The Resilience of the City of Kelowna: Exploring Mitigation Before, During and After the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire
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Institute for Catastrophic Institut de Prévention Loss Reduction des Sinistres Catastrophiques Building resilient communities Construction de resilient communities The resilience of the City of Kelowna: Exploring mitigation before, during and after the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire By Dan Sandink January 2009 The resilience of the City of Kelowna: Exploring mitigation before, during and after the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire By Dan Sandink Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction January 2009 ICLR research paper series – number 45 Published by Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction 20 Richmond Street East, Suite 210 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 2R9 This material may be copied for purposes related to the document as long as the author and copyright holder are recognized. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. Cover photos: (large) Lars Karstad, (small) Shutterstock. ISBN: 978-0-9811792-0-9 Copyright©2008 Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction ICLR’s mission is to reduce the loss of life and property caused by severe weather and earthquakes through the identification and support of sustained actions that improve society’s capacity to adapt to, anticipate, mitigate, withstand and recover from natural disasters. ICLR is achieving its mission through the development and implementation of its programs Open for Business™, to increase the disaster resilience of small businesses, Designed… for safer living, which increases the disaster resilience of homes, and RSVP cities, to increase the disaster resilience of communities. Table of contents Executive summary . .i 1. Introduction . .1 2. Context . .3 2.1 Wildfires in Canada . 3 2.1.1 Wildfire damages . 4 2.2 Wildland-Urban interface risk . 6 2.2.1 Wildland-Urban interface fire hazard management . 6 2.3 Resilience . 9 2.3.1 Vulnerability to natural hazards . 12 2.3.2 Resilience to natural hazards: Disaster mitigation . 15 2.3.21 Pre- and post-disaster mitigation . 16 2.3.2.1.1 Pre-disaster mitigation . 16 2.3.2.1.2 Post-disaster mitigation . 17 2.4 Disaster mitigation at the local level . 21 2.4.1 Disaster mitigation assistance at the provincial level in British Columbia . 22 2.4.1.1 Mitigation in provincial acts and regulations . 23 2.4.2 Local level mitigation assistance at the federal level . 24 2.4.2.1 Joint Emergency Preparedness Program . 25 2.4.2.2 Federal disaster financial assistance arrangements . 25 2.4.2.3 NDMS and revised DFAA . 26 2.4.3 Barriers to resilience and mitigation at the municipal level . 27 2.4.3.1 Liability as a barrier . 30 2.5 Insurance . 31 3. Methods . .34 3.1 Data gathering . 34 3.2 Case study . 34 3.2.1 2003 fires in British Columbia and the Kelowna area . 35 3.2.1.1 The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire . 36 3.2.1.1.1 Post wildfire hazards . 39 3.2.1.1.2 The B.A. Blackwell & Associates report . 39 3.2.1.1.3 Mitigation strategies . 44 Table of contents (continued) 4. Results and discussion . .45 4.1 OMPF impacts on the Corporation of the City of Kelowna . 46 4.2 Wildfire risk mitigation and private-property owners . 47 4.3 Alteration of physical development to reduce vulnerability . 49 4.4 Learning from other communities . 50 4.5 Assessing WUI fire hazard areas . 51 4.6 Communications . 52 4.7 Fire Guard . 54 4.8 Disaster Recovery Centres . 54 4.9 Insurance and recovery resource management . 55 4.9.1 Insurance coverage . 55 4.9.2 Recovery resource management . 56 4.10 Post-wildfire hazard mitigation . 57 4.10.1 Post-wildfire flood mitigation . 58 4.10.1.1 Post-wildland fire flood risk management in Kelowna . 59 4.10.1.1.1 Mitigation works and appeal for funding . 60 4.11 Post-disaster policy window . 62 4.12 General perceptions of OMPF . 64 4.12.1 Time taken to recover from OMPF . 64 4.12.2 Risk perceptions associated with recurrence of fire events . 65 4.12.2.1 Impacts of beetle kill . 66 4.12.3 Impact of OMPF experience on management of future disasters . 67 4.12.4 The role of higher levels of government . 68 4.12.5 Emergency response, evacuations . 70 4.12.5.1 Evacuation . 71 4.13 Barriers to wildfire hazard mitigation in Kelowna . 72 4.13.1 Litigation and the window of opportunity . 74 5. Resilience characteristics, recommendations, further work and conclusions . .76 5.1 Characteristics of resilience in Kelowna . 76 5.1.1 Redundant . 76 5.1.2 Diverse . 76 5.1.3 Efficient . 77 5.1.4 Autonomous . 77 5.1.5 Resistant . 78 5.1.6 Interdependent . 78 5.1.7 Adaptable . 81 5.1.8 Collaborative . 81 5.2 Recommendations . 81 5.2.1 Adoption of adjustments by private property owners . 81 5.2.2 Identification of vulnerable individuals . 83 5.2.3 Collaboration with insurance companies . 84 5.2.4 Incentives for municipal governments . 85 5.2.5 The Role of the provincial government . 87 5.2.6 The Role of the federal government . 88 5.3 Limits to the study and suggestions for future work . 89 5.4 Conclusion . 90 Works Cited . .92 Appendix A: Summary of November 20, 2007 meeting in Kelowna . 105 Appendix B: Participants . 106 Appendix C: Interview survey . 107 Appendix D: Blackwell & Needoba (2006) recommendations . 113 List of tables Table 1 U.S. insured catastrophic losses from 1987 to 2006 . 5 Table 2 Ten most catastrophic wildfire events in the United States . 5 Table 3 WUI fire management by level of government . 8 Table 4 Characteristics of resilient systems . 11 Table 5 Components of vulnerability . 13 Table 6 Vulnerability categories and example factors . 14 Table 7 Components of emergency management . 15 Table 8 Progression of community level wildfire mitigation adjustments during the Lost Creek fire . 19 Table 9 DFAA funding shares . 25 Table 10 Comparison of population changes in Kelowna and B.C. 35 Table 11 Comparison of population and population change amongst local municipalities . 35 Table 12 Number, area burned and average size of fires in B.C. 36 Table 13 Timeline of events for OMPF . 37 Table 14 Priority actions for 2007 . 43 Table 15 Responses to: “Please use the scale below to rate how likely it is that the City of Kelowna would experience another wildfire event, similar to that of the OMPF?” . 65 Table 16 Responses to: “If the fire were to occur again in the next 10 years, how would you rate the impacts, in comparison to the OMPF?” and “If the OMPF were to occur again in the next 10 years, how would you rate the amount of time it would take to recover, in comparison to the OMPF?” . 66 Table 17 Progression of actions . 80 List of figures Figure 1 Reported number of disasters from 1900 to 2005 . 3 Figure 2 Resilience . 10 Figure 3 Fire Guard . 54 Figure 4 Larger Crossing at Chute Lake Road and Frost Road, Kelowna . 61 Figure 5 Larger Crossing at Lebanon Creek and Lakeshore Road, Kelowna . 62 Executive summary Resilience is the ability of a community to “bounce back” from adversity. A disaster resilient community employs tools and strategies to mitigate the impacts of, and quickly and effectively recover from disasters. The City of Kelowna suffered significant adversity during the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire (OMPF) of 2003, including significant damage to private property, homes, infrastructure, as well as an evacuation of a significant portion of the City’s population. The OMPF was a severe Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire event that resulted in the destruction of 238 homes, the evacuation of approximately one third of the population of the City of Kelowna, and was considered the most destructive WUI fire in Canadian history. Damages to the City of Kelowna alone were estimated at $100 million. This paper provides a discussion of a resilient community, through the exploration of impacts, reactions and mitigative adjustments adopted by the City of Kelowna before, during and after the OMPF. The paper provides context for disaster mitigation decision making in Canada and British Columbia, including a review of relevant legislation and government programs related to emergency management. This paper discusses the adoption.