Two and a half years after British Columbia’s record-breaking 2023 wildfire season, operators who updated their business continuity plans hold a structural advantage. Those who did not are facing a convergence of elevated fire risk and a commercial insurance market that has fundamentally repriced the Interior.
The BC Wildfire Service's 2026 seasonal outlook projects above-normal fire potential across the Kamloops, Prince George, and Cariboo fire centres for June through August—the three regions that anchor BC's forestry, agriculture, and Interior tourism economies. This projection follows a spring precipitation deficit that has left fuel moisture levels below seasonal norms, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada monitoring data. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System corroborates this elevated outlook.
The business stakes are tangible. BC's 2023 season burned over 2.84 million hectares—the largest on record—and generated more than $720 million in insurable losses, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. These figures represent private insurance claims, distinct from broader economic losses involving government infrastructure.
The insurance reality
For commercial property owners in wildfire-interface zones—the boundary between urban development and forest in communities like Kamloops, Williams Lake, and West Kelowna—repricing has been severe. Commercial property premiums in these zones have risen between 30 and 60 per cent since 2021, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Some carriers have restricted coverage entirely. Furthermore, wildfire-specific deductibles have become standard in new policy renewals across the Interior.
Coverage erosion is as critical as premium increases. Operators who have not reviewed policies since 2022 may find that wildfire sub-limits no longer reflect current replacement costs, given recent construction inflation. Business interruption coverage—essential when operations cease due to an evacuation order—is frequently underweighted.
Preparedness as capital investment
The 2023 season created a cohort of Interior operators who treat continuity planning as a capital investment. Effective strategies include tiered evacuation protocols, pre-negotiated supplier redundancies to mitigate highway closures, and communications plans that keep insurers and customers informed in real time.
Resource-sector operators in the Cariboo and Prince George regions are increasingly integrating seasonal fire-risk assessments into their scheduling, shifting high-intensity activities to lower-risk windows and pre-positioning firefighting equipment on-site to satisfy insurer requirements.
The BC Chamber of Commerce has documented that many Interior small businesses still lack formal continuity plans, leaving them exposed during insurance claims processing.
Supply chain vulnerabilities
Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon and Highway 97 through the Cariboo remain the freight arteries most vulnerable to wildfire-related closures. Sustained closures—as seen in 2021 and 2023—do not merely cause delays; they increase logistics costs for businesses moving goods between Metro Vancouver and the Interior. Mitigation strategies include inventory buffering, identifying alternate routes through Alberta, and refining force majeure triggers in supplier agreements.
Planning for uncertainty
Seasonal fire outlooks are probabilistic. An above-normal forecast indicates favourable conditions for activity, but does not guarantee a severe season. However, the insurance market is pricing 2026 as a high-risk year regardless of the actual outcome. For BC businesses in the interface, the cost of being unprepared is already reflected in higher premiums; the remaining operational risk remains within the control of the business owner.
