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Okanagan Mountain Park Fire

The 2003 forest fire season on the West Coast of Canada was one of the worst in a century. Extremely dry conditions all summer turned the forests of central British Columbia into a tinderbox. Lightning and strong winds brought new wildfires to the Kamloops Fire Centre area, adding to the workload of crews already battling blazes. The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire began on August 16 from two lightning strikes and had grown from an estimated 2,200 hectares in size on August 19 to 13,000 hectares by August 21, 2003. In total 287 fires burned in southeast British Columbia last summer.

Although structure protection and the safety of crews remained a top priority for firefighters, as of August 24, the fire had destroyed an estimated $100 million in real estate including 244 homes in Kelowna. 12 historic wooden trestles of the Kettle Valley Railway trail in the Myra Canyon were destroyed, but fire crews managed to save four others. Also lost was the Telus Mobility cellular site reducing service to clients in Summerland and Peachland.

When last year’s forest fires destroyed the paging station that provides service to the Okanagan area, TELUS Mobility needed to act quickly to rectify the situation. The company enacted temporary measures to provide paging service where possible, and immediately set plans in motion to erect a replacement station to restore full paging service to the area. While the mountain cooled down from the fires, TELUS Mobility began to order the necessary equipment to get the site started.

A key component required to operate the replacement paging station was an RF power monitor panel for a UHF radio. To provide this piece of equipment, TELUS Mobility contacted Daniels Electronics in Victoria, BC.

The RF power monitor panel is used in extremely critical applications and is not a stocked item, so it had to be built as a rush order. All parts were in stock, work orders were created and the manufacturing department was able to get the RF power monitor out the door by August 26th.

Daniels Electronics built this custom part and supplied it to TELUS Mobility within a week. This quick delivery allowed TELUS Mobility to test and calibrate the equipment before it was installed into the replacement site. “We are very happy with the level of service that was provided by Daniels Electronics,” said Neil Cusati, TELUS Mobility’s Vice President, British Columbia. “Their quick response enabled us to restore full paging service to the Okanagan area in a timely and seamless manner.”