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Okanagan Mountain Park Fire Summer 2003 Case Study

Explore the Okanagan Valley's geography, the devastating Okanagan Mountain Park Fire of 2003, its impacts on the physical environment, economy, politics, and society/culture, and the challenges faced. Discover the fire's causes, effects on wildlife and tourism, economic repercussions, and the political and social implications, including the massive evacuation and response efforts.

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Okanagan Mountain Park Fire Summer 2003 Case Study

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  1. Okanagan Mountain Park Fire Summer 2003 Case Study

  2. Five Lenses of Geography Physical Environment Economic Politics Social / Cultural

  3. Physical • (Historical Perspective) • Okanagan Valley formation influenced by: • Tectonic Plate Divergence • Glacial Erosion and Deposition Kelowna, Okanagan Valley

  4. Hot Spots on the shores of Okanagan Lake

  5. Physical • (Contemporary Perspective) • Natural Vegetation – mixture of grasslands and coniferous forests on the slopes of the valley • Climate – Kelowna (Elevation: 372 m 49N 119W) • Annual precipitation: 366.4 mm • Why is Kelowna so much drier than Vancouver? • Avg. daily maximum in July and August: 27 to 28 deg. C A view of the Okanagan Mountain Park fire from Summerland

  6. Physical cont. • (Okanagan Mountain Park Fire Specifics) • Started Saturday August 16, 2003 by lightning • Approximately 20 000 hectares or 200 sq. km in size by late August Okanagan Mountain Park Fire (18 hours old)

  7. Aided by record low precipitation in July and August (eg Kelowna - 0.8 mm in August in comparison to the normal of 33.9 mm) • Aided by a build up of “fuel” on the forest floor (i.e. small trees and underbrush which act as ladders for fires to reach to the tops of older and taller trees) • On Friday August 24, aided by 70 km / h winds which helped to move the fire as fast as 100 metres per minute Friday Night Firestorm

  8. Convection When a fire starts, it heats air molecules around it and causes them to rise leaving lower air pressure near the surface. This lower air pressure acts like a vacuum to draw in air from around the fire. The oxygen in the air causes the fire to grow even further. A ferocious forest fire can reach temperatures as high as 800 degrees Celsius. L

  9. Environment • Considerable alteration of the natural ecosystem; forests will need time to regenerate and rejuvenate; areas will revert to natural grasslands • Disruption of wildlife • Air Quality and Visibility concerns Hazy sunshine through the smoke Threatened Wildlife

  10. Forest fire ash on the back of a car in downtown Kelowna

  11. Economic

  12. Economic • Loss of over 240 homes; insurance costs go up • Federal disaster fund assistance to the Kelowna community • The cost of fighting forest fires to the provincial government: $4 million to $7 million per day depending upon the situation; close to $400 million for the Summer of 2003 (province-wide) where “interface” fires have been unusually common.As of August 23, there have been 2162 fires reported in BC and 170 000 hectares of forest burned. Note: $55 million had been budgeted to fight forest fires this year. • Decline in tourism eg winery tours and lake recreation • Reconstruction jobs • Concern over price gouging i.e. rent hikes • Disruption to the forest industry

  13. Political • Questions: • Should the Okanagan Mountain Park Forest have been managed differently to prevent such a large fire (i.e. controlled burns to reduce the “fuel” on the ground)? • Note: The provincial government is planning to return to a policy of controlled burns later this fall or early spring. Over the past ten to fifteen years prescribed burning was frowned upon due in part to public dislike for smoke. • Will there be lawsuits by fire victims against the provincial government stemming from allegations of mismanagement of the forest? • Will there be an investigation into whether or not more could have been done to prevent the fire from spreading in the first place?

  14. Political cont. Will federal disaster relief assistance come in a timely fashion? How will the provincial government pay for the cost overruns in fighting forest fires this year?

  15. Social / Cultural • The evacuation of over 26 000 people on Thursday August 21 and Friday August 22 from the Kelowna area is “believed to be the largest evacuation in the shortest period of time in Canada’s history” (Vancouver Sun Monday August 25, 2003 p A2 by Matthew Ramsey, Lori Culbert, and Amy O’Brian). • Community grieves but also unites to help one another • Fire fighters are praised and the Kelowna Fire Chief Gerry Zimmermann is compared to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. • “Fire tourists” are warned to stay away from ravaged areas

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