🚑 Breaking & Incidents
- Entire Village of Pemberton placed on evacuation alert as Signal Hill fire grows to 38 hectares. The blaze, reported late Wednesday about five kilometres south of Highway 99, is believed to be human-caused and prompted helicopter and air-tanker responses, plus an evacuation order for One Mile Lake Park on Highway 99 to provide working space for crews.
- New evacuation order issued for Boston Bar area as Brunswick and Ainslie Creek fires grow to thousands of hectares. The new order affects properties in Electoral Area A and urges residents to evacuate south via Highway 1; Canada Post has closed the Boston Bar post office and is holding incoming mail off-site.
- Dry lightning forecast could spark up to 150 new fire starts in B.C. in one day. Environment Canada and BC Wildfire Service warn parched conditions across the southern Interior, with the Coastal Fire Centre and Northwest Fire Centre implementing or planning fire bans.
🏛️ Government & Politics
- Metro Vancouver directors asked Chair Mike Hurley to begin process to relieve CAO Jerry Dobrovolny of duties. The request came during a closed-board meeting amid scrutiny over North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant cost overruns and an investigation involving 41 mayors and councillors who are also Metro Vancouver directors.
- Port of Vancouver expansion referred to federal Major Projects Office in Delta announcement. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon noted the port handled a record 170 million metric tons of cargo in 2025 and facilitates $350 billion in annual trade with 170 countries.
- Cyclosporiasis cases rising in Canada with 93 cases in B.C. and 107 in Quebec as of July 11. Quebec reports 107 cases in 2026 versus 30 in the same period in 2025, and Quebec officials say fewer than five cases reported travel to the United States.
🚨 Crime & Public Safety
- 29-year-old Dylan Brandon Gaita remains in custody on six assault counts linked to stranger attacks between Jan. 2025 and June 2026. Gaita faces two counts of assault causing bodily harm, was on probation after earlier attacks, and a publication ban prevents reporting evidence from his bail hearing.
- VPD released video of a distraction theft where an 88-year-old woman had two gold necklaces stolen near Kaslo and East Hastings. Police say the suspects used a dark four-door Kia Soul and that the female suspect sat in the backseat with two children while the driver was a man.
💼 Economy & Business
- Destination Vancouver is booking conferences and cultural events to avoid a post‑World Cup tourism lull after seven games at BC Place. CEO Royce Chwin said events began the day after the July 7 final and noted hotel rates and sales shifts tied to hosting duties across three countries.
- B.C. Rogers customer reports sophisticated delivery scam that led her to courier a phone with a prepaid UPS label. Shamim Rahimi says callers had access to her contract and billing details after ordering a device via the Rogers app, and she returned the phone believing she was sending it to Rogers.
📰 Also Today
- Time-lapse shows Pemberton wildfire growth and smoky conditions, fire at 38 hectares (July 16).
- Chicago reschedules Whitecaps match to Oct. 6 after hazardous AQI 407 in Chicago on July 16.
- A dozen cats missing after New Westminster apartment fire displaced roughly 100 residents.
- Evacuation orders and alerts issued across B.C. as wildfires heat up today.
- Assembly of First Nations questions ministers on major projects and reconciliation in Ottawa.
- Campfire ban coming to B.C.'s South Coast and Vancouver Island; specifics announced by province.
- Prince George mill winding down leaves workers facing uncertain futures as operations scale back.
- Evacuation alert issued for parts of Pemberton due to Signal Hill wildfire near Highway 99.
- Federal government planning announcement on the Port of Vancouver in Delta, B.C., today.
- Lightning in B.C.'s southern Interior raises wildfire concerns for crews monitoring conditions.
- U.S. professor suspects widespread student AI cheating; Canadian educators report growing concern.
- Minister of Public Safety seeks to keep accused murderer and alleged gangster in custody during proceedings.
- Wildfire crews on alert as lightning arrives in tinder-dry regions of B.C. today.
- Grand Forks man found not guilty in hockey arena assault trial, verdict delivered this week.
- Port McNeill pilot killed in helicopter crash remembered as an 'outstanding young man' at memorial.
- B.C. wildfire crews outline preparations and concerns about dry lightning this fire season.
- Seabird Island opens new substance-use treatment program for Indigenous young adults.
- B.C. government forgives $340,000 in legal debts for staffer convicted in 'quick wins' scandal.