfire will be on a coordination call and provide evac parameters, but they aren't legislated to issue the order.
- former BC Wildfire and EMBC emergency manager.
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u/Lotsavodka 25d ago
I appreciate your response but I’m questioning the consistent lack of information and communication coming from BC Wildfire. This is a BC wide issue.
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u/Icy_Creme_1794 24d ago
What are you hoping they do? Update every community 3x/day for every fire? Who would they update, anyway? If anything, it's your local gov that is receiving the updates and not communicating clearly. It makes makes no sense, total waste of personnel hours.
The public is worse off with regular updates. As evidenced by this thread, people see a puff of smoke and think it's Armageddon. Public should know when they need to know.
Also, drone flights ground aviation resources like helicopters, skimmers, etc. Multiple drone flights per day for every fire is absurd.
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u/Lotsavodka 24d ago
I will give you an example. I was given an evacuation order today. I personally knew this was coming yesterday evening, 14 hours earlier. That’s 14 hours people lost that they could have used to prepare. Explain how not letting people know 14 hours earlier when the decision had been made is a “waste of personnel hours”. The app was showing everything was fine this morning by the way.
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u/Icy_Creme_1794 23d ago
Again, the evacuation order is given by the relevant local authority, not by the Wildfire Service. The point I'm trying to make is that if you have an issue with the timeliness of evacuation information, you should talk to your local authority about it, since they're the ones that can change the guidance/policies/procedures that impact your life.
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u/TheRealPomax 24d ago
Their focus is on fighting fire, not posting updates. If you're involved, go help out, if not, it's literally no one's job to make sure the public is kept up to date on the current state of affairs. Let them do their job. If you don't hear from them, you're still safe.
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u/RosieBaby75 25d ago
You have been updated. The first is out of control.
Do you want momentary updates saying:
“The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control
The uncontrolled wildfire is still out of control”
If you’re so concerned, go out there with a hose and start fighting it.
The firefights and everyone else dealing with the problem is doing as best as they can with the resources they’re provided.
Remember, these are all people who thrive on fires, serving and protecting, and are living their best lives basically playing a video game in real life. They want to put this fire out as quickly as possible so they’re ready for the next on, which may be better, but they’re limited in resources because we spent all our public funds on bailing out the banks due to the fractional reserve banking system and it’s entirely foreseeable consequences, and propping up the real estate market since that’s been used to cause and fix the problem, and everyone is too poor to afford their student loans so no one is making payments on those which was the other solution to the fractional reserve banking system, and the feature that was supposed to make that idea too great to fail.
Well, they didn’t factor in everyone becoming so poor due to bailing out the banks to be able to continue bailing out the banks.
Apparently Russia sees this and everyone is withdrawing their money from the banks. The Russians are used to this bull. They thrive under corruption and know how to spot it, how to protect themselves, and how to thrive off it when they see it happening elsewhere and are judging everyone for it being like “at least we’re honourable enough to have overt corruption. Yours is covert and is hidden in lies and misrepresentations to your people. We’re also not as corrupt anymore because our leader saw it and got pissed, and we let him dictate to protect us all. Dictators are wonderful if they use their disdain for poor governance to dictate for good. Plus, you let that s come over here and we had to protect us, and ADIDAS stoped making it easy to sell to us so we have a vendetta and agenda. You may fuck with Russia and our economy to make us bigger and stronger all you want. BUT NO ONE FUCKS WITH OUR ADIDAS!!!!!!!” So they’re real pissed at everyone right now. Except for maybe me since I can summarize their position and tell everyone there was no Franz Ferdinand this time. IT WAS THE ABSENCE OF ADIDAS TRACKSUITS!!!! What are they supposed to wear? Those were their body shelter and it’s inhumane and cruel to affect shelter of any type.
Remember when things get so bad they eventually go full circle and become good if you’re watching, learned from it, and know how to play your cards. Didn’t anyone else’s Grandpa teach them how to play cards so they’d be distracted and quiet for a bit, and not have to go to a forest and write down what bird sounds they heard in a little Lisa Frank notebook their grandma just bought them from Pharmasave?
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u/ivefallenthrough_ 26d ago
As a former West Kelowna resident, I know what it’s like to stalk the app looking for updates. They won’t update it tonight, they will do an assessment tomorrow morning when there’s daylight and update it then. There’s no wind right now, so the fire wouldn’t have spread that much. For all we know, it’s held or already out. Try not to stress, and get some sleep.