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Howdy & thanks mate !!

The worst fires are north of Kenora & Red Lake.

Good post Stuart.
The future of saving personal property from a fire is in the preparedness. The response time is critical so.....in the off season a homeowner needs to get his ducks in a row because getting hands on equipment (hoses, water tanks, pumps) in a desperate time isn't going to happen.

Very true. Ducks like water, so getting them in a row is a job for the wetter seasons

Stuart;
Good morning sir, I hope the skies are clearer in Mission than they are here and that you're all doing as well as can be what with all the goings on.

Thanks for the post, I appreciate the thoughts and explaining what you've done.

As it turns out I put up sprinklers on both our house and garage, but as we're on a community well and are at the end of the line, I only have the flow to run a pair of sprinklers on each.

I'd hoped to do 4 on the house - we have a single slope roof - but testing showed it wouldn't even run 3 effectively with the flow I've got.

While I need to test it to be sure, it does vary depending upon who is irrigating what closer to the pump house, but we've got 95psi and a bit less than 5gpm which isn't stellar.

I didn't go with impulse sprayers, though it can be switched out for sure - the rationale being the circular pattern ones create a constant dome of moisture.

However in practice I'll need to alternate between buildings should the need arise - which isn't optimum for sure, but better than nothing.

Your cistern and pump setup sounds great.

I've been toying with getting some IBC totes and plumbing them together for a water storage setup, but our yard is a bit spread out so I'm not sure I can have a system laid out to be useful for the house and garage and horse shelter.

Anyways, I've cleaned up a bunch of the firewood from around the garage now - it's out in the middle of what used to be our horse pen so fire shouldn't get to it as easily and if it did it's the 10 meters from any buildings.

Over the past year and a bit I've done a lot of pruning of the bottom branches on Ponderosa Pines on the east side of the property so at least now the driveway - only exit - should be passable. We're on a bit of a chunk of land here and it's really, really steep so cleaning it all up is something I likely will not complete in this lifetime. It's certainly better than it was before though, so here's hoping.

As my friend from up the valley says, we try to get our ducks in a row before fire season for sure.

Thanks again and all the best.

Dwayne

Not much I can do for you folks given the distance but wish you all the best in terms of luck, favorable winds, rain and hope. Hoping that you do not have to cut and run.

Be safe -- homes can be rebuilt, lives lost are gone forever.

Fingers crossed and wishing you all well

As these fires carry on, it becomes obvious the effect to the local economies is devastating and generational.

Some of these fires aren't "grass fires" they are full blown burning in the timber supply of huge suppliers of...lumber...otherwise known as $$$$$$.

It will be better hunting in a few years, but the rest of it ain't looking good.

Man is a slow learner.

673;
Good morning sir, I hope you're well.

I was going to just text you, but thought perhaps others might be interested in whatever changes we're seeing.

So far it's still fine here for us regarding the Thomas Creek Fire. We've heard it's gone up over the main logging road about 15km up from here and has passed Allendale Lake which had the cabins evacuated. We've heard rumors of where it's gone up in the spots we like to hunt, but as there's a ban on going up into that area, I've obviously adhered to it and don't have first hand updates on that.

Plenty of time to check that out this fall - well I hope there will be......

The Nk'Mip Fire is really ripping but I can see that as it's rough country and dry at the best of times so it'd be tough to fight. Yesterday 100 firefighters from Mexico arrived to help out and I want to say some Canadian Forces out of Edmonton as well.

All of them are much appreciated of course.

We still hear reports of boaters who won't get out of the way of the skimmer planes, which is beyond annoying. Perhaps they should run up a skull and crossbones on the RCMP zodiac and start scuttling ski boats? You'd think folks would "get it" but they seemingly do not.

Not much else new down here as far as we're concerned though sir.

I've tested and re-tested the roof top units, have cleaned the gutters and will look at them again. As much firewood as possible was moved 30' from the buildings and some other firewood in covered areas got metal roofing tacked onto the front so it might be a bit more fire resistant?

You're right with the statement about lost timber revenue for sure, it's too much to count - especially at $8 for a stud, you know?

Well, off I go to do some more painting and then work on the garden fence a bit before it gets too hot.

Turns out the "deer proof" fencing I put up isn't "fawn proof" or even "fawn resistant". I've posted this above, but here's the little bean eater hard at task yesterday afternoon!



We can see that it's sibling directly behind it knows the rules and stays out or at least just sticks it's head through the fence to nibble, but I suppose the temptation of that much greenery was just too much for it to bear!

Take care out there my friend and all the best.

Dwayne

Sadly, the fire season was about a month early, therefore the fawns aren't going to be nimble enough to get out of the way of the fast moving fires. I was just starting to see an uptick in Mule deer populations after the new restrictions implemented.

Hopefully, people will understand that this land was formed by fire for thousands of years. Stopping fires isn't going to happen, but the quick response and the access to the land is within our control.

De-activating roads is a real problem for a quick response, the resource road is paid for and built, then it is again paid for to be destroyed. I know for a fact that if we get flames in behind some of these de-activated resource roads people will be running for their lives. I'm not sure what some of these people expected to happen?

The Government is in the process of massive deflection and coming up with excuses that are pure comedy. We are not in good hands, just ask some of the locals, its quite abit different response than what we see in the media from the talking heads who aren't even there to give an opinion.
I have warned friends living in vulnerable areas to get ready for the worst, unless we get rain, the worst is yet to come.

Well watching the ash falling at 1:00 this morning, not sure which fire it is from, lots of smoke.

Hope the folks in BC, Sk and Manitoba get a respite soon.

The last three days our early morning sun rises (5 am) have been a very red sun trying to poke through a high smoke layer. This really points to not good situation for the folks where this is coming from

Couple years or so ago, I was moose hunting up in the NW corner of Saskatchewan, one of many trips to that area. We went through an area that had had a fire the previous year, looked like pictures of the moon! Prayers and thoughts for you guys up there!

Hugh;
Good morning to you sir, I hope the sky is a bit brighter in your part of the world and that this first day in August will be a good one in all ways for you.

This is a wee bit of a cut and paste from the main forum when I responded about the smoke.

Where I'm typing, I am located directly west of the Thomas Creek fire - it was maybe a bit less than a kilometer from our place on the first and second day.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penti...0-hectares-up-to-10-000-in-just-24-hours

Then about a week after that this lit up just south of us and has surpassed the first one in size.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penti...re-grows-to-13-000-hectares-BCWS-mapping

It's tough walking some mornings as it does make it difficult to breath.

When we drove into Penticton on the grocery run yesterday we couldn't see across Skaha Lake which is about 2km wide at most as a guess.

We're at the narrowest place in the entire Okanagan Valley here and since I posted an hour ago I can now see the dim outline of the mountain across the valley from us which is roughly a kilometer and a half.

I keep on saying this is as bad as I've seen it in 36 years - and then it gets worse - so perhaps I need to stop saying that? Not sure this can be all on me though, you know?

They're already restricting us from going up into the back country in the fire areas and frankly we've made the decision not to go until we get some rain. I just don't feel that lucky anymore and don't want it to be my pickup's brakes causing another fire this year.

As mentioned too, the whole hunting season will be up in the air until the situation settles down a bit. The guys aren't even taking shod horses into the back country because of the sparks. Nobody other than fire crews are doing bush work down here that I'm aware of either.

Stay safe all, it's already been an interesting summer and it's only now August which was traditionally the bad month.

Dwayne

I hope everyone up there is safe and well. The smoke level down here definitely makes you think about how bad it really is up North of the border. We had to keep buildings closed up last Thursday, as the smoke was like a heavy fog most of the day.

I'm going to keep praying for rain. All the best to those dealing with this presently.

Dwayne, all the best to you and your family.

The air has cleared substaintially here through the course of the day. The wind is from the SE which is the only directional location free from fires. Not sure if you use the Windy.Com app. There is a toggle for fire intensity and it shows all the current fire locations in a province or across the country if you want with the zoom functions.

BC from Valemount to the US border ---- Cranbrook to Lillooet does not look good.


https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-more-layers/overlays?fires,2021073100,53.373,-111.621,6

Mike Farnsworth is BC's public safety minister, and a fugging liar. This prick talks down to the locals for not evacuating and putting out the fire that nobody else can. This pos was threatening $10,000 fines to those who stayed to defend their homes and their neighbors homes. This idiot completely misunderstands the nature of "community" and what it means to be part of a rural Community.

He is denying that the locals had the fire contained, there is too many witnesses to say otherwise. This isn't the first time the authorities have told locals and loggers that they are to stand down because they aren't qualified to engage in fire fighting. I can't wait until he shows up for a Community pep talk in the aftermath of the fire.

It used to be the norm, then one year we were taking our annual S100 fire fighting course and the instructor told us we were only to be on a fire until the forestry arrives and takes over......you could hear a pin drop. A guy says what is this shyte?...the instructor went all rambo and said just because you are loggers doesn't mean you know anything about fire fighting.
The logging Community was pretty confused about what this meant, considering many of them had 40+ years experience.

A fire I was operating a skidder on.......the fire flared up on a steep slope, its a job for water cans (pizz cans) I grab mine which was full, the pro fireman grabs his, we head up the hill, him first. I reach him laying on a big rock and he can't go any further, I says...I will take your can with me and I will see you up there.....I pick up his can and it only had about 1/4 of it full of water, clown.....point being...we were in superlative conditioning, they were not, it can't be compared in any way.

They bring in People from other Provinces and Countries to fight fires in our backyard WTF??? They don't know the terrain, backroads, nor where the structures are located, and in many cases can't even speak english. There are hundreds of experienced locals that they will not allow on the fire, many of us have tanks with pumps mounted on our trucks...not allowed.

Its all about control, and its about something else.

None of these officials can explain why we need People from Mexico, Quebec, Australia to come here to fight the fires. Its a perfect example of the "globalist nature" that has been integrated into the portfolio of forestry in this Province.

Now Farnsworth is saying the fire fighters had to drop their efforts and save those who didn't evacuate. This is a complete lie as it didn't happen, in fact they still aren't there LOL.

The firefighters shouldn't have bothered, just left them to their own devices. Choices have consequences.

It didn't happen, get it?

Were you there? Clearly your job is to believe everything the Communists say, their leader wears a diaper on his head ffs.