This poster is for a new wildfire documentary premiering in the Okanagan in June.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Homestead Foods

A wildfire documentary exploring the causes and consequences of BC’s escalating wildfire crisis is premiering in Kelowna and Vernon next week.

BC is Burning takes a dive into the realities of wildfires ravaging homes and communities in the province, and why increased forest management is needed to mitigate them.

Vernon resident Murray Wilson is a retired forester who is the writer and lead producer of the 45-minute film. 

“We bring a lot of different voices coming from related sectors who have a lot of experience and education in their fields,” he said. “The film includes interviews, government data and wildfire footage taken in BC and California.” 

The film came about after Wilson wrote an opinion piece on solutions to wildfires in a local paper last year. Kelowna resident Rick Maddison invited him to do a podcast on the topic.

Maddison lost his home in the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire and has since taken a closer look at the impacts of wildfires on BC residents.

“The podcast was well received and (Maddison) invited me and another retired forester from Kamloops to speak at a business conference in Kelowna where it was suggested we do a film,” Wilson said. 

In August of last year, Wilson interviewed several professionals in the forest and wildfire industries and spent the winter fundraising to get the documentary filmed.

During the filming, he went to a conference on wildfires in northern California for a week.

“There are a lot of parallels with the forests I looked at in California and those we see in BC,” he said. “They have a good fire resiliency action plan for reducing wildfire risk and are strong advocates for more active forest management.”

A trailer was released in February that garnered more than 70,000 views, and the film was put together at the end of April.

The main message of BC is Burning is a need for increased forest management.

READ MORE: Kamloops film director wins support for debut feature on homelessness

“We need to increase the pace and scale of forest management in the province,” Wilson said. “Current forest management is ‘let’s do nothing, let’s put it in a park’. Since 2017, we’ve burned over two million hectares of parks, old growth areas, scenic areas, areas we’ve said we don’t want to see harvested.”

Wilson said the main driver behind wildfires is dead forest fuel.

“When the lightening hits it, BC Wildfire Service has a tough hill to climb because they’ve got this massive amount of fuel that is dead and down, so the fire takes off and you can’t put it out, you have to manage the fuel.”

READ MORE: $1.5B copper mine expansion near Logan Lake passes environmental assessment

BC is Burning was produced and written by Wilson, initiated by associate producer Maddison, and directed with production support by Ryan Tebbutt of Edge Digital in Kelowna.

The independently produced film was funded through community support with Kelowna farm Homestead Foods stepping in as the title sponsor. Maddison and Wilson gratefully acknowledge major support from Skyline Helicopters, Padoin Reforestation, and Castlegar lumber company, Kalesnikoff.

The Kelowna screening takes place at 7 p.m. on June 24 at Mary Irwin Theatre at 421 Cawston Avenue, and tickets are available here.

The Vernon screening takes place at 7 p.m. on June 26 at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre, and tickets are available here.

Following the screening, the filmmaker and featured guests will take questions from the audience.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2025