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A satellite image taken just hours before the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna sparked a “tactical evacuation” reveals how the fire was primed to grow. The photo provided by satellite imaging company Planet Labs shows that the fire was already active and ready to burn at 11:00 a.m. on August 17. Mike Flannigan, a professor researching fire weather and climate change, analyzed the image and noted the direction of the wind, indicating that the fire was likely to intensify.

The wildfire rapidly grew in size and by the evening of August 17, it had grown to 1,100 hectares, displaying Rank 5 fire behavior. The arrival of hot winds caused the fire to spread east into the Okanagan Valley. The extreme fire weather, worsened by drought conditions, led to a “classic situation for explosive fire.” As a result, emergency personnel initiated a tactical evacuation across parts of West Kelowna, displacing thousands of people. The fire burned a significant number of homes and jumped Okanagan Lake.

The following day, UBC’s Okanagan campus was evacuated, and the landfill in Kelowna caught fire as residents attempted to prevent further damage to properties. Due to the threats posed by the fire, the province declared an official state of emergency. Visitors were banned from using temporary accommodations in the South Okanagan region.

As of August 21, the McDougall Creek wildfire had burned 11,000 hectares. Cooler temperatures and smokey skies have helped reduce the fire’s intensity, but firefighters are still working to contain it. Around 190 structures have been damaged or destroyed. While the cause of the fire is under investigation, Flannigan stated that all the conditions for extreme fire weather were present before the fire started.

The wildfire in West Kelowna adds to an already devastating wildfire season in Canada. Over 14 million hectares of land have burned across the country, surpassing the previous record set in 1989. The province of British Columbia alone has seen over 1.7 million hectares burned. Despite the calmer fire activity in recent days, firefighters and aircraft are still engaged in fighting fires across the province. Additional firefighters from Mexico and South Africa are expected to arrive later this week. Flannigan expressed concern that the fire season may continue, bringing more hot, dry, and windy days in the future.

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