The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has rescinded its final evacuation order connected to the out-of-control Ainslie Creek wildfire, though the blaze itself remains far from contained across southern British Columbia.
According to a statement from the regional district, an order covering 58 addressed properties in the Coldwater and Patchett Road areas has been downgraded to an evacuation alert. A further 94 properties that had previously sat under alert status have now been declared all clear.
First Nation Order Remains in Place
Not all communities have been given the green light to return. An evacuation order issued by the Spuzzum First Nation remained active as of Saturday afternoon, with the fire last measured at a sprawling 677 square kilometres — a footprint that underscores the sheer scale of the inferno still gripping the region.
The Spuzzum community, situated along the Fraser River in the rugged terrain between Hope and Lytton, has borne a disproportionate burden as the wildfire season has battered British Columbia’s interior. First Nations across the province have repeatedly found themselves on the front lines of evacuation orders, their traditional territories often overlapping with the most fire-prone landscapes.
Caution Advised for Returning Residents
Approximately 248 properties within the regional district’s jurisdiction remain on evacuation alert as of Saturday afternoon. While the downgrade signals improving conditions in certain pockets, officials are urging returning residents to exercise vigilance.
Property owners are free to come back, but the district has stressed they should proceed with caution and remain alert to any lingering hazards in the area. Wildfire-scorched terrain frequently conceals dangers long after the flames are subdued — from unstable root systems and ash-filled pits to compromised infrastructure and the persistent threat of spot fires reigniting in dry conditions.
A Season of Relentless Blaze
The Ainslie Creek fire represents one of dozens of wildfires that have tested British Columbia’s emergency response capacity this season. Earlier this year, the province formally ended its provincial state of emergency, even as fires continued to chew through forests, grasslands and culturally significant sites across the landscape.
The lifting of evacuation orders brings a measure of relief to households who have spent weeks displaced from their homes, many sheltering in nearby communities or with relatives further afield. The psychological toll of prolonged displacement — the uncertainty, the interrupted livelihoods, the separation from ancestral lands — lingers well beyond the formal end of an evacuation.
For the Spuzzum First Nation, however, the wait continues. Until conditions permit a safe return, community members will remain scattered, their connection to home suspended by a fire that shows little sign of surrendering the ground it has claimed.
Why it Matters
The partial rollback of evacuation orders in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District marks a cautious step towards recovery, yet it also lays bare the uneven geography of disaster response in British Columbia. While some property owners contemplate a return, the Spuzzum First Nation remains under active evacuation — a reminder that wildfires do not respect administrative boundaries and that Indigenous communities, whose ties to land run deeper than any title deed, continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of the crisis. With the Ainslie Creek blaze still uncontained at nearly 700 square kilometres, the story is far from over, and the coming weeks will test both the resilience of returning residents and the resolve of those still waiting to go home.
