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#284943 - 07/11/17 03:04 AM British Columbia is Burning
Teslinhiker Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1418
Loc: Nothern Ontario
Another hot summer and my home province is once again on fire. As of today, there are about 225 active fires without about 17 of a notable size and strength.

As of about 6 pm Pacific, there are approimently 14,000 people evacuated from their homes and now the city of Williams Lake which has about 10,000 people, are now on evac notice.

To give an idea of size, these fires have so far, consumed almost 100,00 acres over an area of approximently 120 miles north to south and 180 miles east to west. Needless to say, fire crews are stretched thin and reinforcements are being brought in from other parts of Canada and the some possibly from the USA.

With many of these evacuations, people had minutes to leave and again the importance of being prepared and having a full tank of gas etc should always be high on the priority list.

These people of the Cariboo region though, are a very resilient and mostly rural group of people, of whom many are farmers and ranchers that run hundreds of heads of cattle, horses and other farming creatures. And the support they are giving each other and from complete strangers to get their animals cared for and trucked off to other safe areas, is nothing short of amazing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/current-situation-1.4197403

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/...20-forest-fires

http://globalnews.ca/news/3585284/b-c-wi...d-the-province/
_________________________
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock

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#284945 - 07/11/17 04:10 AM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Teslinhiker]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
I've been watching this closely. It looks like it could easily get worse.

From what I've read, fire crews are stretched, playing whack-a-mole as lightning starts new fires all over the place. Crews from Alberta and Saskatchewan are heading to BC to help out, and the military will be providing additional logistics/transport resources.

Smoke blew over the Rockies and blanketed my area today. A bit surreal -- shades of last summer's fires here. Hang in there, BC.

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#284984 - 07/13/17 11:15 PM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Teslinhiker]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
VERY SORRY to hear this news.
BC is such a beautiful place.
And the forests there are a precious resource for the whole Earth.

I was surprised by your news. How can there be 225 fires ... i dont see any explanation for such a large number of fires - except arson. If that's true, it's absolutely horrible behavior.

Agree with you that fire crews must be stretched beyond all human limits. Especially when there arw many fires also burning in California. The whole of the West Coast has got big problems with dry forests.

Please keep us up-to-date.
BEST WISHES for all fire crews!!

Pete


Edited by Pete (07/13/17 11:18 PM)

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#284986 - 07/14/17 03:59 AM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Pete]
AKSAR Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/31/11
Posts: 1233
Loc: Alaska
Originally Posted By: Pete
I was surprised by your news. How can there be 225 fires ... i dont see any explanation for such a large number of fires - except arson. If that's true, it's absolutely horrible behavior.

Lightning will do that. One thunder storm may have hundreds of strikes. Now think of a band of storms. Even if only a small % of strikes start fires, the result of multiple thunderstorm bands blowing through can start many fires. Especially if the forest is very dry.

A few weeks ago Cliff Mass had a post on his blog about fires in Oregon and Washington. Scroll down in it to see a lightning strike map from several bands of storms that blew through during one 24 hour period back in June. Even if only 1% of those strikes caused fires, it's still a lot of fires! Dry conditions and thunderstorms are a bad combination in the West.
_________________________
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz

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#285017 - 07/16/17 05:10 PM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Teslinhiker]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
thanks for posting the lightning map. its the first time i have seen one. quite amazing. i am guessing that they get this data from satellites.

Maybe some of that lightning is cloud-to-cloud. but i think your basic "lightning math" is on target. potentially there are a lot of fires there, esp. if there is not a lot of rain from the storms.

how are things going in BC?

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#285019 - 07/16/17 07:18 PM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Teslinhiker]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
Not great. Heat and dry winds are now expected, and this could blow embers over the halt lines and controlled burns.

The small city of Williams Lake and surrounding area are now under mandatory evacuation orders. The only highway is already cut off to the north, and the worry is that the south portion may be overrun by wind-driven fires. They're trying to avoid the last-minute panic evacuation that surprised Fort Mac last year, which seems prudent.

Approximately 500 square miles of forest have burned so far in BC, and the season is just getting started.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat...rticle35701395/



Edited by dougwalkabout (07/16/17 07:20 PM)

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#285020 - 07/17/17 03:18 AM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Pete]
Teslinhiker Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1418
Loc: Nothern Ontario
As Doug mentioned, it is not great here.

Although the total number of fires have dropped, there is no letup with the big fires which are consuming miles of land per day. Resources in that area and around Kamloops which is the closest and biggest city are stretched thin and people are being evacuated to lower mainland area east of Vancouver.

To say these fires are unprecedented is conservative at best. There are now over 37,000 people who are out of home and that number is sure to rise over the coming days. However communities and people not affected by the fires have stepped forward with donations of food, clothing and all other basic necessities of every day life that some of the evac centers are requesting no more donations as they do not have the resources to handle it all.

Also as Doug mentioned, the fire season here is just getting started and IMO, the fire situation is only going to get much worse before it gets "better." And I use the word "better" loosely as this fire season will have repercussions for months and years for not only the evacuee's themselves - but also for this region's mostly rural economy which is heavily natural resource and agriculture dependent.

Some related news info.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3602352/b-c-wildfire-status-sunday-nearly-37000-people-displaced-by-fires/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfire-williams-lake-1.4207548
_________________________
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock

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#285552 - 08/22/17 09:21 PM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Teslinhiker]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
A quick update: it's officially the worst fire season on record in BC.

The scale is hard to grasp: some 900,000 hectares (3,400 square miles) have burned so far.

A story here about 19 individual fires merging into one mega-fire:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/largest-wildfire-1.4257021

While a good number of mandatory evacuations have been lifted, people are still on evacuation alert over a vast area. These are rather sparsely populated compared to urban areas, but the economic impact is severe. So is the wider impact of the smoke, both on human health and on the important tourist industry.

Pray (to the gods/fates of your choice) for rain.


Edited by dougwalkabout (08/22/17 09:24 PM)

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#285588 - 08/25/17 01:16 PM Re: British Columbia is Burning [Re: Teslinhiker]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
thanks for the update.
this is truly a tragedy.
please post as you get more info.

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