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Its early yet, but this isn't good, this one just outside Kamloops is disturbing. Then there is supposed to be lightening later today, likely causing more fires....its quite windy here today. There is also a number of fires growing and are out of control, a couple east of Kelowna that are very concerning, 45 degree's??? not much fire crews can do.

Here is the sparks lake fire.
https://cfjctoday.com/2021/06/30/tn...6-more-properties-near-sparks-lake-fire/

We have been very fortunate, here in the east Kootenays, so far. This could change at any time if we should happen to have a storm front move through. Was up on the Flat head the other day and it didn't seem too bad yet but it's damn dry in the trench. Dries out fast in 100 degree, plus, weather. The hottest day at our house was 111 F. Cooler today (only 95 right now) but a light breeze will only dry things more quickly. GD

Really windy here, sparks lake fire is over 20,000 hectares as of last night.
Last time I was over in the Kootenay's east/west....I didn't see the bug killed bush like pretty much everywhere else in the interior.
Where I have been working is bug kill tree's 360 degree all around.

The town of Lytton....90% of the town is burned down, they say a train may have started the fire. Which is puzzling because they have known about trains starting fires for a long time now, they must be ok with it.

Its been cool and fairly wet up here so no big fires yet. People are more worried about flooding. Went down to the creek behind the house this afternoon and its higher than Ive ever seen it. The big lakes here wont peak until August and there is a lot of snow to melt yet.

I think counting on any Government agency to save anyone's skin is a bad idea. It takes 2 days for the Governments own "current wildfire activity" site to update, I find that ridiculous. I am also abit stunned by the fact the Province hasn't halted industrial activity in the bush and had logging outfits gather all their fire fighting rigging and be on standby.....its 45+ degree's?? LOL......gonna get some lightening here around here too in abit.

The best place for current info I have found is........https://www.castanetkamloops.net/
or here
https://www.castanetkamloops.net/ne...t-of-Kamloops-now-20-000-hectares#338589
They update constantly.....read the story about CN stopping activity, no schitt.

Last big fire we had here, they Forest service would not let the loggers fight the fire because they weren't certified. The contractor said they could have had the fire contained in a couple of hours. Instead, he pulled his equipment out and let the forest service fight it for three weeks.
Thunder storms right now. Have not seen any lightning strikes. Pouring rain on our house (yay!). Should, at least, settle the dust a bit. Fire on northwest Plumbob; about five miles as the crow flies. Ten miles if the crow is driving. I might go have a look when the rain lets up. This is a very timely shower. If we don't get any serious lightning strikes, and no tourists start any fires, we'll be good. Temp dropped from 101 to 84 in about ten minutes. Oh! hail now! GD

The most inept Government entity is forestry.

Loggers have the equipment and know how to use it, go places with a skidder+Crawler that would make most people puke.

I have 350-400 gallons of water and a pump on a truck I have here, in case of a roadside type flare up, of which we have had several over the years...the locals put them out or controlled them until someone else comes with the big stuff.

Lightening out now, big time.

Absolutely true. A very good friend of mine resigned from forestry for that reason. He spent a couple of decades in charge of fighting forest fires but said they brought in so many policies that didnt work that it was impossible to do his job properly.

As far as I can tell, thus far two people confirmed to have perished, sadly, I believe there will be more.
https://www.castanetkamloops.net/ne...ted-for-after-wildfire-evacuation#338796

An unknown amount of eyewitnesses saw the train start the fire in Lytton, the authorities are trying to weave their web of lies.
Its been 2 weeks now and they are thinking of having a look into it, lol.

Entertainment at its finest...trains have been starting fires for years, everyone knows it. Lets watch how this boondoggle is sidestepped.

So last night around midnight my daughter in law woke me up pounding on the door, she was yelling fire.... I and my Wife get up and look out the window...yup fire....get out to my truck and my Son who lives next door is ready to go.

As I mention in a couple posts up I have 400 gallons of water and hoses and pump on one of my trucks.
We are the first ones there, and one neighbor....its a house fire that is too late to try anything so we go for the spot fires that are going on, my guy puts out 2 spot fires about 10ft around, and by this time another neighbor shows up and puts out a spot fire with his loader.
All 3 of these spot fires were going to become raging interface forest fires...there is no fire protection here but the fire dept from 1/2hr away did show up to this one and contained the structure fire. It was really windy too, fugging scary...there were propane tanks venting and going off too....we have had a number of fires here and the rural community always shows up.

Being prepared for something like a forest fire is an odd feeling of satisfaction lol. The structure is a total loss, nobody hurt, no forest fire.

673:
Good afternoon and good on you all for dealing with that!

Sincere kudos and a tip of the battered Bailey to one and all for sure.

We just got in from seeing what's up with a bit of a fire east of OK Falls up McLean Creek Road way. So far the wind is pushing the fire up the mountain and away from the houses so that's a plus.

You did well and have every right to feel satisfaction too in my view.

Thanks again and stay well.

Dwayne

Yeah, thanks Dwayne.
Fires all over the place now, stay alert down there buddy!

North of us, Red Lake & Ear Falls are burning up.

Lots of smoke here, with the north west winds.

Last week;



Yesterday, 4pm on the lake;

Some nasty fires near Dwayne, evacuations...hope all is well for him and others.

Seeing 300-400 vehicles with trailers with everything they could put on them fleeing for their safety is eye opening. People want to help but are afraid to leave their own area for fear of a fire breaking out near them.

People I talk to are wondering why there is still industrial activity going on while new fires are starting daily, with temps upward of 40 degrees projected for the week, and resources are spread so thin. They bring in People from outside the Province when there is resources sitting idle right beside any given fire.

They don't want to put these fires out, just manage them by steering them away from structures etc...

Then, the thieves move in on the unattended homes, yeah hard to believe, but that's what happens.

673:
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope it's a bit less smoky in your part of the world and you're well.

We're good so far, but the wind is the wrong direction this morning and I can't say I appreciate that too, too much.

Last number we got was that it was 500 hectares last night, but when we went for a drive at 6:00 we really couldn't see anything as the smoke was just hanging into the mountains.

Way back in the day we hunted sheep up where it's burning and it's really exceptionally tough country. There's no logging roads anywhere near there that I'm aware of other than a ranch trail heading up into the canyon.

So far it's been headed more or less to the east which is uninhabited.

It can't go too far north before hitting what burned last summer, so there is that I suppose.

If it comes south we'll have some fun perhaps, but as always we'll have to wait and see.

I'm not sure if they're still logging here or not, sorry.

All the best.

Dwayne

Edit to add;
Just heard on the news it's at least 5 square kilometers now.

As a rough guess, it's about 3 kilometers from our place at present.

There's a bunch of the neighbors on either evacuation notice or alert. We're just outside of that so far.

Keeping you, yours & your property in our prayers Dwayne !!

Paul;
Top of the morning sir and thanks so much for that.

It's something we're not strangers too for sure, but honestly it's always unsettling when you can see it from the home place.

When it's so dry and the trees start popping off like they were last night, it'll throw burning branches a long, long ways away.

If that happens to be in the yard, then it's less than fantastic, you know?

Anyways my friend, all of the folks down here affected by the fire could use and would appreciate prayers and good thoughts.

Safe sage smoke might be okay too, but it'd be best in the middle of a fairly big swimming pool I'm thinking.

All the best to you all.

Dwayne

Well our trip to Canim lake is cancelled, got a call from my friends that own the Rainbow Resort there, we were supposed to go this Saturday

Here in BC we are losing towns, shutting down main highways and the news media is very ho-hum about it. I guess with climate change, it's the new normal.

You forgot COVID and Systematic Racism to cover all the liberal talking points.

How do we know that some towel head isn’t doing all this ? Some food for thought!!

The approach to fire fighting has taken a new turn since I was first involved 40+ years ago. The man used to go into the bar and recruit the willing and the unwilling to go to work. I once saw two Americans living the dream, hitch hiking across Canada get picked up and taken straight to camp, I was there when they got out from the canopy of the truck, they were pizzed.

As stated earlier....they don't try to put these fires out, just manage them and steer them away from structures.
Trouble is the dumbasses who run the forest service is all woke. Loggers with equipment sit idle, hundreds of trained hand fallers who spent a lifetime of steep slope falling sit idle, meanwhile fallers from the Prairie's are working.

Nothing to see here.

It is becoming difficult to recall a summer where the trench wasn't filled with smoke. GD

downwindtracker2:
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope it's a tad less smoky in your part of the world and all within it are well.

We're pretty much ground zero here for what they started calling the McLean Creek fire, but have now changed it to the Thomas Creek Fire.

It was human caused, but beyond that I can't say for sure how. It started just off the Thomas Ranch property and swept east first, then north and south.

It's now burned south far enough that it's into the same area burned in '03 for the 9000 hectare Vaseux Fire and it being 37° with a stiff wind makes it sporty for sure.

If anyone is so inclined, prayers for the folks manning the fire lines and equipment would be a good thing. Good thoughts would work too, but perhaps sage smoke should be avoided at this juncture.

All the best to you all downwind.

Dwayne

Keep us posted Dwayne.

673:
Good morning to you my friend, I hope you're all well as can be what with all the goings on going on, you know?

We're good so far, but for the first time in our 28 years on the place am now going to look at building a sprinkler system for the roof of the house and one for the garage as well.

Was talking to a firefighter friend and he said it was cheap insurance, not 100% of course as if the power goes out there's no water pressure, but he's seen them work reasonably well protecting houses situated like ours is.

We'll now have to see if any components are available whatsoever anymore as there's not much of - well much - around anymore somehow.

It's going to be a really, really big fire before it's done is my prediction. It's going into a patchwork of clear cuts and Lodge Pole shin tangle jungles up there and might go half way to Highway 33 before it runs itself out.

So far the Good Lord has blessed us with no winds from the east blowing west and honestly that's what's saved all of the buildings and structures on the first and perhaps second day too. They're working the bottom end with some heavy equipment now, but a stiff east wind would drop embers all over in folks' yards.

Some of the people don't clean the Ponderosa Pine needles off of their roofs so that'd be sporty real quick.

That's all for now sir, stay well and keep cool if you're able to.

Dwayne

Dwayne, at the best of times your area is dry, now it's scary .

Under the old Forestry Act anyone or thing, like cats or planes, could be press ganged into fighting forest fires.

Very concerning tonight are the strong winds fanning some big azz fires. Find out in the morning I guess.

673:
Good morning to you sir, I hope despite all the goings on around us you're all more than less well.

Yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 the sky got strangely dark here, like it was overcast, but of course it wasn't.

My wife and our local daughter let me know that a fire had started north of Osoyoos and it blew right up the side of the mountain in no time.

We went down to the old Fairview town site, but couldn't really tell much of where it was exactly located. Here's a link to the fire.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penti...ed-photos-of-the-Inkameep-Creek-wildfire

It was surreal however that the sun was a deep orange/red and our motion lights came on when we drove into the yard shortly after 7:00PM, which is a couple hours early for this time of year.

This has been an interesting year for sure, hasn't it?

All the best to you all up north my friend.

Dwayne

Very little info coming from the media but....some folks out Douglas lk, Westwold are having a real hard time with that one, I can only imagine with the winds, terrain, bug killed timber, resources spread thin. I have info that every piece of equipment from the local is out there, access is just not there, steep and rocky.

Mabel lk too has some real tough conditions too. One day, there is going to be a fire that rips up the middle of this Province and there will be FA they can do but run.

Twice during my logging career I have seen people protesting us logging dead and diseased timber, protesting even with death threats and booby traps LOL. Both times the next year massive forest fires started where we were logging, burning 300 homes, and in the other about 30 homes were lost. It shows where the logic is and a perfect example of the tail wagging the dog.

After the massive fires we have had previously, then the studies and recommendations...basically FA has been done to build permanent guards on the edge of towns and vulnerable community's. One big wind could push any of these fires into a running for your life scenario.

Horgan and his gang of commie's has declared a state of emergency for the Province, not sure what it means but.....we have a forecast of strong winds for the next several days. Too bad the media didn't ask some of the locals what they think, interesting they ask people who don't live, or work in the affected area's.

Good luck with it men. Stay safe.

If you been in BC for any length of time, you have heard the stories of the Forest Service emptying the beer parlour and press ganging them to fight fire. They were there until it was out. They now have to declare a state of emergency. And if I was you, I would stay out of bars considering where you live. Good luck, BTW

Anyways.....
Couldn't help notice another fire erupt in Sicamous, fugged everything up............People sure seem to have a problem with not starting fires.
Osoyoos has a big azz fire....not sure how animals have put up with humans for so long. No wonder Grizzlies try and kill everyone they see.

I refer to the recruiting practice several posts up.
I am all for going and rounding up volunteers, I am just the guy for the job too. I would go down to the coast and go into every starbucks, smack the latte out of the hand of the commie freak with the nose ring and load them on the train for the interior.
Then they can see that there is life outside of their selfish little bubble and then they can see where we work, live and recreate....and we have for years. They will also see why we like guns and what they are for.

I was thinking of you when reading of the fire around Okanagan Falls. Hope you're still "intact."

As regards roofotop sprinkler systems, this website has a ot of good information: http://www.onestopfire.com/sprinklers.htm
If you lurk on Canadian Gunnutz, there is an extensive thread on "Fire season is on us again" and around page 7 there is some discussion and some good pictures, about rooftop aprinkler systems. If you have a good supply of water, you can really hose down the area around the house. As regards power, a generator, if you have an electric pump, or a gas trash pump will keep you in business.

After the last bad set of wildfires in 2017 I put roofop sprinklers on my house- one on the end of each gable, and one down on the well house. I have a 2" gas pump which will provide about 50 psi to feed the three Rainbird 1" impact sprinklers. I don't have a lake or convenient stream but I do have two underground water tanks (which I fill from the drains from my metal roof via a diverter) with about 3,000 imperial gallons total. This fall I plan on pumping them out via the gas pump to see how long I can water the area, but I estimate about 3 1/2 hours, which would barely be anough, I suppose. We aren't really in danger of a wildfire down here in Mission in the Fraser Valley (I HOPE) but if there were indications that this might be a possibility with the hotter summers, I could add another 2500 gallon above-ground tank and fill it via the pump/tanks in the fall and spring.

Given the conditions we seem to be facing in the summers now, investing in a good fire suppression system would seem to be money well spent.

We've got 166 active bush fires in NWO !

They are evacuating lots of northern communities & Dryden airport is being used as the hub, for these evacuees.

Need rain desperately, hopefully without lightening !

Stay safe folks.

Paul, a friend in Wabigoon tells me when the wind is out of the west. you can not see all that far.

I was looking at the map yesterday. Good heavens !! Several fires right in the area (north of Ignace) where we go wilderness camping/fishing. Prayers for NWO. Prayers for rain and safety.

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.

You are also, not wrong, they should not go in for those who choose to stay.

First understand the two groups of people involved, there are those who say....insurance will cover it, and leave .......then there are those who will stay and try and save theirs and their neighbors home, regardless of insurance. In this case there wasn't anyone but the homeowners.

I see my neighbor just bought 5 pumps and a bunch of hose, also, he has a new 1,000 gallon tank mounted on a trailer. This will work well with my tank and pump and some of the other neighbors have the same equipment. Insisting we stop putting out fire will be futile.

Then there are the looters who can access the unattended properties. They gain access by the network of backroads which are everywhere, and again the locals know where those roads are.

I just think unless someone has been in that situation then they just don't know what it takes.

Here on our local hunting forum a well thought out response.

ldfires,New or Updates

Quote Originally Posted by j270wsm View Post
Remove a few key word and you could be describing 80% of the province. So many valleys need to be burnt, controlled preferably, but there is never enough money. It’s actually really sad how government budgets/complains about the cost to fight wild fires but won’t allocate some of that money to do prescribed burns and reduce wild fire and insurance claim costs.
I am going to probably catch hell for arguing with all these arm chair quarterbacks but...... In the past 15 years, the government has TRIED to run prescribed burns in the OK and other places, but the NIMBY's in those areas didn't want all the smoke to upset their afternoon tea. And we know who will bend to others when they should be standing up.....politicians!! So they bent and a lot got cancelled and some were delayed so much that they missed the window. Filmon's report stated exactly that....and this year is looking to be a repeat of 2003. Was a fun time being on the front lines of that year!!!

Quote Originally Posted by GreyDog View Post
It is one thing , and often excusable, for the forestry to not be able to get to a fire right away but it is quite another, and inexcusable, to prevent capable civilians from dealing with the fire early on. It is clear case of bureaucracy getting in the way of action. GD
Nope, it is not bureaucracy, well maybe a little.... But the biggest reason is liability and again, in 2003, the government learned a lot, especially about safety and having to be responsible for those on a fire line, whether they were ordered or volunteered. We have a [bleep] load of lawyers in BC just looking to jump on the liability band wagon. Watch again this year they are already lining up for their free hand out! In 2003, the amount of $$$ that were paid out to others for anything from "injuries" to "lost or destroyed" equipment was mind boggling. Something in the name of 250 million was in equipment alone, and most of it was not ordered to the fire, but went out anyways and investigations showed that some of that "equipment" was trucked out, pushed off the lowbed and "left" in front of the fire, then burned over and filled for equipment damage replacement. Greed comes out at the best and worst of times. So even if they wanted to help, who would have covered them and what would have happened to the spouse and family if someone was injured or killed?

Quote Originally Posted by lovemywinchester View Post
I think this is becoming commonplace these days. I HEARD when folks were helping put out the small fire near Napier Lake earlier this summer some guy was asking folks helping out if they "had their fire fighting tickets". Apparently hard working ranchers and rural folk aren't qualified to throw a shovel of dirt on a roadside fire!
Lots of rumors' out there and once again, what happens if those hard working ranchers were injured or killed?

I watched the sad video today of the over flight of Monte Creek and I hate to see all those damaged buildings and burned. But I also noticed how many had the forest right beside the building. Fire is a fact of life in BC and will be for sometime. Also, people want to build in the bush, live in the forest and possible find what a lot of us on here already know. But (I have sure said that a few times) there has been a huge program in BC to make those places "FireSmart". It started with the 2003 fires and has built up and continued since. Lots of info on the program. If we build in a forest susceptible to fire, we should be at least making it FireSmart. But (there it is again..) who is to pay for that? That is the biggest battle. Should it be the Provincial Gov?, Regional Districts?, local Gov? or the land owner? Look at what some towns like Ouesnel, Fort St. James and others are doing to protect their city. They are not waiting around to see who will pay for what, they are doing it. You need to ask yourself; why is the regional districts and local governments not pushing for this program? After all, are they not semi responsible for the land they manage?

As for acting on fires, I was not there, but for past experience, all fires get triaged and those that pose the most risk are actioned first. The WR, Tremont and Thomas Lake fire, plus a bunch more all discovered around the same time. From anyone's point of view, of those three, what ones would you throw your resources at? Keeping in mind that most of BC was burning at this time (fires in NEBC, a few around PG/Vanderhoof/Fort St. James and of course the Spark Lake fire and Lytton fires) and resources were stretched out. Now looking at the fires, the WR fire was the furthest from any population and in a forest. The other two were close to either OK falls or Ashcroft. Plus nobody speaks about the other fires that were actually actioned and put out near residences or populations.

I am sure there will always be the one off's and sometimes [bleep] does go sideways, no matter the good intentions of others. And the results can be catastrophic, as we are seeing again this year.

Not defending what is happening as I am not there, but there is always two sides to every story. And, at the end of the day, Mother Nature is in control and she will decide when the fires are done burning.

http://www.bcwildfire.ca/History/Rep...tormReport.pdf

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/pu..._to_filmon.pdf

https://firesmartbc.ca/

https://prrd.bc.ca/firesmart/

Flame on...no pun intended...

Cheers

SS

If you want to talk about greed, as related to wildfires, fire departments getting between 600 and 1200 dollars perhour for trucks sitting in the parking lot or driving around on a tour.
I don't believe it's about liability. I do believe it's about empire building and turf.
I am also a firm believer in, if you see something, you take care of it. Three times, in my lifetime, I have been among the first to respond to wildfires (One lightning strike and two human caused) and, in all three cases, we had the fires contained, if not out, by the time the ministry responded.
As far as making a place "firesmart" is concerned, in many cases, the timber is on adjacent crown land and the homeowners are not allowed to cut it. In my case, any timber close to the house is on my land and I deal with it. If threatened by wildfire, I have a plan and will freely admit that it won't be totally legal.
Happily, we got a BUNCH of rain over the last couple of days so things are looking a little better for now. GD

I don't cut and paste.

I will say this......of the three fires near me, they screwed up on two of them.
The one fire was smoldering for about 5 days, they were told by the locals the way the wind would blow, they ignored the warnings and the fire went down the mountain, across the valley, and up the other side in 6 hours, burning 30 homes.

This whiterock lake fire was contained, again local knowledge was ignored, destroying the timber supply for the next 3-4 generations. We talk about the timber supply, but need to also look at the hundreds of reforested blocks that were lost, some of them 50 years into their production.

The Okanagan mountain fire.....I was slashing in the park, the entire bush was diseased and dead from the main road to the top of the mountain. It is true that it was public pressure that would not allow the park to be burned in a safe manner. The timber wasn't merchantable so logging in any way wasn't going to happen...it burned and 300 homes were lost.

So who's fault is it?.......Its not a Liberal and NDP issue, its a collective responsibility of Government, specifically the forest service. Why is the forest service concerned with the Political?...its not their job to be Political, its their job to manage the forest. The forest service should never be concerned with public perception, ever.

Putting out fires is only part of it, it is the management of the forest to allow for a quick response and building permanent guards around vulnerable communities that is really the issue. The forest is going to burn, this land was formed by fire.

So this is how it went, not the way people who live 500 miles away say it went.
If you pay attention, you will see the spirit of the people who built this Country, not the limp wrist woke mentality being shoved down our throat. This is an exellent 30 minute video telling it exactly how it went, I for one, am proud of these people and I wish we had more like them. Btw, there are lots of people like them in this area, nobody here votes for the Federal Liberals nor Provincial NDP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToiVJjD_j10

Natives said that but l heard that a native burnt the church and the whole town went up. Trudeau muzzled the RCMP finding which stated it was human started not a train.

The original fire was already burning, then a separate ignition started the other....lots of witnesses....but the Natives have burnt lots of churches in BC.

Good sized fire started about five miles from here (currently at 360 hectares, was estimated at 30 ha four hours previous so it's pretty active. Winds have calmed though so we're not feeling too pressured yet. The evac alert just became official. I'm watering heavily all around tonight and will see what tomorrow brings. GD

Yeah, just got the evac notice too, ffs, this is one nasty MF, been 4 weeks now about 200,000 acres, sent the women and children away just a few minutes ago...not for wimps...going to hang in there till I see flames.

Done all I can do now, had a week of full blown fire proofing. This is the 3rd fire we have been through, they are all different, this one here today was headlamp type dark in the afternoon,,,ominous....ashes like it was snowing...windy...

Fire came to Glenrosa, watched it coming over the hill, trees were candeling and crowning, wind kept shifting, now at 4:30 AM I think the worst is over, will leave the fifth wheel hooked up, just in case.

I will be praying for the fire to miss you all. Stay safe fellows.

Jim

What did tomorrow bring you greydog?
I am still here, but have no idea what is happening right now.

Ive been through it a few times now. Sounds like you are prepared. The sound a big fire makes when it gets close is what gets me. Ominous doesnt do it justice. Hoping the best for you. A good friend has been down there all year flying helicopters on the fires. Its been a wild summer for you guys.

Winds are still mostly calm. Some ash falling on me while I work on the roof. Forecast is for the wind to start blowing out of the north east which means it will move directly away from us. Much cooler now and I am not concerned at all at this point. While the fire is quite large, I don't believe it is too active at this time. There have been a few buckets of water flying by but, all in all, it seems OK. GD

Still here in west Kelowna, been told if we leave, we won’t be allowed back in.
They are hitting fire hard plane and helicopter and some heavy equipment, had lots of flame at top of hill above us.

Best of luck Partsman.
Yeah if your on evac order they dont let you come back, but you can get a permit to go in for various reasons, and sometimes you cant get the permit for whatever reason. I stay and wait for looters, they can shut the power off too and I am prepared for that too.

yep, we are all supposed to be gone, there is only us and our one neighbor still here, fire department came by, police came by, said yes it is an evacuation order, so we would not be allowed back in, and we are not supposed to be wandering the area.
I had not packed my rifles or any hunting stuff, just the basics.
it was something to see the fire coming over the hill and all the trees candling and crowning, they are hitting it pretty hard today, had planes and helicopters dumping on it.
They told us they are running the bulldozers and other equipment right through the bush to make fire breaks, but there are so many trees above that i am sure it would have no issue going over the breaks.
it was 200 hectares, now at i think 800.

picked a great time to move up here from Poco.

Hey Partsman,

The Wildfire service is throwing everything they have at the fires down your way. At one point today when I looked they had 4 heavy air tankers - 2 Avro RJ85 jets and 2 De Havilland Q400 turbo props as well as 6 AT802 Skimmers flying circuits over the beast. (and I also saw 3 more AT802 heading down your way after being diverted from Prince George). The forward air-controllers had their hand full with that many aircraft in orbit.

BTW, One ground crew actually got trapped up against the lake last night as they tried to save structures and had to shelter in place overnight with a rank 5 fire blowing embers over them into the lake.

Also, The air force should roll in a couple of F18s to chase the idiot boaters off the lake who are disrupting the skimmers.

Good luck to all you people in that part of the world. Those of us in the Cariboo know too well what you are going through.

673;
Morning sir, what's the report up there?

Buddy in Vernon said they had steady rain into the night there.

We had it spitting this morning, but not enough to settle the dust yet.

It's been really windy though, which will not help anything.

Here's hoping for some rain and prayers for you and Partsmans places for sure.

Dwayne

Thanks for asking.
Much better after a steady drizzle in the evening and throughout the night. Officially, there are at least 60-70 structures (houses) gone, however, there will be many more as the fire ripped through the reservation.

Not sure what is happening elsewhere, but see Merritt has some real problems with fire all around with only one way out of there, and its a poor one.

Presently, I am more concerned that Premier Horgan's vacation is going as planned and he is having a good time wherever he may be, he says he will be back thursday. In a well thought out statement he did thank the First Nations for all their good work.

I think its clear we need to overhaul the entire way in which we deal with wildfire in BC, from the top down, entirely.
For example, the way in which people are notified of alerts and evacuations is complicated and full of gaping holes, it is completely ineffective.

Bringing in people from other Countries to fight fires seems.....stupid. We have the people here, and completely overlooked the value of our own citizenry, what is wrong with these political masters?.......the political masters is the problem.....they need to separate the political from the practical aspect of forest management.

People see through the scoring political points vrs effective forest management, at least the rural community does, I don't expect City dwellers to understand nor GAF, another reason to make it a separate entity.

I do wonder the kind of society we are creating by not allowing citizens to help their fellow man in a time of crisis, this needs to be looked at before someone gets hurt or worse as people are told to not help others. I have seen people drive through roadblocks with RCMP foolishly hanging off cars trying to stop people from getting to their loved ones.

I could point out some other issue's but they would not be PC....also another massive problem that will explode one day, people are afraid to speak out and be labeled in some of the smaller Communities, but its coming.

673;
This is the morning check in again sir, hoping all is going more than less okay for you.

We're getting cooler evenings now down here, which is better than hot ones. It's still not rained enough to settle the dust, but it is what it is.

I'm guessing you've seen the part one of this video, but the memo at the beginning of this is pretty telling if you ask me.



We've had this discussion here and on the phone - we have to change how we're fighting fires and do it yesterday.

Was talking with my rancher buddy on the phone yesterday, he's not sure if his cabin is still there or not up in the back of the Nk'Mip Fire. We talked about how the big fire up on Kobau could have been put out by a local rancher/logging contractor who was right there with a D8 cat at the time, but no......

Anyways, you and I are the choir on this issue, but for those interested in what we're living through, it's a wee peak into rural BC life I suppose.

All the best and you're still in my prayers for a safe outcome.

Dwayne

Morning Dwayne, it has been a seething pot from the moment they changed policy, people see it now as too political. If we touch on the political for a moment.......the fire area's of BC (the interior) are not supporters of the present Government (NDP).
I do wonder the kind of Community we are building whereby we are prohibited from helping our fellow man in a time of crisis.
There are area's now where people are cleaning their burnt properties and we are not allowed to help.
Contrary to what we have been taught as Canadians by our forefathers....if you know you are to help another and you don't/can't.....that ain't right....but here we are.

It is all about control.

There are over 100 homes burnt, and this fire is still burning and active, it isn't over yet.

I will watch the video, and thank you for posting.

We thought the threat of fire was over, nope, they decided to light up an area that was troublesome for them. We were delighted as it turned into an inferno immediately, it was windy.

The original fire died down and was of little concern to us directly, so we put all of our belongings back where they belong about a week ago.
Everyone was wondering how ironic if their planned ignition was going to now burn us out of here.

My friends Son has been out of his home for 5 weeks now, no sign when he can go in and remove the fridge and freezers that are likely full of once thawed meat, then frozen again. Gonna be a long winter for many people whose homes were lost, out buildings, fences, are all gone.

Some questions will need to be addressed like this one......Loggers had the fire contained at 20 acres, they were told to stand down, we will handle it......it is now over 200,000 acres last time I checked.