A small fire was started by lightning on Aug. 16, 2003 and largely ignored at first, but quickly grew. BC-Okanagan (Central) / Kettle Valley 30 min driving from Downtown Kelowna. In Kelowna, BC, the devastating Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire in 2003 that destroyed hundreds of homes and threatened the lives of firefighters. Tourism and the local wine industry were heavily impacted by the fire. For more information contact us at info@libretexts.org or check out our status page at https://status.libretexts.org. At 2:00 am, August 16, 2013 lightning struck at Squally Point in the Southern part of Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park. The firestorm challenged personnel from over 60 fire departments across BC: over 1,000 forestry fire fighters, contractors and loggers as well as 1,400 members of the Canadian armed forces. If you are reading this in print, you can view the following video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPG8zB-V1E, An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. Approximately one third of Kelowna's residents were evacuated and about 250 homes were destroyed. On July 2, 1999, a planned 100 … An obstacle course of trees lies along this trail through the remnants of the Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire in 2003. These trestles were part of the Myra Canyon Section of the Kettle Valley Railway, in use from 1914 to 1978, and were considered a historic engineering feat. The fire grew northward and eastward, initially threatening a small number of lakeshore homes, but quickly became an interface zone fire as it approached the city of Kelowna. The Okanagan Mountain Park fire of August and September 2003 consumed over 25,000 hectares of forest and park land south and east of the city, forcing the evacuation of more than 27,000 people and destroying 239 homes on the southern edges of the city. It was just the beginning of the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire. On August 16, 2003, a wildfire was started near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park in British Columbia. The Kelowna Crags, a rock-climbing area within the fire zone was compromised by the heat of the fires, and six marine campgrounds accessible only by boat on Okanagan Lake, were destroyed. The Good Creek fire burning in Okanagan Mountain Park is now estimated at 340 hectares in size. Figure 8.12 Satellite image in natural colours of the fire location and the surrounding area. The one-in-a-hundred-year inferno began with a lightning strike and was fuelled by a constant wind and one of the driest summers in a decade. On August 16, 2003, at about 4 a.m., 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 the driest summer on record up to that time. The fire also destroyed 12 historic wooden railway trestles and damaged two other steel trestles in the Myra Canyon. On August 16, 2003, a wildfire was started near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park in British Columbia. The fire grew northward and eastward, initially threatening a small number of lakeshore homes, but quickly became an interface zone fire as it approached the city of Kelowna. Be prepared to cross streams, traverse though grasslands and enjoy stunning sights of the Okanagan valley. As mentioned above, Okanagan Mountain Park was burned by a huge wildfire in 2003. An interface zone is an area where urban development occurs on or near lands that have a significant fire risk. August is the peak tourist season in the Okanagan region and tourism numbers are estimated to have declined 30% to 50% below normal during the period of the fire. An interface zone is an area where urban development occurs on or near lands that have a significant fire risk. Deadfall remains an obstacle in some places. If this fire started in the peak of fire season, like the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire, the response from the B.C. On August 16, a lightning strike sparked a wildfire near Rattlesnake Island, located along the eastern shores of Okanagan Lake, across from Peachland. N 49° 44.382 W 119° 45.868. Noelle Kekula, with BC Wildfire Service, is heading up the incident command centre for the Okanagan wildfires. British Columbia in a Global Context by Geography Open Textbook Collective is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. In the end, 239 buildings were destroyed. In August of 2003, the Central Okanagan was experiencing one of its driest summers in a decade. The one-in-a-hundred-year inferno began with a lightning strike on Aug. 16. Kekula says while Good Creek is a priority fire it is burning in the same area of the 2003 wildfire. 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire: | | | 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire | | | ... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. The park is dominated by Okanagan Mountain, with its striking canyons and rugged rock out- The Kelowna Crags, a rock-climbing area within the fire zone was compromised by the heat of the fires, and six marine campgrounds accessible only by boat on Okanagan Lake, were destroyed. If you are reading this in print, you can view the following video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPG8zB-V1E. Although St. Hubertus was the only winery damaged by fire, many others in the region also lost their crop that year due to smoke taint. Case Study 1: The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts, Homelessness and Poverty in the First World, Territories, Natural Resources and First Treaties, Case Study 1: The Indian Residential School System, Case Study 2: Carrier Nation and the Endako Mine, Case Study 1: The Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), Case Study 2: Managing the BC Salmon Fishery, Case Study 1: The "Golden Hour" and Access to Health Care, Case Study 2: Urban Heat Islands, Health and Spatial Technologies, 8. Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park; IUCN category II (national park) Play media. The burned trees and other fire-related hazards posed an extreme danger and the park was closed. Tourism and the local wine industry were heavily impacted by the fire. 's history. The firestorm challenged personnel from over 60 fire departments across BC: over 1,000 forestry fire fighters, contractors and loggers as well as 1,400 members of the Canadian armed forces. 8.9: Case Study 3- 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire, [ "article:topic", "license:ccby", "program:bcc" ], https://socialsci.libretexts.org/@app/auth/3/login?returnto=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialsci.libretexts.org%2FBookshelves%2FGeography_(Human)%2FBook%253A_British_Columbia_in_a_Global_Context%2F08%253A_Physical_Geography_of_British_Columbia%2F8.09%253A_Case_Study_3-_2003_Okanagan_Mountain_Park_Fire. Half Way Bay on Lake Okanagan during Golden Hour in Winter. Gerry Zimmermann, seen here in 2003 when he was the Kelowna fire chief during the Okanagan Mountain Park Wildfire that swept through Kelowna’s south … Swirling winds pushed the fire North and South, destroying the Okanagan’s largest park. On August 16, 2003, a wildfire was started near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park in British Columbia. The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire resulted in large-scale evacuations and the loss of over 200 homes. Started by lightning in the park on Aug. 16, 2003, the wildfire eventually grew in size to 26,000 hectares. Although St. Hubertus was the only winery damaged by fire, many others in the region also lost their crop that year due to smoke taint. The one-in-a-hundred-year inferno began with a lightning strike and was fuelled by a constant wind and one of the driest summers in a decade. The fire also destroyed the St. Hubertus winery, and many other wineries in the region lost their crops due to smoke taint. It extends from the lakeshore (342 m elevation) to the top of Okanagan Mountain (1579 m). Quick Description: It was a scary time in the central Okanagan in August of 2003 and we happened to be there to witness it all. 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