Camp Safety

Wildfire near Princeton BC

UPDATE: July 16, 10:29 am

Fantastic News: The Evacuation Alert has been rescinded! 

Again, we are incredibly grateful to the RDOS staff, BC Wildfire Service, Incident Command, local firefighters, and all those from Princeton and the surrounding area who responded. Your dedication and expertise have been a true gift to our community.

To all our friends and Young Life family – Your prayers were answered! We even got a little rain!

We were thrilled to welcome hundreds of teens to experience an amazing week of camp at RockRidge Canyon. At dinner we gave thanks to God and celebrated, with relief, joy and lots of laughter.  

NOTE: We continue to monitor air quality and will make adjustments as needed to our programming. As we do each and every summer, we regularly check BC Wildfires to ensure that we are aware of what is happening around us. Because the August Lake fire is held and all the alerts and orders have been rescinded we will now conclude our regular updates related to this situation. Should the circumstances change, we will of course begin updating again.

Monday, July 14, 2:59 pm

Praise God! It’s a good afternoon at camp!

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has officially downgraded the evacuation order affecting the Princeton neighbourhood along the road to RockRidge Canyon. While this downgrade is extremely positive news, this area and RockRidge Canyon remains in the Alert zone so we are continuing to monitor the situation closely.  

To first responders

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the RDOS staff, BC Wildfire Service, local firefighters, and everyone from Princeton and the surrounding area who responded with such skill, speed, and care. You are an incredible team and a true blessing. We’re deeply grateful for your wisdom, hard work, and the way you kept our neighbours—and us at camp—safe.

Your clear communication allowed our team to carry out plans smoothly and confidently. Thank you for going above and beyond. Please know you’ll remain in our prayers as you continue your work across BC.

Prayer team

Our deepest gratitude goes out to the incredible team of prayer warriors who lifted camp up to God.

Looking ahead

We’re excited to say we have the green light to welcome our next group of campers tomorrow afternoon! 

While the skies are clear and air quality is good, keep in mind there are wildfires in the Similikameen valley which may affect air quality in the coming days. As part of camp’s Emergency preparedness plans we recommend campers and guests bring a water bottle, day pack and a few snacks in case we need to move off site. 

With hearts full of gratitude, we’re pressing on—joyfully and prayerfully—into the rest of the summer.

On behalf of our whole team, THANK YOU!

Carolyn Mortensen
VP, Camping Ministry, Young Life of Canada

Wildfire near Princeton BC

Sunday, July 13, 8:40pm

No further updates at this time.

Wildfire near Princeton BC

Sunday, July 13, 2:15 pm

Thanks for your patience and prayers as we’ve navigated the situation surrounding the August Lake Wildfire close to RockRidge Canyon. 

Here are a few important updates:

• All WyldLife Week 1 Campers and Leaders were able to safely and routinely leave camp at 9 AM this morning. They are now en route home and by all accounts had a wonderful and rather ‘normal’ week of camp despite the circumstances.
• Our Executive Leadership Team and on-site team at RRC (Property and Camp Managers) met with a group from BC Wildfires, the RDOS and town of Princeton staff earlier today. They are making good progress on the fire and have confidence in their efforts to suppress it. The threat of the fire to RRC is extremely low, the concern is the road leading into camp that is being used by fire teams extensively.
• In an effort to be good neighbours, we have opted to delay the start of WyldLife Week 2 by 24 hours. Fire Services are using the road into camp while managing the fire and they have asked that it not be occupied with buses and vehicles on Monday. At present, we have confidence that camp will be able to start on the afternoon of Tuesday July 15th.
• If you are sending a camper to WyldLife Week Two, you should have received an email from Young Life of Canada early Sunday afternoon. If you did not receive this communication, please reach out to communications@younglife.ca.
• We are so grateful for the property staff, Assignment Team and Work Staff on site at RockRidge Canyon. They have made excellent and wise decisions in the last 48 hours. They all remain safely on site at RockRidge Canyon.
  

We will continue to monitor the situation and anticipate another official update from Fire Services this evening. Should our plans for the days ahead change in any way, updates will continue to be posted here. 

Please do not call the RockRidge Canyon office as we are keeping all communication lines open for emergency services. 

If you need to be in touch with us, please reach out to incidents@younglife.ca.

Please join us in praying for the ongoing protection of all those on site, RockRidge Canyon and all those who are actively managing and helping in this situation. 

Sincerely, 

The Executive Leadership Team, Young Life of Canada

Wildfire near Princeton BC

Sunday July 13, 2025

UPDATE: 9:07 am

Good morning. It’s another sunny day at RockRidge Canyon. While camp remains in the alert zone, we remain in a HOLD in place situation and have not been asked to evacuate. We continue to feel safe and secure at RockRidge Canyon.

Our WyldLife Week One campers will leave at approximately 9:00 am this morning, as planned. While the road is safe for their departure and they’ll be allowed to pass through, traffic on the road into camp is being monitored by security and is limited only to camp staff at this time.

We remain in close contact with the Regional District of Okanagan and Similakmeen and the Incident Command team and will provide additional updates as they are made available to us. 

We’ll provide a more detailed update related to our next camp(s) in the next couple of hours. 

Thanks for your patience, prayers and concern as we continue to monitor the situation and make decisions about next steps.

Please do not call the RockRidge Canyon office as we are keeping all communication lines open for emergency services. 

If you need to be in touch with us, please reach out to incidents@younglife.ca.

Please join us in praying for the ongoing protection of all those on site, RockRidge Canyon and all those who are actively managing and helping in this situation. 

Sincerely, 

The Executive Leadership Team, Young Life of Canada

Wildfire near Princeton BC

Saturday July 12, 2025

UPDATE: 9:49 pm

We want to be sure to keep you updated and informed and understand that this type of situation leads to anxiety and many questions. We continue to monitor the situation, but have several positive, ‘in the right direction’ updates to provide you with. 

We have just been given an update from the RCMP and were told that while the camp remains under an evacuation ‘alert’, they do not believe that RockRidge Canyon will need to be evacuated.

The fire teams made swift work of dumping water and fire retardant and have made good progress in the containment of the fire. 

The mood and feel at camp is quite ‘normal.’ While everyone is aware of the situation, the fires are not a felt-reality at RockRidge Canyon – they’ve got blue skies, no smoke and camp activities have continued as planned throughout the afternoon and evening. 

As we practiced and moved through our emergency plans and procedures throughout the day, we had pivoted our regular departure plans to move from 11 AM to 9 AM. Campers will leave two hours early via their regular transportation plans for their trip to camp. Be assured, this is a regular departure, at a different time – not an emergency precaution. Students will have their cellphones once they are on the buses in the morning. 

While we are optimistic about these updates and the progress on the fire, we will continue to monitor overnight and have a response team established and roles clearly defined to shift our plans should the situation change. 

Should anything change between now and tomorrow morning’s departure, we will post an update here. 

Our team will regroup in the morning to make a decision about the start time of WyldLife Week 2 that is set to start at camp on Monday. We will post an update here once we have made those decisions based on the guidance we receive from fire services in the area. 

Please do not call the RockRidge Canyon office as we are keeping all communication lines open for emergency services. 

If you need to be in touch with us, please reach out to incidents@younglife.ca.

Please join us in praying for the ongoing protection of all those on site, RockRidge Canyon and all those who are actively managing and helping in this situation. 

Sincerely, 

The Executive Leadership Team, Young Life of Canada

Wildfire near Princeton BC

Saturday July 12, 2025

UPDATE: 8:13 pm

​​This afternoon we were notified that a wildfire started near Princeton. It is actively being responded to by the BC Wildfire Service. Everyone at RockRidge Canyon is safe. All staff and campers are aware and prepared to leave camp property promptly, if required. This would happen at the direction of and with assistance from fire services. 

We are in close communication with the Incident Command and have been given a HOLD in place position. We have an evacuation plan in place. At present, we’ve been assured that this is the safest and wisest option for safety of campers, volunteers and staff. 

We will post updates as we get them, between now and 11 PM PDT, and again starting early in the morning. 

Please do not call the RockRidge Canyon office as we are keeping all communication lines open for emergency services. 

If you need to be in touch with us, please reach out to incidents@younglife.ca.

Please join us in praying for the ongoing protection of all those on site, RockRidge Canyon and all those who are actively managing and helping in this situation. 

Sincerely, 

The Executive Leadership Team, Young Life of Canada