As a wine writer, I’ve spent a lot of time in Summerland. It’s where I often stay when I am in the Okanagan Valley and a place I have regularly recommended to readers as a base for exploring the region. Over the years, it has become familiar in a more personal way, through the wineries I return to, the people I have met, and the friends who have made their homes there.
That familiarity makes the events of the past several days particularly difficult to watch. The Bald Range wildfire has forced the evacuation of the entire population of Summerland, a community of approximately 12,000 people. The province has described the fire as one of the fastest and most aggressive wildfires it has seen, and it remains out of control. With hot, dry conditions and wind continuing to challenge firefighters, the situation remains dynamic. Power and water had also been shut down.
For those of us watching from the Lower Mainland, the updates are unsettling. For the people who live and work in Summerland, the experience is something else entirely.
My best friend from university lives there, as do several other friends. Everyone I know is safe, which is the first and most important thing. But safety doesn’t eliminate the uncertainty. There is a profound difference between knowing someone has escaped a wildfire and knowing whether they will have a home, a business or a livelihood to return to.
Some Summerlanders are already dealing with the loss of structures. Others are waiting for news. For anyone who has built a life around a home, vineyard, winery, farm or small business, that waiting must be excruciating.
So, from a distance, the question becomes: How do we help?
The immediate answer is not to visit. With the fire still burning out of control, the community under evacuation and some essential infrastructure shut down, Summerland is not a place for visitors right now. Anyone with travel plans should check official emergency information and follow the direction of local authorities rather than attempting to enter the area.
But there are meaningful ways to support Summerland without being there: Buy Summerland now and visit when it is safe.
The immediate priority is supporting people who have been displaced. Neighbouring communities have responded with extraordinary generosity, offering accommodation, food, supplies and other assistance. A community mutual-aid board, HelpSummerland.ca, has also been established to connect those who need help with those who have something to offer.
For those of us outside the evacuation zone, another form of support will become increasingly important as the immediate emergency subsides—continuing to support the local businesses that make Summerland what it is.
If a Summerland winery has an online shop and can fulfil orders, buy a bottle. Purchase wine from local producers through other available channels. Support a Summerland cider maker, farmer, retailer or independent business where you can. Follow local businesses on social media and share their updates. If you have a favourite, tell someone else about it.
And when Summerland is eventually declared safe and ready to welcome visitors, go back!
That distinction matters. There is a time to stay away and a time to return, and right now Summerland needs us to respect the first. Once the fire is under control, infrastructure restored and authorities determine it is safe, tourism can become one of the ways the broader community helps Summerland recover.
For small businesses, the financial consequences of a wildfire extend well beyond physical damage. An evacuation can mean weeks of lost revenue at precisely the time many seasonal businesses are counting on their busiest months. A winery can lose tasting-room traffic. A farm can lose customers. Restaurants, retailers and accommodation providers can suffer even when their buildings and inventory survive intact.
The uncertainty that follows can be just as difficult. How quickly will visitors return? Will people still feel comfortable booking trips? What happens to businesses that were already operating on narrow margins before the fire?
These questions matter across the Okanagan, where agriculture and tourism are deeply interconnected. A visitor who comes to Summerland to taste wine may stay in a local hotel, eat at a restaurant, buy produce from a farm stand and stop at an independent shop. The health of one part of that network affects all the others.
For those of us who know Summerland through wine, there is an additional reason to pay attention. The Okanagan wine industry is not simply a collection of wineries operating independently of their communities. Vineyards, tasting rooms, restaurants, accommodation, farms and tourism businesses form an interconnected ecosystem, and Summerland is an important part of it.
The people producing wines that have become favourites among British Columbia wine drinkers and beyond live and work here. Their businesses are tied not only to the land, but to the community and the visitors who come to experience it.
That makes this more than an unfortunate event happening somewhere we happen to visit. It’s happening to people we know.
I have been fortunate to spend time with Summerland winemakers and producers, visit their vineyards and tasting rooms, and write about the work they are doing. I have recommended the community to readers not simply because of its wines, but because of the people who make a visit feel personal rather than transactional.
Those relationships change the way a wildfire is experienced from afar. The maps are no longer abstract. You recognize the roads, you know where the wineries are, and you can picture the homes, vineyards and businesses that people are desperately hoping to return to.
And amid the anxiety, some of the most encouraging messages coming from the region have been about people helping one another. That generosity will be essential during the evacuation. But it will matter just as much in the weeks and months that follow.
For now, we can give Summerland space to fight this fire. Then, when it’s safe, we can give it something else: our business, our visits, our attention and our support.
Summerland will need its community to rebuild. It will also need the people who love the Okanagan to show up for it.
The following article is a reprint from writer Allison Wallace’s blog Advinetures.
