A video circulating on social media is providing insight into the wrath of a wildfire that triggered a battle to save the evacuated village of Clinton, B.C., and the surrounding community, where homes and other structures have been lost.
A local official confirmed the residential area in Clinton itself was largely spared, but there were structural losses on the outskirts of the village of several hundred residents, about 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
The video shot through the window of a moving pickup truck shows a smouldering field of blackened dirt and gravel littered with scorched metal, vehicles and equipment, along with downed power lines at the side of the road.
Steve Larabie, the owner of Steve’s Towing and Autobody, said someone sent him the video, which shows part of his property three kilometres south of Clinton.
Larabie and his wife, their children, son-in-law and two grandchildren made it out safely, but he said they “lost everything” when the Pear Lake fire roared in.
He told The Canadian Press on Saturday that he didn’t know who shot the video.
The BC Wildfire Service hadn’t posted any photos of the Clinton area since last Thursday, the day before the wildfire surged, but on Monday it shared several.
One of the latest photos, dated Monday, shows smoke in the forested hills around Clinton, with residential areas in the village itself appearing intact.
The village posted a statement to its Facebook page on Monday saying staff expected to be able to start assessing the damage over the next day or two, and affected property owners would be contacted directly.
The Pear Lake fire forced the evacuation of Clinton on Friday and it merged with another blaze the next day, growing to span more than 600 square kilometres.
The blaze prompted an expanded evacuation order for the community of 70 Mile House, about 30 kilometres north of Clinton, on Monday.
Nicolas Kosovic, a councillor with the village of Clinton, said there would be some “tragic stories” as structural losses are confirmed.
This handout still image from a video shot on Saturday, July 25, 2026, shows the smouldering aftermath of the Pear Lake wildfire that swept towards Clinton, B.C., a day earlier.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Facebook, Joey Johnson (Mandatory Credit)
“I know everyone is speculating. Certainly, I was thinking about what happened to my house,” he said in an interview on Monday, adding he had just received word that his house was still standing as of Sunday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2026.
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