BC Fires
 

I think the BC fires deserve it's own thread rather than just the weather thread.

There are currently 69 active fires, of which 44 have started in just the past 2 days.

Village Of Lytton things are not looking great, the entire town has been evacuated, reports saying the local hospital, ambulance station, and main drag have all been destroyed.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/338...lage-of-Lytton

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...2021-1.6085919

Video taken by someone who was evacuating.

Re: BC Fires
 

It really escalated quickly, and if the wind picks up like yesterday it's going to make fighting them difficult.

Re: BC Fires
 

It sure did, especially the fire in Lytton, went from 0 to catastrophe people had trouble escaping.

90% of the town of Lytton is reportedly burned, and possibly loss of the entire town.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/lytton-fire-90...says-1.5493293

Re: BC Fires
 

Even made it on the bbc news

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57678054

Re: BC Fires
 

CNN as well.

Re: BC Fires
 

Things don't look good in Lytton, I hope the province and federal government can help those who lost everything.

Before and after picture

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...e93c2adce3.jpg

Re: BC Fires
 

I don't think anywhere else in Canada can say they have had a worse week than those in Lytton.

Most homes and structures have been destroyed by the fire, including RCMP detachment, paramedic station, medical clinic/hospital, RCMP have deployed 100 additional officers to those normally stationed there, the town is currently off limits.

The fire while not yet confirmed, is suspected to have been started by a train.

RCMP also trying to account for those who are not yet accounted to ensure their safety and location.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...2021-1.6087311

The fire is more than 64 square kilometers in size.

Re: BC Fires
 

Ah man. So awful all round.
Yes. It made the news all the way down here.

Re: BC Fires
 

That might mean they have a visual burn path leading from the track or data from hot box detectors showing a hot brake box or skidded wheel. Now they don't want anyone in the way and as soon as the fire site is cool enough to get cadaver dogs on the scene they can start searching. There are always some who think they can ride it out but they can't. Not fair at all to the people who find them.

Re: BC Fires
 

We got evacuated from our home last night here in Kamloops. Our neighbourhood caught fire thanks to some lightning. Horrible experience, but we are all OK.

Twitter

Re: BC Fires
 

:ohmy:
Very glad to hear you are safe! It must have been horrendous, very scary. Hope you have something to go back to... :fingerscrossed:

Re: BC Fires
 

Glad your okay.

Re: BC Fires
 

Thanks, the Fire department did a great job getting it under control and no houses were lost.

As I sit here and type this, I can see Helicopters whizzing by and dropping water on the smoldering hillside. What we need is a week of rain.

Re: BC Fires
 

:thumb:

Re: BC Fires
 

Glad you are OK, and no damage happened. But it is a scary experience!

Re: BC Fires
 

There 2 deaths reported, but not officially confirmed ........... a young man said his parents hid in a hole being dug for sewer work, told him to cover the hole with plywood, and get away himself. He ran to the train tracks, was lucky enough to be safe there, but saw a burning tree fall over the hole where his parents were hiding.

I can't find the original story that was in the paper edition this morning. The latest update online is .....

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...ravaged-lytton

Re: BC Fires
 

We have a fire up north that has burned it's way around a uranium mine. They're lighting backfires to deter it, and they evacuated 3/4 of their employees, and some of the roads are cut off, but the official line is everything is safe, no dangerous stuff above ground, it's fine. Ok, sounds legit. :lol:
https://globalnews.ca/news/7999047/w...-saskatchewan/

Re: BC Fires
 

The importance of cars in these fire situations really comes to light, not just the Lytton fire but in general. Those without cars really can't escape in quick need when a fast moving fire approaches.

Re: BC Fires
 

Very sad.... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...fire-1.6088297

:(

Re: BC Fires
 

As someone who can't drive I was thinking about this and I thought that if you couldn't drive you'd likely not be living somewhere that was at risk. I mean if you can function without a car you're probably not living somewhere so isolated and in danger. :unsure:

Of course there might be some, like a couple, with only one driver and one dies, leaving the non driver as survivor. But aren't you looking at how viable that situation is?

Re: BC Fires
 

You might be surprised how many in smaller communities don't drive or own a car.

While Lytton is small, places like West Kelowna, parts of Kamloops, and other towns and city's in the interior are still at risk from fires.

Before we moved into our current place the last place in West Kelowna could easily end up in the path of a fire and has in the past, can still see the burn scars from a fire several years ago, only about 1km away from our building.

Re: BC Fires
 

Not BC related, but video on PG&E and their wildfire problem and what they are doing to fix it without having to cut power for days.

Re: BC Fires
 

That's a shocking picture. Glad you are safe.

Re: BC Fires
 

I knew quite a few people up in the small communities where we had our cabin.

There was a Community Bus which linked smaller communities to the immediate north and south with the "large" town (~5,000 pop.), but the communities to the west and east were not served. People walked, or were given lifts by neighbours.

The bus ran about 3 times a day, week days, and had a bout 3 stops in town ...... one at the grocery store and little mall at the north end of town, one at the grocery store and little indoor (!!) mall at the south end, and one other place that I never did see (possibly the hospital).

There's a huge community spirit in most small places.

I don't drive, which is one of the things my daughter hated when we bought the cabin so far from anywhere.

Re: BC Fires
 

I could also point out that Vancouver itself is under a possibility of fire. The Fire Chief issued warnings this morning for people to be careful with cigarette butts, BBQs in parks or beaches (or when throwing away the ashes from charcoal or wood), etc etc. The chance of fire is at Very High to Extreme.

We are in a drought situation, everything is tinder dry, we have the most street trees in (I understand) all of North America, we have Stanley Park plus parks all over the city that are all well used, but dry.

After all, think of all the California places that have burnt in recent years. I think San Bernardino has been under serious threat several times.

I remember this one well .......................

2003

from:-
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/s...ical-wildfires

This happened the same year, just across the mountain range from where we had our cabin. We could the smoke, and listened to the radio regularly for updates.

When we take to train to Jasper or further east, the tracks run through the area of this fire, which can still be clearly seen. New vegetation is appearing, but the trees are small, even after almost 20 years. You can see how the fire spread up to and over the mountain to the west side of the Thompson River, and up to and over the top of the mountain on the east side.

Re: BC Fires
 

Squamish has always concerned me, town sits in a valley, and if there is ever a major fire on the mountains on north side of town, it could easily move through a good chunk of the town, south side is still risk too, but there is at least a river and Howe Sound which provide a bit of a buffer.

San Bernardino County is quite large, and has a lot of fire danger areas, including semi-arid, forest and arid regions, but even the forests are semi-arid, nothing in So. California is very wet in general. San Bernardino is 20,105 square miles in size so covers a lot of ground.

One of the biggest reasons so much burns now in So. California vs the past isn't only more fire frequency, but the fact the city's have grown into the foothills which was just asking for trouble, when santa ana winds pick up in the fall any fire is blown straight down into the foot hills of the mountains, and well houses make for excellent material for fires to burn.

California will at some point really have to decide is wood structures are best suited for the climate, might be time to start building more fire resistant homes in high risk areas.

Re: BC Fires
 

I was actually thinking of the city, San Bernardino, not the county.


Canada has done exactly the same thing.

This is why so many people were evacuated and houses lost in that Kelowna fire, and the same thing with Fort McMurray in Alberta ........... houses built right up to and in to the forest edge.

They got wise after the event, and cut down the trees so there is a clear area.

If you look at Metro Vancouver, there are several places that are intruding into the forests.

Re: BC Fires
 

I would not be surprised if at some point insurance companies simply wont insure wood frame homes in fire prone areas, or wild fire coverage will be an add on like earthquake insurance is. So. California has far different vegetation than coastal BC, so I don't worry as much when we lived on the coast, nothing burns quite like the coastal chaparral, its burns hot and faster than trees do, add in the Santa Ana winds and your screwed if there is a fire, Vancouver area at least doesn't generally have that kind of wind when its hot, which helps, now the interior is more similiar to So. California but with more trees.

This guy had the right idea.

Re: BC Fires
 

Impressive home ! But he's still very brave to ride out a firestorm...if it's really bad he wouldn't have any oxygen.

I wonder if summer forest fires continue to be this frequent and severe that people just start vacating the high risk areas. Not overnight, but over 2-3 decades. It's certainly a risk and disruptive.

Re: BC Fires
 

He is braver than I would be, I am all with having fire resistant home, but if at possible, I'd not stay in the home during the fire outside, it would be more for not losing everything.

I wont be surprised if over the decades migration happens, the fires may get worse and bigger and more frequent and these areas may get hotter and just no longer be hospitable to humans.

San Diego for example, I would only live in very specific areas away from the foothills, the chance of fire in the western side of the county is pretty much zilch, but go further east, and your risk begins to increase by the mile almost. Where my dad lives and where I grew up, really no risk of fire coming through, the older sections are too urban and too far from the brush, but the newer developments 1990 onwards further east, now they are at risk, as is pretty much anyone with acreage to the east.

So. California also had a huge fire season, longer than BC has, basically April to December now, with highest risk generally August to end of October when the Santa Ana winds pick up.

Re: BC Fires
 

Not building where wildfires are a certainty and not building on floodplains where you're sure to lose your house are the new realities of climate change.

Re: BC Fires
 

Of course, lots of areas in the US, and other countries were only able to be settled because of damming of rivers in other places and the finding of artesian water underground.

Now over-population and over-use of the water has led to depletion of the underground supplies AND of the water being siphoned off from other areas by the damming.

Large areas of Texas have relied on artesian water, but the supply began to run out some decades ago. San Antonio had to shut down its famous fountain and water features installed for Hemisfair 1967 or 68 in the late 80s or early 90s because their supply of underground was running dry. They were promoting dry area gardening by the mid-1990s. The Austin area was one of the greenest areas in Texas as a result of the huge artesian basin underground. That is now severely depleted.

California is at a dire risk of losing much of its agriculture that was made viable by damming rivers in the northern US and Canada and then stealing as much of it from their northern neighbouring states who also wanted to use that water.

There have been serious suggestions that it won't be too long, in the lifetime look of things, before there will become a reverse exodus from California rivalling the Dust Bowl movement to that state in the 1930s.

Underground artesian basins have similarly been depleted by Californians.

Californians were greedy users of water, thinking of it as a never-ending supply. Not only are vast amounts using for irrigation of their farms and agricultural areas, which do produce a very large amount of the food demanded by Americans in other states, as well as being exported, but home owners and municipalities insisted on green lawns and unsuitable plantings.

A side effect of the damming done in the 1920s and later to keep that hungry state supplied with water has led to water problems up here in Canada. At least 2 of the dams were on rivers originating in Canada, backing up water to the north of the border and now several areas in eastern BC are short of water because of it. Not to mention the communities and ranches that were buried under the water backed up behind the dams.

Re: BC Fires
 

I found out in the paper this morning that the centre of Kamloops, north of Kelowna in the Okanagan, caught fire last week.

Two lightening strikes in quick succession caused small fires on an embankment of grass and shrubs in the centre of Kamloops , they quickly grew in size and merged. The city's firemen were met with almost a "wall of fire" by the time they arrived.

Luckily they did manage to get the fire under control before too much damage was done.

What worries me about Vancouver is that this is, I think, the first time in the more than 50 years that we have lived here that the Fire Chief has issued a warning that the fire risk is Very High to Extreme.

I'm not as optimistic as Jsmith about Vancouver "being safe" and not worrying.

There are lots of open grass areas around, not to mention the grassy street boulevards and lawns , that are now almost straw-coloured because they are so dry. Homeowners can water their lawns with sprinklers twice a week. between 4 am and 9 am. The boulevards, and other grassy areas are under the control of the city who do not water them.

We may soon move into the next stage of watering restrictions because there has been so little rain, and that means watering lawns only once a week or not at all.

Then we can add in all the detritus (sometimes called "duff") on the floor of all the wooded areas around, even under the cedar hedges around houses.

That duff been the fuel for many of the wild fires in the US and Canada, and probably other countries as well.

The First Nations used to conduct controlled burns in the fall to burn that off, as did the early settlers. The Australian Aboriginals still do controlled burnings in their home territories, we saw it being done near Katherine Gorge.

The US Forest Service can be blamed for the stopping of those burnings. It was determined by them in the 1950s that the controlled burning was dangerous and not necessary, so they invented Smokey the Bear who told all children not to let their parents cause fires in the forests. It was bad to burn.

Decades of this has led to huge build-ups of the detritus ..........dead leaves and conifer needles, small twigs and branches, dead trees. All dry during the hot months.

Trump did say something about California should sweep or vacuum the forests during the wild fires last year. Everyone laughed at him, and while that suggestion was absurd, the basic premise was serious .......... the duff is extremely dangerous. Not only can the surface extremely dry layers burn but fires can continue to smoulder in the deeper layers, ready to burst out at any time.

I think of the forested areas in and around Vancouver ............... Stanley Park, Pacific Spirit Park out near UBC, Burnaby Mountain with SFU at the top, Queen Elizabeth Park, and the mountains on the north shore across the harbour from Vancouver.

It would not be the first time that Vancouver has burnt if it does happen .......... the first buildings were almost all destroyed in a raging wildfire back in 1886. That is why there are only one or two buildings in Vancouver that pre-date 1886.

Re: BC Fires
 

I agree.

But people still want homes near the water, stupid fools!!!!!!

Maybe the fact that insurance companies are beginning to refuse to insure buildings in such places will have the required effect.

Re: BC Fires
 

Problem with Trump statement on the forests was he was attempting to place blame onto State of California when the blame should be on the federal government.

In California the state government is responsible for just 3% of rest lands, 58% of the states forest lands are in the hands of the federal government, the remaining 39% is in private ownership or Native American hands.

State governments cannot govern federal lands, have no jurisdiction on federal lands, and have no responsibility over federal land.

Plus often not even forests that on fire in So. California especially but this sort of landscape:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...175ecc307e.jpg




https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...41b0274a2d.jpg

The chaparral is designed to burn, outside the raining season its very dry, just waiting to burn, and it burns hot and fast, trees at least do take time to burn, and some species quite resistant to fire but this type of biome relies on fire, problem is we put houses into it, and only real solution is to not put houses in places that burn naturally and rely on fire to be healthy.

Re: BC Fires
 

California has learned from the mistakes of the past when it comes to water and working to correct those mistakes, some parts of California likely have a more efficient water system than we do in BC where I believe the bulk of our wastewater is dumped into the ocean rather than recycled back into the water system to replenish it.


They are also building sea water desalination plants to help reduce demand for imported freshwater, and the plant is quite modern and they have solved many of the issues surrounding these types of plants, sea life friendly intakes and outtakes to not harm the ocean life, and energy efficiencies.

Better late than never! https://britishexpats.com/forum/mapl.../#post13024824

Re: BC Fires
 

The fire in Lytton looks to have started in town and not related to the wild fires that were in the area. The picture in the article, does look it may have started near the rail road tracks.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/cause-of-lytto...-say-1.5496738

Re: BC Fires
 

Patiently waiting for a statement from the CNR.... I suppose they have to examine all their data from sensors and video then find and inspect the engines and cars that were part of the train.
I just checked the highway cams and it's hazy in Keremeos and a bit worse in Boston Bar.
https://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwayc...l/www/235.html
https://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwayc...l/www/109.html

Re: BC Fires
 

Boggles my mind how they can track down what & where it started. Talk about needle in a haystack.