The Crowsnest Fires

A Crazy Random Happenstance

On August 21, 2003 a seasonal wildfire transformed into a 6-km wall of flame

reaching 50 m into the sky.

The fire was suddenly throwing off the energy equivalent of an atomic explosion every 30 minutes.

Crowsnet Nest Fire, Crowsnest Pass [Online Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2009 from Uwaterloo.ca. www.environment.uwaterloo.ca/.../wildfire.html

Experiencing it first hand...

“I didn’t know what to take,” says Hruby, recalling her anxious departure. “You start doing crazy things.”

Like taking only her cat, dog, jewellery, her husband's miner lamp, and a plastic Buddha.

Hruby then drove about 20 km west along the valley, sat down on a rock ledge and watched the flames veer down on Hillcrest.

“I felt masochistic, sitting on the outcropping,” Hruby recalls, “but those flames were like a magnet.”

The After-boom

Misfortunes

Burned over 20,000 hectares of forest

Negatively affected timber and tourism industries

Businesses like local dry cleaners, gas stations, restaurants and office services maintained a steady business.

Burned area is black and looks devoid of life.

Large stands of timber smother the light and inhibit undergrowth.

Benefits

Businesses like local dry cleaners, gas stations, restaurants and office services maintained a steady business.

Spray Lake Sawmills will use a significant amount of the burnt lumber. The company has a 28% quota of the annual allowable salvage rights in the area.

Over time burned area also creates diversity that wasn’t there before.

A burned area creates ecological diversity and allows for the development of rich undergrowth that wasn’t there before.