With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1514012
36 To p : To u r i s m K e l o w n a / D e s t i n a t i o n B C P h o t o g r a p h y b y A n d r e w S t r ai n BC BU S I N E S S .C A F E B R U A R Y 2 0 24 WESTSIDE STORY Having endured a historically destructive wildfire season, West Kelowna—one of the Interior's top performers this year—exemplifies the resiliency of the Okanagan in the face of troubling climate trends. Despite losing dozens of homes to fire in the summer of 2023, West Kelowna benefited from comparatively solid residential sales, balanced rental vacancy and a diverse economy support- ing robust job creation and the lowest unemployment rate in the province. "The wildfires here in West Kelowna were certainly a challenging time," notes Heather Robinson, executive director of the Greater Westside Board of Trade. Offering evacuees a place to stay, setting up emer- gency shelters and donating and delivering food were just some of the efforts made by businesses and the broader community in support of their fellow Westsiders. "To see how the community and businesses pulled together to support each other was incred- ible," says Robinson. One business that played a pivotal role in local wildfire efforts was Alpine Aero- tech. While the Okanagan is well known for its wineries, lake life and vibrant tour- ism industry, Alpine—which specializes in helicopter maintenance, repair and parts manufacturing and distribution—is a key player in the region's growing aerospace industry. "This year it hit very close to home," says Jeff Denomme, president of Alpine Aerotech. During the wildfire season, the public heliport across the street from its operations, which is managed by neighbouring Alpine Helicopters, was repurposed to serve as the local base of operations for firefighting activities. "It really is key to the community that we have this heliport here and we're very proud to support all the operators within the region [that provide] fire suppression." Starting with four employ- ees in 1990, Alpine has since grown to become one of the largest globally recognized helicopter service centres in the world, with 150 employees. Unsurprisingly, Alpine's main- tenance centre has also grown to include a separate parts manufacturing shop in West Kelowna and a second main- tenance centre in Abbotsford. However, as the company has contin- ued to grow, it's become a victim of its own success. "We would love to expand," says Denomme. "We're bursting at the seams here." But finding an appropriate parcel of available industrial land to support that growth has proven challenging. "With our employee base, probably 75 percent live on the Westside, so it would be great if there was something available here to discuss with the community." Denomme is aware that expanding their operations isn't exactly an easy sell. "It's a bit tough being in the middle of the city with noisy helicopters," he notes. With the region having the tightest unemployment rate in the province, labour shortages have been another impediment to Alpine's growth, despite an active recruitment effort that includes fostering close ties with local post-secondary institu- tions like Okanagan College. "Everybody's faced with the cost of living, so one of our biggest challenges is retaining [workers] FLYING HIGH President Jeff Denomme says that Alpine Aerotech was proud to be able to give back to the West Kelowna community when wildfires struck INTERIOR DEMEANOUR Kelowna was one of the year's top performers despite facing crippling wildfires