Kelowna residents relive stories of Okanagan Mountain Park fire on its 20th anniversary

Rev. Douglas Stanley of St. Michael's Cathedral in Kelowna, B.C., has been living happily with his wife, Daphne, in the city's Mission neighbourhood for nearly 30 years.

"Everything is green and vibrant, and there's so much beauty up here," Douglas said.

"I don't think we ever want to go away in the summer," said Daphne.

However, their relaxed life in the Central Okanaganhasn't been without its interruptions. They still remember the trauma caused by a wildfire that destroyed their home and other homes around it in the summer of 2003.

"Every home of eight or nine [homes] in the cul-de-sac was burnedto the ground, except the one next door," Douglas said. "It took us three years [to recover from the trauma]."

The Stanleys, who have since rebuilt their house, were among over 33,000 people who were evacuated from their homes due to the Okanagan Mountain Park fire that began on Aug.16, 2003.

WATCH| Okanagan Mountain Park fire blanketsKelowna in 2003:

From the Archives: Smoke from wildfires in 2003 blankets B.C.'s Okanagan

4 years ago

Duration 2:11

The Okanagan Mountain Park forest fire in 2003 destroyed more than 230 homes, caused $200 million in damage and spewed thick smoke into the Okanagan air.

'One-in-a-hundred-year inferno'

The "one-in-a-hundred-year inferno," as described by the City of Kelowna, started with a lightning strike in the provincial park near Rattlesnake Island in the early morning of Aug. 16.

Fuelled by dry and consistent winds, the blaze rapidly grew over the course of several days. Spreading northward and eastward, the fire burned more than 250 square kilometres of land larger than the city of Kelowna itself destroying nearly 240 homes in the southern parts of Kelowna and causing approximately $200 million in damages.

The fire even reached the Myra Canyon section of the former Kettle Valley Railway in September 2003, destroying 12 wooden trestles atthe historic site. All of themwere subsequently rebuilt and reopened in June 2008.

The Stanleys were able to rebuild their home in less than a year thanks to their son, an architect based in London, U.K., who flew to British Columbia to assist his parents.

Douglas expressed his gratitude at being able to rebuild their house and move forward, yet he's aware that many other fire victims weren't as fortunate.

"I take great compassion for those who [didn't] have any form of insurance and those who have lost their livelihoods because of [the fire]," he said.

Moving furniture out from the Anglican church

Judith Amos, a rector at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Kelowna's Mission neighbourhood during the fire, recalls that as one of the few people with the church keys, she rushed to the building to unlock the doors for the movers hired to evacuate furniture.

"[The movers] removed the grand piano, and then they said, 'We got an empty truck. Let's fill it.' So we took whatever we could. We took the bishop's chair. We took the altar.We took whatever we were able to lift," she recalled.

Constructed between 1910 and 1911, St. Andrew's Anglican Church isthe oldest surviving Anglican church in Kelowna.

Amos became emotional while moving furniture out of the historic building. She remembered saying at the time, "Please, God, don't let me be the last person to ever stand in this beautiful space."

Fortunately, the church's exterior was largely undamaged, except for some minor harm from cinders.

Amos views challenges like the Okanagan Mountain Park fire as experiences that have made her stronger.

"It's a gift, even though it didn'tseem like it all the time."

Important lessons learned, says fire chief

According to the City of Kelowna, more than 1,000 forestry firefighters, contractors and loggersand 1,400 members of the Canadian Armed Forces were mobilized to combat the blaze.

Travis Whiting, Kelowna's fire chief since 2017, says the city has learned an important lesson from the catastrophic incident regarding how to manage interface fires, which are fires that burn into a community from an adjacent forest.

"It started us down the path of understanding we need to do more training, more collaborationand work with each other a lot betterto more effectively and efficiently deal with these growing wildland-urban interface fires," he said.

Whiting says the city has also put in greater effort over the years to educate residents on how to safeguard their homes from wildfire risks.