- 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire
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On August 16, 2003 a wildfire was started by a lightning strike near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. The wildfire was fuelled by a constant wind and one of the driest summers in the past decade. Within a few days it had grown into a true firestorm.
The fire grew northward and eastward, initially threatening a small amount of lakeshore homes, but quickly became an interface zone fire and forced the evacuation of 27,000 residents and consumed 239 homes. The final size of the firestorm was over 250 square kilometres (61,776 acres). Most of the trees in Okanagan Mountain Park were burned, and the park was closed.
60 fire departments, 1,400 armed forces troops and 1,000 forest fire fighters took part in controlling the fire, but were largely helpless in stopping the disaster.
There were also at least 10 Conair owned Canadair CL-215s and at least one Martin Mars water bomber working the fire. Aside from a crash by a water bomber, there was no loss of human life during the entire incident.
Amateur Radio Operators helped pass emergency traffic during this emergency.
See also
Operation PEREGRINE over $505 million dollars of repair.
External links
- "Okanagan Mountain Fire: house sites aftermath". http://www.ualberta.ca/~walld/kf.html. Photographs of housing sites a few weeks after the fire, in September and October, 2003. Dr. Denis Wall Copyright.
- "Okanagan Mountain Fire Watch". Castanet.net. http://castanet.firewatch.net/. Retrieved September 30, 2005. - Firewatch page set up for local residents during the fire (has many photos)
- "Okanagan Mountain Fire 2003". Welcome To Kelowna.com. http://www.dotcommediainc.com/slideshow/mixed/index.php3. Retrieved September 30, 2005.- Slideshow of fire photos
- "2003 Firestorm Provincial Review". Province of British Columbia. http://www.2003firestorm.gov.bc.ca/. Retrieved September 30, 2005.
- NASA/JPL satellite image of fires in Northwestern North America August 21, 2003 (1800x1500px)
Categories:- Kelowna
- Wildfires in Canada
- 2003 wildfires
- 2003 in Canada
- Natural disasters in British Columbia
- Weather event stubs
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