August 2023
As historic wildfires burned in and around Kelowna, UBC’s Okanagan campus was ordered to evacuate on Friday, August 18. As the situation improved, the campus became a staging ground for the wildfire fight, hosting more than 800 firefighters, wildfire personnel and critical firefighting equipment from fire departments across the country. During the wildfire response, more than $202,000 was raised towards the UBC Okanagan Student Emergency Assistance Fund to help support impacted students. Campus returned to normal operations 10 days later.
