On Saturday August 16, a lightning strike started a fire in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park, just a few kilometers from Kelowna. Within a few days, more than 200 homes were destroyed, and more than 30,000 people had to be evacuated from Kelowna.

Most of these pictures were not taken by me, but were make available on a general Kelowna public news website.

Date Description Map
Saturday August 16
  • burn area is 10 hectares (am)
N/A
Sunday August 17
  • burn area is 40 hectares
N/A
Monday August 18
  • burn area is now 1,800 hectares (pm)
  • 47 homes evacuated
N/A
Tuesday August 19
  • radio tower is knocked out by fire (pm)
  • burn area is now 2,800 hectares (pm)
Wednesday August 20
  • burn area is now 6,300 hectares (6am)
  • power line through park is de-energized (7pm)
  • burn area is now 11,000 hectares (10pm)
Thursday August 21
  • burn area is now 13,000 hectares (am)
  • 1,605 additional homes ordered evacuated (11pm)
Friday August 22
  • a total of 3,100 homes now ordered evacuated (1am)
  • 15 homes in the south-west corner of Kelowna have been lost to the fire overnight (6am)
  • burn area is now 17,000 hectares (11am)
  • wind has picked up; gusting at 40 km/h (4pm)
  • fire is now advancing 100 meters per minute (4pm)
  • more homes are now on fire (5pm)
Saturday August 23
  • one-third (30,000) of Kelowna's populatation has been evacuated, with another 8,000 people on a 1-hour evacuation alert (8am)
  • "Winds are fanning the flames of the blaze, which is more than 100 metres high in areas." (8am)
  • 203 homes are estimated destroyed by the fire (11am)
  • burn area is now 19,000 hectares (11am)
  • there is now a fire in the Bear Creak area on the west side of the lake (3pm)
  • "Two helicopters, a water bomber and two pumper trucks are actioning the [Bear Creek] fire." (3pm)
  • the Bear Creek fire is under control (8pm)
Sunday August 24
  • the Bear Creek fire is now almost out (8am)
  • 244 homes are confirmed destroyed by the fire (12pm)
  • burn area is now 19,600 hectares (12pm)
Monday August 25
  • burn area is now 20,000 hectares (10am)
  • 248 homes are confirmed destroyed by the fire (4pm)
N/A
Tuesday August 26
  • burn area is now 20,100 hectares (11am)
Wednesday August 27
  • burn area is now 21,000 hectares (12am)
  • over 10,400 people can return home today; 5,600 people remain on evacuation order
Thursday August 28
  • most people are back into their homes
  • burn area remains at 21,000 hectares
Sunday August 31 N/A
Wednesday September 3 N/A
Thursday September 4
  • flareups last night have resulted in the evacuation of more than 3000 people from the Joe Rich and June Springs area (6am)
  • burn area is now 22,840 hectares (7pm)
  • KVR trestles number 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 have been destroyed by fire since last night (see pictures of the KVR here, here and here.)

For those not familiar with the metric system, 1 hectare = just under 2.5 acres.
Last update: Friday September 5, 06:00 PDT.


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