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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