The Crowsnest Fire: August 21, 2003

A 6-km wall of flame reached 50m into the sky, throwing off the

energy equivalent of an atomic explosion every 30 minutes.

Her husband out of town on business, Crowsnest

resident Elaine Hruby was forced to evacuate.

Alone…

Hastily she grabbed the essentials, her pets…

…and jewellery

Then drove madly for 20km to a point overlooking the

destruction, where she recalled being unable to look away

from the sadistic horror of the flames.

All told, 20,000 hectares of forest were scorched by the

blaze.

However, this event had a surprisingly diverse effect upon

Crowsnest industry.

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

Tourism Restaurants Gas Stations Saw Mills

Profit

And where there is death, there is also life.

As forest fires give birth to ecological diversity.

Citations• Image Page 1. Retrieved from

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ut/moab_fo/fire.Par.15124.Image.-1.-1.1.gif

• Image Page 2. Retrieved from http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Science/Images/massive-nuclear-explosion.jpg

• Image Page 5. Retrieved from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZkaaTuwwZ1Y/SFnGCDR3dzI/AAAAAAAAaM4/bPnkSEklt00/s400/pics.jpg

• Image Page 6. Retrieved from http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/71085267.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=8A33AE939F2E01FFC9AA413F2897A439078FBA3591C1CEF6927618E24AC7818A

• Image Page 7. Retrieved from http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/web/root/domino/cm_da/faq/nrecart.nsf/7fbcead46b2376744a256706000355c2/e2bb0c173711da37ca256d960018c1ad/$FILE/burnt+forestBig.jpg

• Image Page 9. Retrieved from http://www.kings.uwo.ca/files/image/ccjl/New%20Growth.jpg