‘I just love them all’: B.C. café owners feed hungry crews as wildfires burn

The area surrounding the village of several hundred residents is under a series of evacuation orders and alerts that were expanded or imposed late Wednesday due to the 108-square-kilometre Fiftynine Creek fire.

Maria Kosovic said her restaurant served its first meal to a dozen firefighters on Saturday night. Word spread, and more hungry firefighters came.

Maria, her son and their three teenage employees then spent the rest of the week feeding crew members, often waking up at 3 a.m. to serve breakfast at 5 a.m., or making dinners at 10 p.m. to serve weary crews.

They planned dozens of meals, from the Mexican fare the café is known for to lasagnas, chicken pot pies and salads. Then people started bringing them free ingredients from other cities, since Clinton isn’t large enough for a supermarket.

“We would just cook. If we had extras we’d just flag down a crew and they’d come in, grab their food. Pay for it, don’t pay for it, doesn’t matter,” Nicholas Kosovic said.

“We got boxes upon boxes of chips and cookies and chocolate that we’d just add on. Drinks, energy drinks, anything to keep them fuelled up.”

Maria Kosovic said the firefighters, who call her “Mama Maria,” are mostly under the age of 30 and she thinks of them as her children.

“They are helping us. They are trying to keep our homes safe. How could you not help by cooking for them?”

The restauran’t job is over for now — the wildfire service is bringing its camp cooks — but that didn’t stop the Kosovics from setting up free coffee and snacks for firefighters outside the café on Thursday morning.

Mayor Roland Stanke said in an interview on Thursday that the fire is getting dangerously close to Clinton’s water shed, threatening a supply that is already under major restrictions.

“If it gets into the water shed, well, then we’re in major trouble,” Stanke said.

He said ashes were falling everywhere in the community, and the smoke made it hard to breathe and talk.

Stanke said the town is dealing with traffic from tourists, as Highway 97 dissects the community, as well as a fire crews who are filling up the hotels.

BC Wildfire Service said hot and dry conditions are challenging firefighting efforts, and it expects the fire to grow throughout the day.

The entire city of Kimberley in southeast B.C. with a population of more than 8,000 also remains under evacuation alert due to a nearby complex of fires, while authorities have urged any holdout residents in Boston Bar to escape as nearby fires surround the Fraser Canyon community.

Patricia Ross, board chair for the Fraser Valley Regional District, said seven buildings have been destroyed by the Ainslie Creek Fire burning near Boston Bar.

Four of the buildings are either homes or seasonal cabins, while the other three are commercial or out buildings, Ross said.

“That is the only area we have been able to get in and check. The rest of them are just too dangerous. So, there is probably more damage. We just can’t get in there yet,” she said.

Those blazes are among more than 80 wildfires burning across the province, with the BC Wildfire Service warning that heat and limited rain is expected throughout this week, which elevates the potential for new fire starts.

There were overnight evacuation orders from the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District on Thursday and an evacuation alert for an area around Texas Creek, south of Lillooet.

The wildfire service says smoky skies may worsen in the northeastern and central regions.

As residents in Clinton pack up, preparing to flee if necessary, Stanke said the rumour mill is making it harder for people to get information about the fire.

“There’s a lot of angst, a lot of uncertainty. They’re making it more difficult by surfing Facebook and other things like that where misinformation is shared,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2026.

-With files from Wolfgang Depner in Victoria

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

‘I just love them all’: B.C. café owners feed hungry crews as wildfires burn

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