STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
A planned ignition for the Pear Lake wildfire in B.C.'s Cariboo region burns in this Wednesday, July 29, 2026 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout, B.C. Wildfire Service (Mandatory Credit)
By The Canadian Press

‘It’s a responsibility’: animals moved out as B.C. fire risk looms

Aug 1, 2026 | 4:00 AM

Will Unruh says the 13 bison he cares for at his ranch near the shores of British Columbia’s Green Lake know that something is amiss.

Smoke from a nearby wildfire is in the air and they are staying close.

“They know something’s not right. They’re hanging out right in this little corral, right close to where I am all the time, and that’s because they’re like people, they’re nervous,” he said on the phone Saturday from his 777 Ranch.

The ranch was put under an evacuation order on Friday, one of multiple orders covering more than 1,000 properties at risk from the 900-square-kilometre Pear Lake wildfire burning out-of-control in B.C.’s southern Cariboo region.

Unruh was still on the property Saturday morning considering how to keep the last of his animals safe.

Earlier in the week he got a call from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District offering him a team of people to help get his 30 head of cattle and five horses out of harm’s way, an offer that Unruh said left him “blown away.”

“Usually people talk badly about government, and I was just so blown away that it was their own initiative that they did it,” he said.

“It’s quite impressive. I’m very impressed.”

On Thursday the team arrived and the horses and cattle were loaded on to trucks to Kamloops.

As wild animals, bison are a bit trickier to move, more prone to panic in tight spaces if someone tries to load them on a truck, he said.

Unruh said he had his ranch assessed by a retired forestry engineer and he believes there are places on the property the animals could stay and be safe if the fire advances, or potential be released onto Crown land in a worst-case scenario where he had to flee.

But as the winds pick up, so do the risks.

What started as a light breeze early Saturday was gusting within hours, he said, potentially blowing the flames in his direction.

Fire officials have warned that a cold front bringing strong winds and thunderstorms, with little to no rain, is expected to sweep over southern B.C. this long weekend, increasing the risk to areas that are already parched by drought.

Unruh said a bison ranch a few hours north in Quesnel has offered to help and that they’ll be making a decision this weekend whether to try and load the bison onto a truck to get them away from the flames.

If the animals are safe, he will evacuate the ranch, Unruh said, noting that life is more important than any buildings.

“As a rancher, it’s a responsibility. You can’t leave your livestock there to be burned. I mean, that’s what you take on as a rancher. You raise them from a baby on, a calf on, and you take care of them,” he said.

An update from the B.C. Wildfire Services on Saturday on the Pear Lake fire said winds could gust as high was 45 km/h as the cold front passes over the fire late in the afternoon.

A large swath of evacuation orders has been issued by the Thompson-Nicola and Cariboo regional districts.

More than 1,800 properties have been ordered evacuated from an area that is more than 70 kilometres long and 65 kilometres wide, while the evacuation alerts fan out even further.

On Saturday, the Spuzzum First Nation issued an evacuation order for reserve lands due to the Brunswick Creek fire burning further to the south, while the Fraser Valley Regional District ordered dozens of properties evacuated in the Alexandra Bridge to Sawmill Creek area.

The T’it’q’et First Nation, near Lillooet, also issued an evacuation order overnight due to the Riley Creek Wildfire, covering T’it’q’et Indian Reserve #2, Towinock, and Indian Reserve #3, Kilchult.

Almost 110 active wildfires are burning in the province, with 48 of them considered out of control as of Saturday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2026.

The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press