Southern BC may be in for its next Holy Shit moment.
Winds gusting to 60 plus dry lightning
Temps in mid to high 30s
https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html
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Southern BC may be in for its next Holy Shit moment.
Winds gusting to 60 plus dry lightning
Temps in mid to high 30s
https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html
Yup.Quote:
Originally Posted by LHutz Esq
Attachment 467662
This photo is just crazy to me...
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Like how does that even happen a few feet from the ocean with no other fuel sources nearby. The heat from the fire must have been immense.
Yeah, no way it is $6b. Maybe $6b in pure property, but that still seems low considering what rebuilding costs are going to look like--but add in all the other economic/non-economic damages and that number is going to blow up. Business interruption/lost wages, emergency services, smoke & soot on undamaged structures, meals & housing, personal effects, vehicles, cleanup costs, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
I don't think most people who have never been close to a blow up or fire storm can comprehend the utter destruction. Looks like Hiroshima the week after and yes, 6B is way low. I also wonder how well the insurance companies will handle this and how many lacked insurance in the first place.
Was just going to post that! Smoke is really bad in Vernon right now, tried going for a walk last night and felt funny within 5 minutes. Hope West Kelowna makes it out ok today, the fire chief was on CBC this morning and it sounded like he was going to cry.Quote:
Originally Posted by LHutz Esq
We sent one of our engines and crew down yesterday.Quote:
Originally Posted by el hefe
I just came back from family vacation time so couldn't make this one
Never know till it happens- but not looking good.
Be safe everyone.
The logistics for evacuations in NWT sounds crazy. I hope there’s a lesson learned for better planning for this type of stuff.
Here’s an interesting article about the current Maui Disaster Administrator and his qualifications. https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/wa...over-his-head/
I bet a major hurdle in the NWT evac is that the town of Fort Smith got evacuated first because of an approaching fire.
Then later a different fire caused the evacuation of the town of Hay River - also forcing thousands south along the same route as Fort Smith residents traveled.
Then a different fire causes the evacuation of Yellowknife.
All these people (and inmates, long term care residents, hospital patients etc) all were evacuated at different times into Alberta - must be a logistical nightmare to coordinate.
Plus all the other remote areas of the territory that depend on Yellowknife having a functioning airport both for getting to and from your home community but also for food and supplies.
still you managed to get away to clear some bike trail blow down and we thank you for that !Quote:
Originally Posted by LHutz Esq
gotta offset the shame of being a lawyer
As I am sure you will agree- there is something soothing and good for the soul about running a saw for a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
Def should have brought out the big boy on that one. My baby saw was outgunned muchly by that chonker!
Little Beaver for the win!
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Just a firefighter with a lawyering problem!
I didnt see it but must have been a big one, good job counselor !
I got that stem over on deep bluff with my folder
edit: they are sayin the next few days could be a tough go due to weather
Seems like part of the shock is due to the heat not going upwards but instead going horizontally with the wind, and really fast - like 1 mile per minute fast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunion 2020
Still no wind in the Okanagan. I think it will hit later then they thought, like tonight. Prob not a good thing to happen in the middle of the night?
Yeah, 60 mph+ winds and plenty of flashy fuels. A fire hurricane.Quote:
Originally Posted by PB
The real bitch is just how far Hawaii is down the supply chain and how far down the chain from there Maui is.
Don’t forget those winds blowing embers and firebrands way out beyond the flame front, and then holding those things against buildings and/or up into eaves and overhangs and stuff til they catch.Quote:
Originally Posted by PB
Sounds like NWT is fuct, and BC is in trouble.
Also, Hawaii hasn’t had much, if any experience with these kinds of fires. I don’t think they were anticipating this sort of thing. Climate change and invasion of exotic flammable plant species… https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/c...smid=url-shareQuote:
Originally Posted by Bunion 2020
From that article:Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
That thing about FEMA reminded me of this time I was assigned to hurricane Rita in 2005. I got to the FEMA command post in Austin TX and the FEMA guys were terrified, in large part because of how badly FEMA had fucked up at Katrina. They’d been to all the trainings, but had no on-the-line experience - none. They had no idea how to organize or operate when the shit hit the fan. I spent the next 3 days instructing and coaching them on how to put their organization together and get it going, until (thank Ullr) a Coast Guard contingent showed up and took over.Quote:
But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years.
Anyway, that Maui Ops Chief doesn’t seem to know what he doesn’t know. Head gonna roll I bet.
FWIW, the Coast Guard guys are totally on top of ICS/NIMS and can get shit done and done well.
the thing is its a really big province so I think we are ok out westQuote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
Due to the changes in Fire activity there have been rumblings of a year round wildland firefighting force, they had fires in nova scotia which never happens
I should have said southern BC. But Smithers is so far narth it’s more like Yukon Territory. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
As some TGR wanker always like to point out hy 16 is really only half way but there is nothing much else so we call it the narth
Its > 1200 miles from worshington to the yukon which is a long fucking drive on mostly all 2 lane hy
The maui emergency chief is gone. The whole saga is disturbing and fucking sucks. I wonder how much hazard mitigation and prevention (beyond lack of use of the sirens) never occurred because of leadership inadequacy: https://apple.news/AVH5XPNjfTVKOhRGwSw9d8Q
Yep, he sure looks like a political patronage hire. But he beat out 40 other candidates so I would posit that the county’s leaders have some culpability with shitty hiring criteria.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
Regardless of his qualifications, I wonder what a superhuman EM manager could have done under the circumstances. Guess I’d like to see the guy’s performance with “typical HI disasters” like hurricanes and tsunamis before I throw him into a volcano.
Agreed. With hurricanes and tsunamis you generally have a fair amount of warning time. With the Lahaina fire, there was next to none.Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
Compounding the drought conditions and the wind, Lahaina is densely packed and construction standards are lax. Especially for fire.
Sounds to me like the big fuckup occurred when the original brush fire in Lahaina was declared 100% contained in the AM. Then it flared mid-afternoon and the town was incinerated by dinner.
Whatever, it’s a sad situation
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
Quote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
Someone said my name? :)
Holy shit. West Kelowna is burning. Seems the fire just jumped OK lake to just north of Kelowna on the East of lake.
I live on the eastside of the lake and received a warning that it jumped the lake.
Link to fire : https://www.castanet.net/news/West-K...all-Rim#442161
Fkna :(
Shit dude - stay safe
Good luck el hefe, hope it misses you. [emoji3525]
Sorry to hear el Hefe, hope that thing changes direction. Scary shit.
It is spreading quick and now 3 fires on East side. My dad lives about 5 km north of the latest one.
The lake is massive there. Wild that it can jump over.
https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelown...an-Lake#442354
80 Homes. My Dad says he can see Ok Lake Resort burning: https://www.kelownanow.com/watercool...ost/#fs_128469
SHIT, vibes hefe. get family and pets out.
This was the most surprising thing illustrated by the East Troublesome fire down here in Colorado a couple years back - wind-driven fire skipped right over the treeless tundra of the Continental Divide (1+ mile) to start fires on the east side of the Divide.Quote:
Originally Posted by el hefe
++vibes, man. :(
Good luck Hefe, be safe
I think it was '08 or '09 for me. To much time in Orleans, Happy Camp, Hoopa, Gausqet. At one point I IA'd a fire down one of those old firelines off that road between Orleans and Gasquet that was never finished (the name escapes me).Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
Months later I was flying the same fire, now massive, and was like "holy shit, they are burning out off the line we put in in June!".
Sort of nicely summarized the futility of remote IA for me and began my departure glide path from WLF.
Good luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by el hefe
Pack early, leave early.
If you bail and think the fire will impact your home it's worth looking at the firewise guidance and doing what you can.
Lots of houses burn down hours and hours later because of smoldering material in flower beds or from attached decks and fences.
Thanks all. So far it is in the central okanagan, right now we are ok but this thing is moving fast. I am about 30km north but its moving in our direction.
That's insane a fire can jump across a Lake as big as Okanagan. Stay safe, el hefe!
A really disjointed press confrence/ update on the CBC, emergency declared the airport is closed, a really rough night for the fire crews they are talking about signifciant structure loss and its not over but no fatalities
https://www.cbc.ca/lite/radio/live-r...lumbia/kelowna
Lake Okanagan Resort is gone. This place was pretty awesome when I was a kid. It had gotten run down lately but lots of memories: https://www.castanet.net/news/West-K...ek-fire#442388
Nagasaki. The Hiroshima anniversary was three days prior.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunion 2020