[7] On July 7, the first of many major fires began, starting at two hectares and quickly progressing to be eight times larger by that evening, requiring an evacuation alert that same day.

The fires were aggressive and grew quickly, prompting a state of emergency as well as several evacuation alerts and orders.

The next day, 182 total fires were active throughout the province prompted the issuing of up to 20 evacuation alerts and orders.

As of August 20, the fire reached its largest size of 227,000 hectares, spreading as far south as Gang Ranch west of 100 Mile House.

On July 7, a provincial state of emergency was declared by Todd Stone, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, on behalf of the Government of British Columbia.

They concluded that “the risk factors affecting the event, and the area burned itself, were made substantially greater by anthropogenic climate change... and that anthropogenic climate change increased the area burned by a factor of 7–11.”[7] Heat waves and a lack of rainfall throughout the province leading up to the wildfires had dried out vegetation and soil.

[16] The wildfires reportedly destroyed over 300 buildings ranging from homes and barns to commercial structures.

In addition, five cities, from Surrey to Williams Lake opened group lodging centres for evacuees.

[19] The Red Cross opened support centres in Kamloops and Williams Lake and provided assistance to those affected by the fires with funds from donors, the federal government and the province of BC, as promised by Premier Christy Clark.

[20] On September 5, 2017, Canadian Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay announced that farmers and ranchers impacted by the wildfires would be provided $20 million in aid by various levels of government.