Ravi Parmar at Kamloops Airport on Aug. 5, 2026. (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

By Victor Kaisar

BC Wildfires

Forests Minister Parmar in Kamloops area for first-hand look at wildfire damage

Aug 5, 2026 | 5:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — B.C.’s forests minister has been in the Kamloops area for the past few days to get a first-hand look at some of the damage caused by wildfires in the fire-ravaged Interior.

Ravi Parmar has been meeting with government officials as well as with members of the BC Wildfire Service. He told CFJC Today it is important that he be in the area to listen directly to concerns they might be raising.

“It’s important for me not to get in the way – it’s the last thing I want to do,” Parmar said Wednesday (Aug. 5) afternoon. “I’ve been talking to them on the phone for weeks now but to be able to be up here face-to-face is important, but also to be able to meet with my team, the BC Wildfire Service to get an assessment of where things are at in the form of resourcing and where we’re going from here.”

“It’s one thing to be sitting in Victoria having those conversations. It’s meaningful to be up here face-to-face, having those conversations.”

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Parmar said B.C. is well-resourced as more out-of-province crews arrive Thursday to help fight fires across the province. The minister is heading north to Williams Lake for meetings Thursday and he’s due to be back in Vancouver on Friday.

“I am going to be focused on British Columbia. I am going to be focused on what I can do to be able to help support our BC Wildfire Service crews and that is the conversation and engagements,” Parmar said.

As with any fire season, Parmar said there will be lessons learned around things that can be done better in the future, but the focus right now is on navigating the rest of this summer’s fire season.

“There are no words that I can use to describe how sorry I am for those individuals who have lost their homes. I want them to know that our government is going to be there standing alongside them during this period of recovery,” Parmar said. “It’s one of the conversations I had with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District as well as the Village of Clinton.”

“There are so many communities hurting and I know the next number of weeks are going to be challenging but I am fully confident in the team we have here in Kamloops and all the teams that we have right across the province.”

by Victor Kaisar

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Forests Minister Parmar in Kamloops area for first-hand look at wildfire damage

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