Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Spotted at Bradley Creek Wildfire

Canada Task Force 1 vehicles spotted amid Bradley Creek wildfire response

August 6 2026 - A convoy of Canada Task Force 1 (CAN-TF1) vehicles, including a large equipment trailer, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services support vans, an ambulance and pickups, was seen today entering the Bradley Creek wildfire zone west of Vernon.

The team’s specific duties on this incident have not been publicly confirmed.

While CAN-TF1 is capable of conducting searches, including for missing persons, there is no official information indicating whether that forms part of their current assignment.

In similar wildfire situations in 2023, the team was deployed to the West Kelowna (McDougall Creek) and Columbia Shuswap fires to perform rapid structural damage assessments. After the main fire fronts had passed, CAN-TF1 surveyed roughly 3,000 residences and completed detailed assessments on approximately 500 properties.

Across the broader Central Okanagan fires that summer, fewer than 190 structures were seriously damaged or destroyed.

CAN-TF1 specializes in complex technical operations that often exceed local agency capacity. Its capabilities include structural collapse rescue, confined-space operations, technical search and canine search, water rescue, hazardous materials response, engineering assessments, advanced medical support and full incident-management support.

The self-sufficient team can operate at multiple sites for up to 10 days.

On large multi-jurisdictional events such as major wildfires that cross municipal, regional and First Nations boundaries, the task force can supply coordinated command support, specialized technical expertise and standardized damage-assessment capacity to help unify response efforts.

Canada Task Force 1 is one of six federally supported Heavy Urban Search and Rescue teams in Canada. It was established in Vancouver in the mid-1990s by Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, primarily as an earthquake-preparedness measure, and later expanded into a national program with additional teams in Calgary, Toronto, Manitoba, Halifax and Montreal.

Recent deployments include the 2025 Abbotsford flooding, a 2025 Nanaimo confined-space search, the 2024 Chilcotin River landslide (incident-management support), and several landslides and structural incidents in 2024.

Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Spotted at Bradley Creek Wildfire