This morning fire crews had the number of forest fires down to 170 different fires in BC, from close to 250 three days ago. The Trans Canada and most major highways are closed in at least one place, close to 17,000 people evacuated and with hot dry winds picking up, the expect it to get worse. There are not many people in BC outside of a few cities, so nearly everyone is gone from huge areas of country.
A good friend of mine who lives west of Williams Lake, BC had his house burn to the ground. An entire village of houses burned near Ashcroft, flames moving so fast no one could save anything but their lives. We have had one of our longest spells without rain here at my house, though temps have not been super hot, mostly in mid to upper 70's. The town of Williams Lake has busses ready and routes kept open in preparation to evacuate 11,000 people if needed.
Fire bosses are asking people to stay off of the larger lakes all through the region so that water bombers can skim down and pick up a load of water.
I will admit that a friend and I went trout fishing in a smaller lake a 3 hour drive from here three days ago. The air was smoky all day and for most of the drive up, and gave me some kind of flu like reaction all day the following day. Fat red meat trout all between 16 and 19 inches long. Tasty but we should likely stay out of there, though we only saw one other fisherman all day.
Sure feeling bad for my friend. I have mentioned him here when I stayed with him a few days one winter and we hunted wolves and big cats in the snow and re-lived old yarns.
Sorry to hear of your friend's loss. I have been west a few times when there were fires and even though I wasn't close it sort of scares a person. I have a great deal of respect for those who go in on the ground fighting fires. I appreciate the pilots who drop water and chemicals, but that isn't quite the same as being on the ground and not having a rapid exit available.
Jerry
Just got an update on my friend, an email from his daughter with the first info since we heard that his house burned.
My parents were able to remove their horses and dog and some of their belongings to a safer area south of them, but a portion of the fire is heading in that direction, so they brought their animals and things back north, behind the perimeter of the fire. Only a few of the houses in the area have burned, so they have the use of a neighbour’s house, which has power some of the time, but no phone line right now. They have been able to phone our family daily from neighbouring houses or businesses. They have plenty of food and water and have been able to get fuel for their vehicles and feed for their animals.
Dad is working on putting out smouldering wood and watching for flareups and Mom is helping in many other ways. They are both approaching 70 and have some health issues. It has been stressful for all of us to not be able to communicate easily and forest fires are very unpredictable. They have chosen to stay and work together with their friends and neighbours, but they have received many offers of other places to stay.
With permission of the RMCP, my husband and a friend drove on back roads with a 4x4 truck up to the one place my parents were staying. They were bringing fuel and food and other emergency gear and supplies. When they got there, they found that my parents had moved back north not long before. They decided that it was too risky for them to continue on, so they turned around and went back to a safer location for the night. They left the supplies at a friend's place until it is safer to drive through.
I sure hope they stay safe! It sounds like they are in the thick of it.
We will pray for they're community and family's.
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Update: Changing fast, and for the worse.
Strong winds changing directions has made the fire a lot worse in the past few hours, with continued high wind predicted for another day or two. The entire town of Williams Lake has been ordered to evacuate within the past hour or two. Super dangerous to fight the fire because it changes direction with the wind. Helicopters and water bombers are ineffective and dangerous to fly in the wind, plus the big fires are category 6, whatever that means. One of the things it means, said a fire boss on the news, is that they are so hot that water drops from helicopters turn into steam rather than knock down the fire.
My friend is out in the boonies far from towns and so away from official fire fighting crews other than locals trying to protect their homes. Hope he and his wife are safe. There are several big fires out his way and it sounds like the first time through the fire swept the edge of the scattered ranches and houses, so it could come back with plenty yet to burn. The news only report on fires near larger towns and give one line every day or two about big fires out in the Chilcotin country.
It is getting crazier by the hour. Many towns and rural areas under evacuation order, so many roads closed people are extremely limited in where they can go to get away. Just saw a news item that said the fire in my friend's area is the most dangerous of all, windy and unpredictable. His whole area is under evacuation order but I suspect that he stayed with some local folks to fight the fire and try to save their houses and barns.
Another friend of mine is stuck in a small city 300 miles from his home and though his house is in a coastal area with no fires and none likely, all of the roads that lead to his home are closed. He has been stuck in town for nearly a week. I'm calculating from news bits that 35K people and maybe a lot more have now been ordered to evacuate.
I sure can sympathize with those folks. In June 2011 we had a massive forest fire right in our backyard. Twenty thousand plus acres burnt plus numerous houses, barns, etc. The fire burnt to within fifteen yards of our house, on all sides, went around the house and burned everything in front. The fire fighters did a great job to save all standing structures but in some places it was just to hard to get to. I have seen places in Vietnam after a bombing run and our mountain looked just as familiar. Just a few pictures.
Woke up to these guys cutting trees on our fence line.
(http://i.imgur.com/BtvOME3.jpg)
Then we saw this.
(http://i.imgur.com/3nK3mXi.jpg)
Shortly after that we saw this.
(http://i.imgur.com/qTSeCOB.jpg)
Although we never fed the deer we did provide water daily, drip type system with float valve. Waiting for our arrival.
(http://i.imgur.com/zmRyBp1.jpg)
They let me walk right up to them to get the water going again.
(http://i.imgur.com/ORP5PPT.jpg)
Not all were as fortunate, she probably died from smoke inhalation.
(http://i.imgur.com/Euwa5mh.jpg)
Our property.
(http://i.imgur.com/5B9BTz3.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/nmppSjZ.jpg)
Marge said this is what saved us - I agree. One on the front porch and one on the back patio.
(http://i.imgur.com/hMJ77ga.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Su2M8CF.jpg)
Nick's Saloon, two large propane tanks exploded. This is at the end of our dirt road, could ride the horses down, secure them to the front hitching post or if you were going to be there for more than one we had a corral in the back. You can see the fire on the mountain side, that is in the direct path of our place. We could not get back into our property for ten days.
(http://i.imgur.com/HI0QFww.jpg)
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who are affected by fire.
Wow Clyde, sorry to see this about your friend. Can't imagine what he's going through daily. Praying for the conditions to die down allowing the fire to be fought.
Fire like that needs a good washing from above to slow her down. Hope BC gets some rain soon but it don't look promising. I'm getting more smoke from BC than I did from Fort Mac. :shrug: :shrug:
Quote from: Okanagan on July 15, 2017, 08:56:07 AM
A good friend of mine who lives west of Williams Lake, BC had his house burn to the ground. An entire village of houses burned near Ashcroft, flames moving so fast no one could save anything but their lives.
I can certainly understand what your friend is going through. In January 2015, my house burned to the ground at 0300 hours in 4 degree weather. I lost everything (house, contents, vehicles, etc.) and barely made it out of the house. The power went out and the smoke almost got me. But I got my wife out and that's all that really matters to me. The rest of it is just stuff that I can buy more of. We were at WalMart that morning buying socks and underwear. I borrowed a vehicle from my BIL to drive till I could buy another one. I didn't talk about it on this site because there wasn't anything anyone could do and, I guess, I'm just used to handling my own problems.
I wish your friend the very best as he starts to rebuild. It will take time but he will get through this trial.
Wow...that is some serious stuff. :holdon:
Johnny, That is devastating. Had no idea, and my heart goes out to you still for the undoubted irreplaceables.
John, way too close. Am glad that you were spared. I suppose you had no idea whether your house survived until later. Tough and suspenseful wait.
The city of Williams Lake is spared so far, by controlled back burns. One Indian village was spared when 125 of their people, many of them professional fire fighters, defied police orders to evacuate and diverted the fire from the village. That one got tense before the police backed off. The Chief says that the whole village would have burned if they had left.
Current stats: over 40,000 people evacuated with 17,000 more on standby to evacuate. Highways and major roads closed in 15 places. 49 evacuation orders. A two hour drive took over 8 hours for evacuees, bumper to bumper. Possible rain on Thursday, likely thunder storms. The last thunderstorm with lightening on July 7 (?) is what changed the situation from about 50 forest fires across BC to over 200.
FWIW some places evacuated or in trouble have interesting names, a few of which those who have driven to Alaska might recognize: Cache Creek, 100 Mile House, 150 Mile House, Big Creek, Hanceville, Mahood Lake, Okanagan Centre, Dog Creek.
Hopefully you will get some rain and not lightning or really heavy rains.
Jerry
Got an update on my friend. He is driving a water truck as part of a local Indian reserve and rancher fire fighting crew and his wife is cooking for the fire crews. The fire that burned their house has burned 250,000 acres since it started on July 8, and today it combined with another large fire. Too windy and smoky for helicopter and water bombers much of the time. The fire(s) is 0% contained.
We got 20 minutes of good steady rain this morning, after a forecast of rain from last night through today. I wish. I think the weather men are just hoping and trying to encourage.
There is a fire burning up nearby Harrison Lake, the big lake I have often shown in photos posted here. That fire has been going since July 1.
Geez Oke, when is it gonna run outta fuel?
Wow...I cant even imagine the devastation :sad3:
I was so looking for a post that said the rains had hit and the fires had slowed. We were west several years ago when there were fires and you could smell the smoke and see the clouds and we were several hundred miles away. I can't imagine what being there would be like.
Jerry
Quote from: pitw on July 20, 2017, 08:16:58 PM
Geez Oke, when is it gonna run outta fuel?
Wal, you might start thinking about plowing a firebreak on the west side of your place...
Jim, which side of the Mississippi River do you live on? It is heading your way.
If you drive the Stewart Cassiar Highway there was a fire a few years ago that burned 100 miles or so of timber along the highway in northern B.C. up toward the Yukon border. Not sure how far it burned away from the road, but it burned as far as a man can see from any high place. Nobody out there.
Haven't heard any news as to whether our little rain here extended east to the dry side of the mountains where it is needed.
That is some crazy sheit.
The air here in the UP of Michigan is hazy from the smoke from the fires in Canada. Stay safe Canadians.
It rained a little inland late yesterday and helped a little bit with the fires but lightening accompanying the rain started 32 more fires. Last storm the lightening started over 100 of these current fires.
I drove 45 minutes east of here early this morning but still on the wet side, and yesterday's rain was enough to settle the dust in the open but powder dry dust fogged up in stretches of logging road under overhanging trees, so it wasn't much rain.
Update:
Air moving toward the coast has brought heavy smoke like overcast here in the Fraser River Valley. As of July 28 there were officially 149 wildfires burning in BC, but last night seven new fires started along a highway near Kamloops, which closed the highway for awhile and the new fires are still burning. The good sized town of Clinton was evacuated three days ago.
My friend whose house burned is staying in a loaned old cabin. All roads etc. west of Williams Lake are restricted to emergency vehicles. No mail, no phone service, food being provided by emergency services. Locals who stayed are locked in and still fighting fires.
I spoke with his son-in-law yesterday. The SIL asked my friend what a person takes when he has only a short time to grab and go. The wife took pictures. He took his guns and his guitar. The SIL said, "He's got his girl, his guns and his guitar. What more could a man want?"
The 3 GGG"s....sounds brutal out there.
The smoke here in Western Washington is making for some gorgeous sunsets and some tough breathing.
Good lord it sounds horrible :sad:
Quote from: code on August 01, 2017, 10:33:51 PM
The smoke here in Western Washington is making for some gorgeous sunsets and some tough breathing.
Sunsets sound great while the not being able to breath doesn't. I think I will have to pass on the sunset pics.
Jerry
After a full day of breathing it the smoke makes me feel lousy, like a low grade flu. Old lungs or allergy type reaction. Draggin my wagon today.
Today is the second full day of smoky air. The weather forecast was for a new record high temp of 101F but it only got to 91. I think that the heavy layer of smoke may be giving us enough shade to keep the temp lower. :shrug:
I dont even know what to say. I dont know what I would do. Does your AC filter any of it out?
Quote from: FinsnFur on August 02, 2017, 10:06:24 PM
I dont even know what to say. I dont know what I would do. Does your AC filter any of it out?
AC? :rolleye: This is near coastal Canada. Hardly anyone has AC, and this house has none. Yesterday was the first day this year that we really needed AC. It has only gotten a little above 80 a few times earlier this summer, and the time above 75 only lasted 2-4 hours on a given day.
Actually I bought a small in-room on wheels AC unit for my wife and she holes up with it in our small guest bedroom on any hot days. It has a flex exhaust tube that vents outside but the intake is air from the room, so no filtering out smoke. Weird amber-brown light all day. Temps are dropping to mid 60's each night. Just checked and it is 60 right now. Fan blowing cool air in. We cool the house, then button up and by the time the inside of the house gets too warm it is usually starting to cool down again outside.
Added: Check out the photos of smoke in town in this news article from here.
http://www.abbynews.com/news/smokey-air-now-poses-a-high-health-risk-in-abbotsford/
That doesn't look good and a rating of 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 sounds even worse. Hang in there.
Jerry
Quote from: FinsnFur on August 02, 2017, 10:06:24 PM
Does your AC filter any of it out?
:alscalls: :alscalls: :alscalls: :doh2:
Air quality 18 --- on a scale of 1 - 10!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/smoke-bc-august-2-wildfires-1.4232156
Visibility 3/4 mile at my house, looks like an overcast day. Of more than 40,000 people evacuated, over 9,000 still can't go home. 25,000 people under evacuation alert. The state of emergency for British Columbia was extended yet again, this time till August 18. Fire fighters have it down to 129 wildfires now. Already it is the third worst burn season in terms of area burned in BC recorded history, but way worst in terms of fires near towns and dwellings. And the worst month of fire season is ahead.
(http://img4.imagetitan.com/img4/small/16/16_image121.jpeg) (http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=16_image121.jpeg)
NH is a long way to go to a fire! Thanks!
Since I've been updating this ongoing story will continue: got an e-mail from my friend's daughter late last night saying that she and her husband were enroute in a 4x4 to try again to haul their trailer full of emergency gear to her parents. Sounded like a half day trip was going to take at least two days, going WAY out of the way around fires (and there are relatively few roads in BC to take an alternate route). They will pick up the trailer that was stranded at a friend's place on their last try, drive way east, then way north and then come back down south. There are big fines just to be out there in fire restricted areas so I assume that they got some kind of permission slip. Maybe they will run into some NH firefighters!
A few days ago I told her husband, SIL of the people who lost their house, that I would like to ride up with him if he had room next time he tried to get the trailer through. His wife is going with him however and I'd not invite me either in that case. They plan to stay several days and help start hauling away burned debris, prep to build again.
FWIW my friend is one of those ultimate handy men. He can and does fix most anything and is cheerful all of the time about it, with a wicked sly and dry humor. He has ridden broncs, handled range cattle, been millwright for a big sawmill, trapped, driven snow plows, been a teacher, even gunsmithed a right hand safety for me on a Swede 6.5x55 -- and did it working with hand tools on a stump in his yard! One of the best and calmly confident wilderness outdoorsmen I know. Doggone I feel for him. He would fit here and I must invite him to come around when he gets a computer again.
Awful thing there! Okanagan, where I'm from people pitch in and help people who need help, well it used to be that way anyways until all the flatlanders and Liberal Democrats came from the cities, theres still a few good old folk left though👍🙏
HEAVY smoke here today. Saw a woman driving her car today with a surgical type face mask on.
Prevailing winds off of the Pacific are supposed to return to normal on Friday and move the smoke east again.
Quote from: Okanagan on August 09, 2017, 08:48:31 PM
HEAVY smoke here today. Saw a woman driving her car today with a surgical type face mask on.
Prevailing winds off of the Pacific are supposed to return to normal on Friday and move the smoke east again.
You need some good old fashion rain without lightning.
Jerry
11 days of breathing smoke, quite heavy today again. My chest and breathing tubes are building up some kind of mildly irritating stuff that I can feel inside my lungs and makes me cough more all of the time. It was supposed to blow away today. Nada. Showers a maybe for Sunday. I don't ever remember fires just going on and on, like a military siege.
There is a big air show scheduled for this weekend, and I've heard some planes practicing but we can't see them. We are used to watching the show from our deck, with the runway about a mile south of our hilltop and broadside to us. The performing planes make a lot of their turns and approaches from over our house. Smoke so heavy I wonder if they will cancel.
As I typed, the Canadian Snowbird jet air show team started flying around. I didn't check the schedule but it looks to me like they are practicing rather than doing a full show. They did a line abreast low pass over our house then zoomed straight up over the airshow grandstand and went straight up and over upside down to dive back at the ground. About half way down they started their smoke trails and it was downright funny. I got a glimpse of smoke at the start and then nothing, no smoke showed at all as they did their big compass burst in all directions. Then they zoom up to regroup again high above the grandstand. We could barely see the planes themselves, and only if I kept my eyes on them and did not look off for a second. Airshow in a forest fire smoke cloud.
The smoke from the BC fires is thick enough here on the Eastern side of Alberta that visibility is less than 1/2 a mile and worse at times. This morning we couldn't tell if it was clear or not for clouds until it started raining. We got 6/10ths and the smoke just hung there. Weird as [L].
:sad: Man that sounds miserable. No escape
I can only imagine what it's like to live this day after day!
Sent from my Tank Xtreme 5.0 using Tapatalk
Lockheed Electra dropping fire retardant.
We had a little rain before daylight Sunday and now the smoke is all going toward pitw. 148 wildfires burning in BC yesterday morning.
(http://i.imgur.com/OFUY3In.jpg)
I knew (or thought that I did) that they were low when they dropped, but I had no idea it was this low. Kudos to the pilots.
Jerry
Quote from: Okanagan on August 15, 2017, 11:29:29 AM
Lockheed Electra dropping fire retardant.
We had a little rain before daylight Sunday and now the smoke is all going toward pitw. 148 wildfires burning in BC yesterday morning.
(http://i.imgur.com/OFUY3In.jpg)
How many were caused by crashing bombers? :shock2:
Had a strange night here as it started raining at 9pm and we had 3.6 inch's by 9am. steady rain like I ain't seen before. Smoke still in the air when it finished. :doh2:
Amazing that the rain didn't get rid of the smoke. Must be new smoke blowing in constantly.
Re the plane:
That's waaay lower than any fire fighting plane that I've ever seen or seen a photo of. The plane is obviously flying through a small canyon but there can't be much room. I wonder if a downdraft sucked it lower than the pilot intended.
One time some 25 years ago I drove through a burned area west of Kamloops above the lake where a recent fire had burned off the dry grass hills on both sides of the highway. On a small knoll right beside the road a plane had dropped a load of the pink retardant from such a low height that it had hit in one blob. It looked like a ball of liquid had hit with such impact that it had made a crater in the dirt hillside a couple of feet deep and about 25 feet across with the pink stuff splashing mostly uphill. I KNOW the pilot did not intend to let it go that low and that he wanted to disperse it more. He must have barely missed the knoll and I'll bet he dumped the load as part of clawing for altitude.
We lost a helicopter pilot a few summers back who went into the Fraser River. Apparently downdraft in the deep canyon plus maybe a bad swirl of current got him as he hovered to fill a bucket of water from the river to dump on a fire. Nobody knows for sure what happened. He was solo.
Dangerous flying.
Wow...that pic :congrats:
Update: Some people had evacuation lifted and got to go back to their homes yesterday after 5 weeks, others still not allowed back.
One of the fires, the Plateau, grew about 50,000 acres day before yesterday, and is now over 2000 square miles, and I think is still zero contained.
Huge areas have a total ban on entry, not just no campfires but no entry on back roads whatsoever. It is illegal to launch a boat on lakes in huge areas.
A big new fires started near us on Saturday, from a campfire along the big Harrison Lake which I've shown often in my photos of hunting and picking berries. Another fire on the upper Harrison has been burning since the end of June. Steep country with little access and no buildings so I think they are just keeping an eye on it and letting it burn.
It will take big Fall rains or more likely till snow in the dry climate Interior to put out some of these fires.
I can understand 'no burn' rules, but why no boats?
Jerry
Quote from: Hawks Feather on August 22, 2017, 05:12:15 PM
I can understand 'no burn' rules, but why no boats?
Jerry
:shrug: :shrug: They have had two fires start from lake shores, almost certainly human caused. Probably just don't want anyone out there anywhere.
:sad: absolutely unimaginable
This fire thing is so big it is hard to imagine. Hope it is OK to keep updating.
Last week BC extended the state of emergency again, this time till Sept. 1.
The Plateau fire is the largest in BC history (not counting the 1950 Chinchaga fire which burned BC and Alberta, the largest in recorded North American history at almost 4.2 million acres [over 6,500 square miles]). 19 separate forest fires have combined into the fire they now call the Plateau fire. It is over 80 miles across north to south, so big that two incident command centers have been set up to fight it, one on the north and one on the south side. 400 firefighters, 25 helicopters and a lot of heavy equipment are making progress on it. No major communities are affected by it. This is only one fire of over 100, but it is the biggest one.
That is really hard to believe. 80 miles from end to end and then to not have towns in the path of that is also hard to believe.
Jerry
Quote from: Hawks Feather on August 22, 2017, 05:12:15 PM
I can understand 'no burn' rules, but why no boats?
Jerry
When we have our forest fires they will do likewise. Reason being, at least out here, is that helicopters fly into the local lakes and dip out water and they want no interference from stupid people on boats.
Keep updating. I don't hear ANYTHING on it here on the east coast. Hope your buddy is doing ok.
Quote from: JohnP on August 24, 2017, 03:09:40 PM
Quote from: Hawks Feather on August 22, 2017, 05:12:15 PM
I can understand 'no burn' rules, but why no boats?
Jerry
When we have our forest fires they will do likewise. Reason being, at least out here, is that helicopters fly into the local lakes and dip out water and they want no interference from stupid people on boats.
John, you nailed it!
I had forgotten that way back in early July they told people to stay off of any lakes anywhere within a huge region of the fires because of water bomber planes and helicopters drawing water from handy lakes. The planes fly low and scoop up a belly tank full of water with wind going the right way, which means they change lakes and want to be free to hit any lake for water. I suspect also that they don't want yahoos out there, because they don't want to fight a fire someone started way down a lake from the boat launch and far away from the nearest road.
I had to look those planes up. I couldnt imagine a plane scooping water without tumbling itself.
What I found was pretty interesting. I bet it takes some serious skill.
https://youtu.be/HLg8LnSMdVg
https://youtu.be/_5LKF8G5huw
I really like the second video since it gave some great information about the planes.
Jerry
I think the smoke has made it to Southern Wisconsin...and Illinois for that matter. The skies are filled with a haze that lingers literally everywhere. The sun is out full force but it looks like it's being shielded by something fuzzy. I tried to get some pics with the cellphone but it kind of burns through the haze.
The last couple days I have felt a bit cruddy. Stuffy nose, major sinus pressure, runny nose, sneezing. I just figured it was heavy duty allergies which I get every year around third crop hay...middle of August. I dont know if it's related to the crud in the atmosphere or not.
Quote from: FinsnFur on August 31, 2017, 07:19:28 PM
I think the smoke has made it to Southern Wisconsin...and Illinois for that matter. The skies are filled with a haze that lingers literally everywhere. The sun is out full force but it looks like it's being shielded by something fuzzy. I tried to get some pics with the cellphone but it kind of burns through the haze.
The last couple days I have felt a bit cruddy. Stuffy nose, major sinus pressure, runny nose, sneezing. I just figured it was heavy duty allergies which I get every year around third crop hay...middle of August. I don't know if it's related to the crud in the atmosphere or not.
A friend of mine was in Winnipeg a few days ago and told me that it is covered with smoke haze from the fires out west. Winnipeg isn't far from you.
I went up near timberline to pick huckleberries two days ago and had some spectacular mountain peak views with meadows and snow patches, but it was so fuzzy hazy from smoke there was no way to get a decent photo. The weather people say the haze we have here now is from fires in California and Oregon and that our smoke is going to Wisconsin! :shrug:
Re the cruddy feeling and smoke effect: It seems to hit me hardest the first few days and then it is sort of like my body adjusts to breathing it and does a little better, though keeps on bothering my lungs. It hits some people very hard, like asthma.
Quote from: FinsnFur on August 25, 2017, 11:09:10 PM
I had to look those planes up. I couldnt imagine a plane scooping water without tumbling itself.
What I found was pretty interesting. I bet it takes some serious skill.
https://youtu.be/HLg8LnSMdVg
https://youtu.be/_5LKF8G5huw
Thanks for posting those videos! Fascinating to see the plane scoop up a load of water. I've never seen that in person. I learned a lot from the second video. The plane never stops flying but just drags it's belly and scooper intake in the water. If I did the math right, they claim in the video that a plane can make a water drop about every four minutes if it has a lake near the fire.
Update is same old. Some families got to go back in the past week, some after a few days and one area after 45 days evacuated, depending on which fire. And every day new evacuations are ordered, several hundred people fresh ordered out today, as new fires start or old fires eat across country into new areas.
If only some of the rain that has been hitting the Gulf states would have been shared with you.
Jerry
:sad: Pretty sad situation
I'm thinking Turdeau shoulda had that fire put out much quicker to help his save the planet syndrome.
Seems quite a bit of country has been closed to hunting for the year which is too bad.
I haven't seen the sun or moon look so different for such a long time in my life.
Just heard on local news that there are now 164 active fires in B.C. including 12 new ones started last night. The fire people say that some of the fires will go underground deep in roots and they will start up again next spring. Those won't be put out till next spring in 2018 (if then... ).
Where we used to live in the Okanagan, a fire got into old underground wood and would start smoking and start a fire year after year, even when they dug it up and put it out the best they could find it. It was just off highway 97 and I suspect that the wood was ancient stuff buried in a rockslide that came off of the steep mountain hundreds of years ago, or at least before that country was settled.
Our rifle deer season opened yesterday in several interior mule deer regions but I suspect that the areas "open" have a lot of closed roads due to fire hazard. I'll wait till the whole province opens next week, and mostly hunt grouse till we get some rain. Second driest summer on record here.
I hate to say it but even when the fire is no longer a menace it will be a big problem for those living on the mountainsides and in the surrounding foothills. About a week after our mountainside was completely devastated the monsoon started. We had sandbags stacked about three feet high around our patio and even higher on the banks of a small dry wash that was near our back patio. After the first big thunderstorm we shoveled mud and rocks from the patio as the water had crested the sandbags and did so after each big rain. Some of the folks less fortunate had mud up to their windows and in their house. The people in those areas should start to "mud proof" their house's - if possible.
John, wise words and good warning. There will be a LOT of mudslides and erosion damage in the next year or two.
When we lived in Southern California I decided that doomsday in So Cal would be a series of events that would start with a wet winter and long wet spring which would grow wild grass over waist high all over the country. I've seen that happen. Then at the end of summer it would turn extra dry and the Santa Ana winds would whip wildfires through the grass till the entire southern half of the state was scorched bare of brush and grass. Then that winter a long series of rains would saturate the ground followed by a huge rainstorm. Just when the flooding and mud sliding gets massive, the BIG ONE earthquake would hit and jiggle the mud from every slope. The End of the World Los Angeles style.
More evacuations today.
Clyde that sounds so possible it's creepy.
Cold rain here and a cold front passing over most of southern British Columbia, with snow at higher elevations. The Hanceville/Riske Creek fire that started on July 7 and burned my friend's house was contained two days ago. Province wide emergency status ended yesterday. Some fires are still going but the cold and rain in some areas is helping. What a summer!
I wonder why we never get any fires like that, it is like 95% forested here.
You probably get some rain there.
Mostly in the spring time and then just off n on. I shall have to investigate this further!