Wildfires in "The West Beyond the West"

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I'm OK here on Vancouver Island but Pj Hardtack and Gabriel Law are right in the heat. How're Ya doin', Pards?

http://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/kml/wildfire/map.html

[PJ Hardtack]

Thanks for asking!

My wife and I got back from a trip to southern Alberta last Tuesday. Once we left Canmore, we never saw the sun all the way home to the north Cariboo. The air was thick with smoke, but no particulate. The smoke has reached right to western Ontario.

Clear skies today, but for days we had an eerie half light that made mid-afternoon appear like dusk. The Ashcroft Reserve fire is 45,000 hectares in size and said to be out of control.

Road closures all over the place, travel into the back country verboten, no camp fires, mass evacuations, relocation of livestock, etc. Our club cancelled a Sporting Clays event and we just cancelled our annual CAS shoot, rescheduling it for next month. Evacuated people can't get home to their guns and if they did, there is no guarantee they could get back home.

We live in the Baker Creek drainage area west of Quesnel by 60 kms. There is a fire NW of us, but it is not likely to affect us. A few years back there was a major fire west of us and that will be a natural fire break.

All of our forestry friends have been working like Trojans, trudging through windfalls marking routes for bull dozers to clear. Exhaustion is starting to take a toll amongst firefighters, first responders, volunteers and emergency personnel. Williams Lake has closed it's hospital.

All of us have evac plans in place, prioritizing what goes and what stays. People with respiratory problems have gone to other locations. My wife will leave with the dogs and our guns (those we can pack) and I will remain to do what I can. As long as we have power, we have good water pressure from our well and I long ago got rid of trees in close proximity to the house. But living on a 5 acre wood lot, we are surrounded by forest on three sides, the lake on the west side.

I've heard of a would be looter being shot non-fatally and no charges were laid against the shooter. Another was beaten up with a hockey stick and again, no charges laid.

Speaking of guns .... remember my interest in your B '86 45-70? I just acquired a [JM] Marlin 95 with Ballard rifling. 22" barrel, 1x20" ROT. Check my post on 'Gun Reviews'.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I'm glad to hear that you and yours are OK. I wondered why I wasn't getting a response from You & Gabe, but then he rang on some topic, and I figured that he didn't say anything that there was no bad news, maybe just the phone lines down or something.

Several years ago when I still lived in Edmonton I was driving back North through Highway 5 it was almost dark, with spot fires all over the ridges. Quite a surreal scene.

"SASS is just a game!" It's expected that it takes a lower priority than real life and postponing a match was reasonable

[PJ Hardtack]

Not only reasonable, it expresses an appreciation for the gravity of the situation.

No sunshine today, but yesterday was clear, blue skies. Go figure .....

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

  We are located 20 miles south of Red Deer and have smoke advisories. We had a bright red Sun last evening.  Can't see the mountains from here anymore.  I was at Lethbridge for a black powder shoot on the weekend and you couldn't even see the mountains from Fort MacLeod.  The Porcupine Hills were in a haze.  A couple of days ago they showed a photo of Calgary and it looked like LA on a normal day. Hope the folks in BC get a dump of rain very, very soon, they sure need it.

Take care.

[PJ Hardtack]

Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow along with the possibility of thunderstorms. Lightning strikes means more fires.

Life is on hold for many in the central and south interior. Businesses and industries have all but rolled up shop in many locations as movement by road is sporadic at best. If you are not currently on standby for evacuation, you may well be before long.

We have fires within 50-75 kms of us but they are either under control or do not constitute a threat to this water shed area.

The cost of this catastrophe is going to be in the billions, but I'm sure the NDP will pull the bunny out of the hat and make it all good.
I expect massive provincial debt to be the final result as the NDP runs the economy into the ground.

I had someone explain to me how raising is minimum wage is a fallacy. Businesses will either reduce staff and/or pass along the increased labour costs to their customers. Same for increased welfare rates - those paying the bills now will have to pay more.

A $15 minimum wage does not make it any easier to survive in Vancouver for low wage earners nor will it raise welfare recipients above the poverty line.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

We had some of that rain here on the South Coast. Did it help any up there in the Chilcotin?

[PJ Hardtack]

Williams Lake got a deluge! That's gotta help their situation. Don't know about the Chilcotin country. Bella Coola is still cut off except by sea.

Our part of the Cariboo got significant rain last night and I just heard the rumble of thunder. All good unless it brings lightning strikes.

Life got pretty serious for many this summer and it ain't over yet.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

We don't have the fires but, we sure have the smoke.. The AQHI values are 8 to 10 today, very high risk.  They say the weekend will be a little worse.

It's all the NDP's fault. 

[PJ Hardtack]

We've had a couple of hours of steady rain with no lightning strikes this afternoon in the central Cariboo region. Same for south of us towards Williams Lake, 100 Mile and Clinton.

Some of these people will be allowed to go home soon.

Our air quality has improved greatly as a result of the rain.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

We just had a rain and it cleaned out a lot of the smoke.. Good to see you folks in BC are getting some rain, God knows you deserve it

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I was doing business calls to "Williams Lake" (Government offices moved to PG!) yesterday, and today again. It seems that the road south from Quesnel was closed yesterday and likely today. Refugees are still a common sight in Quesnel and PG. Williams Lake had a deluge night before yesterday but dry weather has returned.

[PJ Hardtack]

The road (Hwy 97) south from Quesnel has been closed for weeks now.

People who have rescued horses that know the back roads have had to take circuitous routes to accomplish their missions. Dealing with officious people at road blocks was an exercise in futility.

It will be weeks before normalcy returns for many people. It will be a real test for the NDP government who got their support from the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. They only have four MLAs from rural ridings.

God help us with the number of NDP governments across the country! There are fewer and fewer places left to run.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

PJ; I knew it had been closed but folks are hopefull about getting home - Soon!

[PJ Hardtack]

Rained again here last night, but we saw a helo towing a bucket returning from a drop west of us. Might have been an isolated lightning strike.

People are slowly being allowed to return home to rebuild their lives. Those that left on evac order are entitled to subsidies to help cover expenses. Those that left voluntarily are NOT, even if they left for health reasons and to avoid the stampede.

The joys of bureaucracies .....

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

A YEAR HAS PASSED! Same week and almost the same ol' shite! Now it is the Okanagan, mostly. How are you Chilcotin Cowboys doin?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

ONLY 127 fires in BC today.

[Professor Marvel]

A YEAR HAS PASSED! Same week and almost the same ol' shite! Now it is the Okanagan, mostly. How are you Chilcotin Cowboys doin?

My Dear Sir C -

it is the same down here.
with the changing weather patterns the "drought" pattern seems to have intensified all across North America

California now seems to have 3 seasons: mudslide, fire, and more fire.

Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah about the same

Oddly, the Talking Heads on the news tubes seem to be skipping over fires, we hjave not even heard of the Canadian fiores.

so I have taken to monitoring real-time via these links

https://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/predictive/intelligence/admin/google_maps/ics_209_incidents/ics_209_incidents.htm
https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/afm/index.php

mayhap Canadia has similar websites?

yhs
prof marvel

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status

Most states or provinces will have similar sites.

[PJ Hardtack]

We've been spared in the Central Cariboo Region so far. Came close last year and several ranges were closed due to the fire hazard.

We had a nearby wildfire that we nipped in the bud last month caused by careless smokers. Due to the high winds, it spread quickly from the shoreline, threatening to jump the road into a hay field.

Locals spread the word and we showed up with buckets, shovels, chainsaws, etc. I went home for my portable water pump and 50' of hose and we really doused it.

Two hours after it was reported, the forestry firefighters showed up. They asked if they could use my pump so they wouldn't have to take theirs off the truck! I said "Sure, bring it back when you're done". When they did, they hadn't even refueled it!

The local who made the call got a rocket from the Forestry people and he gave them some pithy Cowboy responses. Most of us that live on the lake (7 kms long) have skookum water pumps and 200'-300' of hose. I can get on both sides of our house which is on a bench over looking the lake 75' away.

We do not rely on or trust the authorities to do anything for us based on what we saw during the previous fire season. We are a farming/ranching community so we rank low on the priority list. Barns and modest ranch houses don't warrant air attack by helos and water bombers.