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BC Wildfire officials are reminding residents to leave if they are under an evacuation order and not to stay behind.
This message comes after the BC Wildfire Service says a man refused to evacuate his home near Chasm on Tuesday.
They say hours after he defied the order, the fire was surrounding his property.
He then called for help as he was unable to get out.
Crews responded and were able to get the man to safety, but officials are warning of the dangers of not obeying evacuation orders.
“When those crews needed to go and rescue that person, it took them away from their ability to fight the fire in that area and protect other values on that landscape: people’s structures and homes,” Bryce Moreira, an incident commander with the BC Wildfire Service, said.
B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar, echoed the message.
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“I want to assure residents we are doing everything we can to fight this fire, but when you stay back you are putting yourself and your family at risk; you’re putting the safety of our wildland firefighters at risk because if they know you’re there, their focus is on you and not the fire,” he said.
However, a man from Boston Bar said officials are “villainizing” those who defy evacuation orders, even though they have the expertise and willingness to pitch in to protect their communities.
Attila Banhegyi said the decision to stay is a more nuanced topic than the edict to just leave.
“Some people are equipped to stay behind in certain emergencies. And some are even willing to die to protect their own livelihoods. And I believe that’s a choice that they should be allowed to make,” he said in an interview with the Canadian Press on Thursday.
A statement released this week from the Ambulance Paramedics of BC, the union representing around 6,000 ambulance paramedics and dispatchers, urged residents to leave when placed under an evacuation order.
“Choosing to remain behind places not only you and your family at risk, but may also require firefighters, paramedics, police, and search and rescue teams to conduct dangerous rescue operations that could otherwise have been avoided,” it said.
This comes as many wildfires continue to burn out of control in B.C.
The Pear Lake wildfire is currently measuring more than 73,000 hectares and the Ainslie Creek wildfire is more than 30,000 hectares.
-with files from The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
