In Kelowna the fire season starts the renewal conversation.
There is no S&S counter in the Okanagan. We are licensed to arrange insurance anywhere in British Columbia, so a Kelowna file is built by phone and email, and it is built the same way as one built across a counter. If you are on the coast, our Main Street office in Vancouver is open without an appointment.
Call 604-324-5711 Branch details and hours Build your fileWhere can I find a business insurance broker for Kelowna?
S&S does not have an office in Kelowna. We are licensed to arrange insurance anywhere in British Columbia, and a Kelowna file is handled by phone and email. Call 604-324-5711, or write to us. We answer by the next business day.
What we are asked for most here.
A city that farms, flies, builds and pours, with forest on the hills above most of it. That shapes almost every conversation:
Building inside the wildfire permit area
The 2040 Official Community Plan, Bylaw No. 12300, sets a Wildfire Development Permit Area. The guidelines ask for at least 3 metres between tree canopies and pruning to at least 2.5 metres. Commercial property.
Orchards, vineyards and what happens after picking
The City says 45 per cent of its land base is zoned for agriculture, with about 8,600 hectares in the Agricultural Land Reserve. A place that grows, presses, bottles and pours is doing four different things on one title. What a house policy misses.
Tasting rooms, taprooms and the pour
Serving is its own question, separate from making and separate from selling. It gets asked about at renewal every time. Serving alcohol.
The airport and the work around it
Kelowna International Airport handled 2,315,432 passengers in 2025, its highest on record, and the City owns and runs it. Aviation, freight and the firms that feed them sit on their own set of questions. What a carrier owes you.
Trades across the Okanagan
Kelowna requires a licence under Business Licence and Regulation Bylaw No. 12585, adopted in November 2023. You need a separate licence for more than one location or more than one kind of business. Contractors.
Creeks, the lake and the slope
Mill Creek has its own floodplain bylaw. The hazardous condition permit area covers flooding, mud flows, debris torrents, bank instability, erosion, seepage, land slip, rock falls and subsidence. Water damage cover.
What the City has put in writing.
Kelowna has published more about its own hazards than most cities its size. Here is the short version, with the two fires people still talk about.
One
The plan
The City’s Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan is dated 10 June 2022 and runs to 2026. It sets out how the City thins fuel, runs FireSmart work and plans for the interface.
Two
The permit area
The 2040 Official Community Plan, Bylaw No. 12300, sets a Wildfire Development Permit Area. The guidelines ask for at least 3 metres between tree canopies, pruning to at least 2.5 metres, and 10 metres of defensible space from ridgelines and slopes where it is needed.
Three
2003
The City’s own plan records that the Okanagan Mountain Park fire of August 2003 burned over 25,000 hectares. It destroyed 239 homes on the southern edge of Kelowna.
Four
2023
The McDougall Creek fire of August 2023 burned 13,970 hectares and destroyed 300 homes. The regional district records it as affecting the regional district, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, the City of Kelowna and the District of Lake Country.
Five
The water
Mill Creek has its own floodplain bylaw, No. 10248, which sets a flood construction level. The Official Community Plan says limits on the other watercourses are still being worked out, and it names flood risk along 27 creeks and the Okanagan Lake foreshore.
Sources: City of Kelowna, Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, the 2040 Official Community Plan, hazardous conditions, and the BC Wildfire Service season summaries.
Three things that catch people out here.
The City list and the insurer list are not the same list
The development permit guidelines are the City’s rules for building. An insurer may ask its own questions about clearance, roofing and access. Meeting one list does not settle the other. Commercial property.
Where the water comes from matters
Water off a hill, water out of a creek and water out of a pipe are three different questions, and most wordings answer them in different places. Water damage cover.
What it would take to build back
A rebuild has to meet the rules in force at the time, not the ones that applied when the building went up. If the sum insured was set years ago, it is worth looking at again. How long it pays.
From growers, shops and trades in Kelowna.
Do you have an office in Kelowna?
No. There is no S&S counter in the Okanagan. We are licensed to arrange insurance anywhere in British Columbia, so a Kelowna file is handled by phone and email. Our nearest office is 6607 Main St in Vancouver, and you are welcome there without an appointment if you are on the coast.
Is wildfire damage covered by a property policy?
Fire is one of the things a property policy is built around. Whether a payment is enough to rebuild to the rules in force at the time is a separate question. It turns on the sum insured and the wording. Your own policy document governs.
Does the wildfire development permit area apply to my property?
The Wildfire Development Permit Area is mapped in the 2040 Official Community Plan, Bylaw No. 12300. There is a separate hazardous condition permit area for flooding, slope and ground movement. The City is the place to confirm which maps your address falls on.
Is my building in a Kelowna floodplain?
Mill Creek is the one watercourse with its own floodplain bylaw, No. 10248, and that bylaw sets a flood construction level. The Official Community Plan says limits on the other creeks are still being worked out. The City is the place to confirm whether your own address sits in a mapped floodplain.
Do I need a Kelowna business licence?
The City says every person who owns or operates a business in Kelowna must apply for, obtain and keep a licence. That is Business Licence and Regulation Bylaw No. 12585, adopted 27 November 2023. You need a separate licence for more than one location or more than one kind of business, and the licence has to be displayed.
Can you help if a policy was declined or not renewed?
Yes. Tell us what was said and what was asked for. Some files need to be presented differently rather than sent to more places. Declined or hard to place.
The guides that matter most here.
Water damage cover
Where the wording splits water off a hill from water out of a pipe. Read the guide.
How long business interruption pays
An evacuation is a time question before it is a damage question. Read the guide.
Serving alcohol
For tasting rooms, taprooms and events, the liquor question sits on its own. Read the guide.
Spoilage and equipment breakdown
When the cooler or the chiller stops, the stock goes before the machine does. Read the guide.
What a house policy misses
For anyone running a business from an acreage, this is the gap to know. Read the guide.
What liability does not cover
The short list of things a liability policy is not written to answer. Read the guide.
Why Kelowna files look the way they do.
Kelowna International Airport handled 2,315,432 passengers in 2025, its highest on record, and the City owns and runs it. Across the Central Okanagan 17,299 business licences were issued in 2025, and building permits were valued at $1.35 billion. Health care and social assistance, retail trade and construction are the City’s three largest employment sectors.
Sources: Kelowna International Airport, facts and statistics, the Regional District of Central Okanagan economic indicators, and the City of Kelowna city profile. They open in new tabs. The figures are theirs, not ours.
Not sure what you are carrying and what you are not? Run the Risk Snapshot, or read the insurance guides.
Call us, or write to us.
No ticket, no call centre. Our nearest counter is 6607 Main St, Vancouver, if you are ever on the coast.
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