FOREST FIRES

[fubar57]

Several thousand of the 43,000+ evacuees have been told they can return home after 2 weeks. Many however will still be on evacuation notice. The main highway is still closed between Williams Lake and 100 Mile House with no estimated time of opening. More than 3,600 square kilometres of land have been scorched by 716 fires since April 1, 90 structures confirmed lost and thankfully no loss of human life

 

[Crimea_River]

A credit to the authorities and to people with common sense to do the right thing.

 

[fubar57]

Agreed Andy, especially bringing in outside help and those communities that took in the evacuees. Prince George's population increased 12% and gave out around $400K in food vouchers. Here's a rough idea how much the fires have consumed to date

 

[Airframes]

Heck, that's some area !!

 

[Crimea_River]

Lucky it just missed Duxford!

 

[fubar57]

Coffee almost went out the nose there.......

 

[Airframes]

Ah, so it wasn't clouds at 'Legends' - it was bl**dy smoke !!

 

[Gnomey]

Sounds lik tehy are doing a good job on containing them. Glad to here there has been no loss of life.

 

[Wayne Little]

Glad all is looking better....

 

[fubar57]

Hard to tell, but to date this year the wild fires have consumed 8,450 square kilometers with no end in sight. 8 more started last night

 

[Wayne Little]

Bummer.....

 

[vikingBerserker]

Good lord......

 

[Robert Porter]

Good grief! That's a lot of fires! I continue to hope that damage and injury to structures and people can be avoided or minimized.

 

[fubar57]

Here is something pathetic...

Several arsons reported in Williams Lake, weeks after wildfire evacuation

....that area is around one of the local reserves. Now this is a known fact as told to me when I worked for the Ministry of Forests. Inside the front office area there was a large map of districts range of service showing all fires they fought, each small red dot represented a fire. Around the indian reserves of Ingenika and Fort Ware the red dots were massive, probably 10 times the size of the others. When I asked the fire boss about it, all he said was two words..."red lightning". The day I went into a fire camp he took me aside and told me that if the fire went out too quickly there was a good chance the indigenous peoples would start another again. Fighting fires is how they make extra money in the summer. Sure enough, as I was flying out 10 days later another fire started up in Ingenika. The first major fire this year was called the Ashcroft Reserve Fire until the locals got upset about it and had the name changed. Arson is suspected

 

[Robert Porter]

That is just sad...

 

[fubar57]

B.C. officially surpasses worst wildfire season on record — and province isn't out of the woods yet

 

[Old Wizard]

Bummer!

 

[fubar57]

Just found out that the main highway running through the province, Highway 97 was finally reopened after being closed since July 08

 

[Robert Porter]

That is a LONG closure! I bet that put a hurt on lots of families and business.

 

[pbehn]

If people weren't involved and tragically affected it is part of the circle of life of a forest. The giant redwood relies on fires as part of its reproductive cycle.