Wildfires in Canada

[little P]

I know a few of us here at B2O are from Canada, I've seen some of the footage today on the news and I was shocked. Is everyone ok? Anyone near what's going on? I can't quite believe the scale of the fire... Seeing some of the dashcam footage is like something out of a CGI movie :icon_eek:

 

[tmtm]

I'm not sure if we have anyone that lives that far North, but Kitlope might work up that way. I think that's around the oil sands...

 

[Justin Rebelo]

I live in BC, so does Duke. Huge, sweeping wildfires are a pretty normal occurrence here every year. In this case it's being publicized a fair bit more because this time it happened to stroll through more populated areas than it typically does, but gigantic wildfires that cover hundreds or thousands of acres aren't an uncommon thing, they usually just don't get as much attention since they are just burning down unpopulated land.

From what I got from the news reports yesterday, there's not (at that time) any perceived threat to the oil refineries and such. Hopefully it remains that way.

 

[Kenadian]

I think the entire City of Fort McMurray is peril. The last I read the Hospital was on fire and my buddy said he heard up to 80% of the City may be lost.

Every summer there are somewhere between 800 - 1000+ fires that hit British Columbia so we're accustomed to it.

...not to be confused with Northern Alberta where the Fort McMurray fire rages on.

So far this year in BC we've had 207 fires and it's only the beginning of May. Here's an interactive map just so you get an idea of what's happening in the Province: http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/dmf-viewer/?siteid=5131184402955244847

The problem we're having in BC is longer, hotter and dryer periods annually. This makes the fire season longer, more costly and more difficult to battle.

Add to this the devastation caused to many of our forests by the Pine Beetle and you have a recipe for wildfires. For an idea of what this thing is doing to our forests see the following images:

 

[Jerad]

I am pretty far south from the fires but I have a few friends that had to evacuate.

One of my friends is currently vacationing in Australia owns a shop and a house up there so they might have nothing left when they come back.

 

[little P]

That's incredible to me as a Brit. We don't have anything like that at all thank God as it looks terrifying. Has anyone heard from Kitlope since this has happened? It's just as soon as read it I was instantly concerned for my Canadian friends here. Glad you two are ok.

 

[Kenadian]

Kitlope is nowhere near this area so I wouldn't be too worried about him.

 

[Kitlope]

Just got back from Ft. McMurray, everyone has been evacuated and the city is essentially shut down. I was there working at Syncrude and staying in one of the many workcamps about 50 km north of the city. Quite the sight seeing families show up at camp looking for a room, I gladly left as many of us are to help make rooms available for locals. Amazingly there hasn't been a single fire fatality which floors me considering 80 000 were just evacuated.

The smoke, the scorched earth, the desolation it was like a Stephen King novel. Glad to be home. I only has 1/4 tank of gas when I left camp with a 500 km drive ahead of me, absolutely nowhere to fill up until Wandering River (200 km south) but some kind hearted soul had a tidy tank on a pickup truck near town and was filling people up with fuel, he wouldn't even accept any money. Unreal.

 

[little P]

Holy shit Kit I'm glad you got out of there ok bud. I was hoping you'd be okay as I just had this feeling and I hate them feelings. Glad I was wrong.

Restores the faith in humanity hearing of that person helping people out with fuel eh. The media would have you believe everyone would stab each other for a gallon of fuel in a crisis. I like to think we'd help each other like this guy did.

Well done for staying safe, and well played Canada. Respect.

 

[Kenadian]

Holy shit Kit I thought you were living off the gobment and had no idea you were up there.

I'm glad you're out safe.

 

[Jerad]

Dang Kit glad to hear you are safe. The scenes look like they're out of a damn movie.

[video=youtube;VAraRmol9Eg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAraRmol9Eg[/video]

 

[Skid_Marc_]

I'm friends with a trucker in Canada, and he's been posting a lot on facebook about the fires as he's been driving through it. Its incredible the number of people that are loading up pickup trucks and vans with food, fuel, coolant, diapers, tp, and all kinds of little essentials to head out and help people.

Also, kind of disappointed to see a lot of people on the sidelines criticizing those who are donating items, saying that donating money to the red cross is more important. Obviously not an economist, but I'm glad there are the people out there offering tangible items, and not just handing organizations money and trusting them to use it correctly.

 

[ElektroVodka]

Glad to see all is well for ya Kitty!
Seeing all the footage it's hard to believe there are no casualties.
Saw one video of a motorcyclist having to make a run for it after flames came up to the side of the road.

Fires on this scale are quite uncommon here, better yet there has been no time at all that a complete city had to be evacuated.

We do have another element that worries us tho, which also happens to be the element that would be pretty welcome around Ft. McMurray currently i guess.

 

[Wapwap]

Good to hear you're ok Kitty. Does that also mean no more work for a while?

 

[Fromthenavy]

Looking at all these pictures and videos it seems unreal. Heart goes out to everyone effected. Glad you're ok Kit.

 

[Kitlope]

Good to hear you're ok Kitty. Does that also mean no more work for a while?

Yup. But the least of my concerns, all things considered.

 

[tmtm]

Imgur album. Just absolutely incredible.
http://m.imgur.com/a/yKm4V