2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire

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The fire spreads from Rattlesnake Island

View of the fire from Westbank

Satellite image of the 2003 fire

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 45,000 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 4 Conair owned Canadair CL-215s and at least one Martin Mars water bomber working the fire. Aside from an unrelated crash, there was no loss of human life during the entire incident.

Amateur Radio Operators helped pass Emergency traffic during this emergency.