Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word kiʔláwnaʔ, referring to a grizzly bear.
Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 17,706 (2016). Salmon Arm was incorporated as a municipal district on May 15, 1905. The city of Salmon Arm separated from the district in 1912, but was downgraded to a village in 1958. In 1970, the city of Salmon Arm once again reunited with the District Municipality. Salmon Arm once again became a city in 2005, and is now the location of the head offices of the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District. It is a tourist town in the summer, with many beaches, camping facilities and house boat rentals. Salmon Arm is home to the longest wooden freshwater wharf in North America.
Kelowna International Airport is a Canadian airport located approximately 10 minutes or 6.2 nautical miles northeast of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, on Highway 97.
On August 16, 2003, at about 4 a.m. local time, a wildfire started via lightning strike near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. The wildfire was fuelled by a constant wind and the driest summer on record up to that time. Within a few days it grew into a firestorm.
West Kelowna, formerly known as Westbank and colloquially known as Westside, is a city in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. The city encompasses several distinct neighbourhoods, including Casa Loma, Gellatly, Glenrosa, Lakeview Heights, Shannon Lake, Smith Creek, Rose Valley, Westbank, and West Kelowna Estates. West Kelowna had an estimated population of 34,883 as of December 31, 2018.
Benjamin Richard Stewart is a Canadian politician, who has represented the riding of Kelowna West in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2018 as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party. He previously represented the riding of Westside-Kelowna from 2009 to 2013.
Eastgate is a small cabin community located at the Eastern portal of Manning Provincial Park in the Cascade Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the Similkameen-Okanagan Forest District. The community store and gas station, and formerly the now closed restaurant, are popular for visitors of Manning Park Resort and ski area. The settlement is located along the uppermost Similkameen River. Access to Eastgate is limited solely to east–west travel along the Hope-Princeton Highway. The community has one gas station, a Canco gas station, a cabin rental and a bed and breakfast. The gas station was formerly host to the Eastgate Canada Post Office. The Eastgate Volunteer Fire Department, with three trucks, provides fire protection for the area and frequently participates in forest fire control in the region. The small town shows up on some government maps as Manning Park.
In the hot dry summer of 2003, a fire began to burn in the North Thompson Valley which destroyed numerous homes and businesses. This wildfire started when Mike Barre threw his cigarette butt into the grass on his property in McLure BC. The fire resulted in the loss of 72 houses, 9 businesses, and 180 jobs in the North Thompson Valley. The fire cost $31.1 million CAD to extinguish and caused an additional $8.2 million CAD in property damage. Provincial court Judge Sundhu sentenced Mike Barre to pay a $3000 CAD fine. Barre could have been sentenced to a $1-million fine and as much as three years in prison.
On July 18, 2009, 3 wildfires broke out around the city of West Kelowna, British Columbia during extremely dry and windy conditions. Over 20,000 people were evacuated as a result of the fires. 9,877 hectares of forest was burned along with 4 buildings. All 3 fires were suspected as human caused but the exact ignition source is still unknown.
The Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) system serves the Okanagan region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its administrative headquarters are in Kelowna. The system covers 59,000 square kilometers of area, and serves 360,000 people through 30 branches. ORL was founded in 1936. In 2013, the library held 3.2 million physical items. The library is largely funded through tax revenues from four administrative areas, the Regional District of North Okanagan, the Regional District of Central Okanagan, the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, and the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen. It also receives funding from the provincial and federal governments.
On July 6, 2017, a two-hectare wildfire began west of 100 Mile House, British Columbia, Canada marking the beginning of the record-breaking 2017 wildfire season in British Columbia. On July 7, 56 new fires started throughout British Columbia (BC) leading to several evacuation alerts, orders and the declaration of a provincial state of emergency by the Government of British Columbia. By September 12, 158 fires were burning throughout the province. A total of 12,161 square kilometres had burned by the end of the 2017 fire season, the largest total area burned in a fire season in recorded history. This record was broken the following year, with five of BC's worst 10 fire seasons occurring since 2010. However, the 2017 fire season was also notable for the largest number of total evacuees in a fire season, as well as for the largest single fire ever in British Columbia. Research indicates that human-caused climate change played a significant role in the fires.
By the end of June 2018, there had been more than 560 wildfires in British Columbia.
The 2019 Alberta wildfires have been described by NASA as part of an extreme fire season in the province. In 2019 there were a total of 803,393.32 hectares, which is over 3.5 times more land area burned than in the five-year average burned. The five year average is 747 fires destroying 146,360.08 hectares. There were 644 wildfires recorded in Alberta. By May 31, 10,000 people had been evacuated, 16 homes, and the Steen River CN railway bridge, had been destroyed.
The COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia forms part of an ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On January 28, 2020, British Columbia became the second province to confirm a case of COVID-19 in Canada. The first case of infection involved a patient who had recently returned from Wuhan, Hubei, China. The first case of community transmission in Canada was confirmed in British Columbia on March 5, 2020.
A state of emergency occurs when any level of government assumes authority it does not generally possess to respond to a crisis. This is done by invoking said authority under specific legislation, and permits the government to expend funds, mobilize forces, or suspend civil liberties.
The 2021 British Columbia wildfires burned across the Canadian province of British Columbia. The severity of the 2021 wildfire season is believed to have been caused by a "perfect storm" of environmental factors possibly exacerbated by human-caused climate change.
The White Rock Lake fire was a wildfire in Thompson-Nicola Regional District, British Columbia. It began July 13, 2021 as one of the 2021 B.C. wildfires and resulted in the destruction of Monte Lake. It totalled 83,047 hectares and was classified as out of control. Insured losses total an estimated $77 million Canadian, according to one agency, which in late September expected the number of claims to top 800, most of them related to residential property.
Beginning in March 2023, and with increased intensity starting in June, Canada was affected by a record-setting series of wildfires. All 13 provinces and territories were affected, with large fires in Alberta, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec. The 2023 wildfire season had the most area burned in Canada's recorded history, surpassing the 1989, 1995, and 2014 fire seasons, as well as in recorded North American history, surpassing the 2020 Western US wildfire season.
The Bush Creek East fire is an active wildfire in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The fire has caused major loss of structures and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. The communities of Squilax, Lee Creek, Adams Lake, Scotch Creek, and Celista have been heavily impacted by the fire. The fire was listed as "being held" in September 2023 at a size of 45,613 hectares.
