Kelowna, Kamloops rank at the top for wildfire risk in 2025

A report has assessed two Interior communities as vulnerable to wildfire this season.

MyChoice, a Canadian Insurtech company, has built out a report based on two key indicators across the core wildfire season from May to September: the Forecast Severity Rating (FSR) and the Forecast Severity Anomaly (FSA), both sourced from the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System’s monthly and seasonal forecasts.

Kamloops and Kelowna came out on the top of the list of Canada’s most vulnerable cities in 2025.

Kamloops had a score of 9.2/10, down slightly from the 9.4 it scored last year. Meanwhile, Kelowna also posted a score of 9.2, up from 8.6 last year.

The company says FSR gauges the predicted intensity of wildfire conditions while FSA compares the forecasted severity to historical norms.

Each city’s overall risk score was calculated by averaging the monthly FSR and FSA values from May through September, providing a comprehensive picture of where wildfire risk is expected to be most severe in 2025.

Wildfire season has already begun in BC, with several fires popping up in the Interior, Northern BC and Vancouver Island.

A wildfire near the community of Fort St. John recently triggered evacuations, which have since been rescinded.

This comes on the heels of a record-breaking year in 2024, when insured losses from weather-related disasters soared to $8.5 billion — the highest in Canadian history.

MyChoice also pointed to the catastrophic Jasper wildfire, which alone accounted for over $1.1 billion in damages.

“What were once considered rare, one-in-100-year events are now happening with alarming regularity, driving the average annual loss from catastrophic wildfires to $706 million over the past decade — a staggering 740% increase from the previous ten-year period,” the report says.

In its latest provincial outlook report, BC Wildfire Service said that the northeast region of BC is currently the driest part of the province, “with high to extreme fire danger ratings near the Alberta border.”

The organization also noted that human activity is the leading cause of spring wildfires and that people are urged to do their part to reduce the risk of wildfire.