2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire

2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire
Location	Okanagan Mountain Park
Date	August 16, 2003 (2003-08-16)
Burned area	250 square kilometres (62,000 acres)
Ignition source	lightning strike
Land use	Parkland, Rural
Buildings destroyed	239
Injuries	water bomber crash

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 lightning struck homes. The final size of the firestorm was over 250 square kilometers (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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire

• "Okanagan Mountain Fire: house sites aftermath". http://www.ualberta.ca/~walld/kf.html. Retrieved 14 January 2009.  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. Archived from the original on 20 September 2005. 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)

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