Hot Topic
THIRD FLOOR | JULY 8, 2025 – AUGUST 30, 2025
A CULTURAL MAPPING OF THE FIRESMART PROGRAM
For years, residents of Kamloops have lived alongside wildfires, learning, adapting, and sharing their experiences. But what do we really know about fire? And what do we need to learn?
Hot Topic: Cultural Mapping of the FireSmart Program invites guests to draw the answers. Opening Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at the Kamloops Museum and Archives, this interactive exhibition puts community knowledge front and centre.
In partnership with Thompson Rivers University, the City of Kamloops, the Kamloops Art Gallery, United Way and the FireSmart Program, we’re asking guests to chart their wildfire experiences.
Where have you felt the heat? Which neighbourhoods keep you up at night? Which stories guide your safety steps?
Your maps become more than ink on paper. They’ll fuel research into how our community thinks about fire, what we know and what we need to know.
Step into the Kamloops Museum and Archives. Share your perspective. Learn from your neighbours. Help shape the conversations that keep our homes and forests safe.
A collaborative exhibition from Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops Museum and Archives, City of Kamloops, Kamloops Art Gallery, United Way and the FireSmart Program.
Detailed events, including documentary screenings, a reception with light refreshments and speeches, and an open-house community discussion with maps on display created over the summer, will all be communicated to the public as the exhibition evolves in the coming weeks.
The researchers gratefully acknowledge support for this project from the Wawanesa Insurance Wildfire Community Resilience Fund
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Admission By Donation Suggested
$1 per child & $3 per adult.
Frequently Asked Questions -
Museum Hours
Tuesday - Saturday: 9:30am - 4:30pm
Sunday & Monday: Closed -
Archive Hours
Tuesday - Friday: 1:15pm - 4:00pm
Saturday: By Appointment
Sunday & Monday: Closed -
Please Note:
The admissions desk may ask that you check your bags and any food and beverages upon entry.
We encourage you to talk in our galleries, have fun, and discuss the content and artifacts you see as you make your way around the building. Laugh, cry, and remember that we like hearing our galleries active!
Exhibition Details
HOT TOPIC OPEN HOUSE
Wildfires shape our landscapes, our stories, and our communities. Join us for HOT TOPIC OPEN HOUSE at the Kamloops Museum and Archives on Friday, September 5, from 4:30 to 6 PM for an evening of conversation, connection, and cultural mapping.
Hosted with Thompson Rivers University, this free event brings together wildfire experts, local partners, and community voices to explore FireSmart methods, resilience, and our shared experiences.
Enjoy thoughtful discussions, music, and light refreshments.
RSVP via email [email protected] or call 250-828-3577.
Find details at KamloopsMuseum.ca/events
Contribute To Hot Topic
In collaboration with Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops Museum and Archives, City of Kamloops, Kamloops Art Gallery, United Way, and the FireSmart Program, researchers are asking the Kamloops community to create maps showing what they know about wildfires and forest fires. The Kamloops Museum and Archives is a space to convene, to share, and to participate in cultural mapping this summer.
Participants will share their experiences as community members, describing their experiences with wildfire. The researchers will use the contributions to this experience to write and discuss what was learned about what the people of Kamloops know or need to know about fires.
KAMLOOPS MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES | FLOOR THREE
207 SEYMOUR ST
TUESDAYS TO SATURDAYS | 9:30AM – 4:30PM
