In August 2023, the Grouse Complex of wildfires in the Okanagan region burned a total of 15,076 hectares, prompting the evacuation of about 30,700 people from 12,100 properties and affecting 303 structures.
To understand the impact of these fires, the BC FireSmart Committee and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) enlisted FPInnovations to analyze the Grouse Complex wildfires, which included the McDougall Creek, Clarke Creek, and Walroy Lake wildfires.
The study focused on:
1. How the wildfire spread into communities and how it continued to move once there.
2. Factors that caused or prevented damage to buildings.
The results provide practical recommendations to help governments, wildland and structural fire agencies, insurers, community leaders, residents and decision-makers in reducing wildfire risk in the future.
For a summary of the key learnings, click the link below, or view the full report.