PlaceDossier / BC places / Wildfires / 2023

BC wildfire VA1735 · 2023 · 3,053 ha

Young Creek wildfire, 2023

The Young Creek wildfire started on July 15, 2023, caused by lightning. It was declared out on November 10, 2023. Its mapped perimeter covers 3,053 ha: the 78th-largest of 2023's 119 large fires, and the 415th-largest in BC since 1990. All of it was in Central Coast, Electoral Area C. The nearest municipality, Fraser Lake, is roughly 185 km away; the fire covered about 5.5 times the land area of it.

A lot's report shows every mapped fire on it and within 2 km, with the lot drawn on the map.

Where it burned

Heckman Pass Area wildfire, 2009: 2,826 haHighway 20 and Tweedsmuir Park wildfire, 2010: 3,086 haWildfire VA1964, 2018: 44,817 haOctopus Lake wildfire, 2025: 5,471 ha2009 N 02 km

This fireOther large fires since 1990

Outline simplified by us from the BC Wildfire Service's perimeter; not for locating a lot. Check a lot with the search above.

Sources: BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Current, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Incident Locations – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Locations – Current, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on October 2, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Outlines simplified and places measured by PlaceDossier.

Places it reached

PlaceBurned thereOf the place's land
Central Coast, Electoral Area C3,053 haunder 1%

Measured by us: the fire's mapped perimeter laid over Statistics Canada's boundaries of each municipality and electoral area. A place is listed when the fire burned any of a municipality, 25 ha or more of an electoral area, or a twentieth of the fire.

Burned before or since

1 earlier large fire had burned part of this ground, and 1 later large fire burned into it again.

  1. 2009Heckman Pass Area wildfire2,826 ha in all776 ha shared
  2. 2025Octopus Lake wildfire5,471 ha in all379 ha shared

Overlaps measured by us on the mapped perimeters, which are the outer edges: where two overlap, the ground may have burned once, twice or not at all.

The record

Fire numberVA1735
Season2023
StartedJuly 15, 2023
Declared outNovember 10, 2023
CauseLightning
Area inside the perimeter3,053 ha

Past fire is history, not a forecast. The chance of fire on a lot today depends on what the record doesn't show: the forest and grass around it, the slope, what has been thinned or burned since, and how far it is from a fire hall.

Before you buy or build, ask the local government or fire department about the fire protection area, FireSmart work and the distance to a fire hall, and ask your insurer what they need.

Sources: BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Current, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Incident Locations – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Locations – Current, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on October 2, 2026. Outlines simplified and places measured by PlaceDossier.

Larger in 2023: Wildfire G93291. Smaller: Wildfire R31391. Every large fire of 2023 · all seasons since 1990 · has my property burned?