BC minister pushes mental health support for evacuees after 100s of homes lost to wildfire

For health system leaders, the Okanagan wildfire emergency reveals a pressing care delivery gap: mental health support in the immediate aftermath of disaster. When Minister Kelly Greene toured reception centres, she didn't just survey damage—she championed the 'purple shirt' psychosocial teams as an essential frontline service, emphasizing that addressing psychological trauma must be as routine as providing blankets and meals. This model could reshape how emergency response integrates behavioral health, especially in Indigenous communities facing repeated climate-related devastation.

Amid a provincial state of emergency and the peak of the Bradley Creek wildfire in British Columbia's Okanagan region, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Kelly Greene conducted a two-day visit to Vernon and Kelowna on August 10-11, 2026. Her tour brought into sharp focus the intersection of disaster response, mental health, and climate resilience, particularly for Indigenous communities like the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB), which has lost hundreds of homes to this latest blaze. The crisis comes just five years after the White Rock Creek wildfire in 2021 devastated the same lands, compounding trauma and testing the province's ability to deliver psychosocial support amid worsening climate disasters.

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Her tour brought into sharp focus the intersection of disaster response, mental health, and climate resilience, particularly for Indigenous communities like the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB), which has lost hundreds of homes to this latest blaze.

The minister's central message was that mental health support is no longer an ancillary service but a core pillar of emergency management. Greene explicitly highlighted the Disaster Psychosocial Support program—identifiable by their purple shirts—deployed at reception centres to assist both evacuees and volunteers. "It's very traumatic to be evacuated because there's so much uncertainty. And for people who are evacuated and then learn their home has been lost, it's just doubly traumatizing," Greene told Black Press Media, emphasizing that the emotional toll equals the physical needs of shelter and food. This articulation signals a policy shift where psychosocial first aid is institutionalized as part of disaster response, moving beyond ad hoc volunteer counseling to a systematic, visible presence within emergency operations.

The context for this integration is both immediate and long-term. In the short term, reception centres become frontline mental health hubs, with purple-shirted professionals providing intervention for acute stress, grief, and disorientation. The minister also stressed that the well-being of volunteers—who intake traumatized evacuees—must not be overlooked, acknowledging the secondary trauma inherent in disaster work. This dual focus reflects a maturing emergency management philosophy that recognizes responder fatigue as a operational risk, not just a humane concern.

Underpinning the conversation is the stark reality of climate change. Greene directly linked the annual recurrence of destructive wildfires to the ministry's investment in climate resilience, though specific funding figures were not disclosed during the visit. The Bradley Creek fire, which has forced evacuations, destroyed hundreds of structures, and triggered a province-wide state of emergency, is the latest in a string of increasingly severe wildfire seasons in British Columbia. For OKIB, the repeated devastation—now two catastrophic fires in five years—lays bare the disproportionate burden borne by rural and Indigenous communities on the front lines of climate impacts. Chief Dan Wilson's presence alongside the minister underscored the need for culturally appropriate, sustained mental health supports that extend beyond the immediate crisis phase.