Fire update - Kelowna burns

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]My parents are in the process of evacuating. The fire is approaching the outlying subdivisions. Some homes have basically been abandoned as the firefighters retreat towards more settled areas. Dad was confident that he'd be back tomorrow and that there was a lot of room between the fire and us, but he didn't spare a lot of time from packing.

Most of my friends are now gone to evacuation shelters, and the areas under Evacuation Order seem to be growing exponentially. Half the city is now on Alert.

This is getting scary.[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Sa'ar... that's truly freaky. Hope things get better :sends anti-fire vibes in his way:

:shivers:[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Wow, all the news reports were just saying this are hunky-dorry...and of course were wrong...

I hope it rains around you with no lighting very soon, and that the winds die down, and that everyone gets to live safely in their own homes.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0]all the news reports were just saying this are hunky-dorry[/quote:post_uid0]

Up until a little while ago, it was. The fire jumped the firebreak at about 7:30 last night (Thursday). Overnight was pretty calm, according to the Firewatch website, but there are some homes confirmed lost.[/color:post_uid0]

[Celeste]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Oh Sa'ar, that sucks. Hope everything works out for you. If you want i'll have my lover get the British army in there for ya. :) He's got connections in more places.. ::shakes her head::

Good Luck though. I'm sure things will be fine. :)[/color:post_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Just seeing some video of this on the Jim Lehrer news report. Yikes! 8| This really looks nasty.

Stay near plentiful sources of water.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I'm actually 400-odd kilometres away in Vancouver, and feeling damned helpless.

At last report, the fire has jumped the guard near another subdivision, and whole sections of the front are being abandoned. Â Some firefighters are cut off in a park adjacent to the lake. Â If they can swim, they can be rescued by boat.

Edit: 6:30 PM. General retreat. They're falling back all along the line and abandoning whole subdivisions. My neighbourhood is now being threatened, and there are reports of the fire getting down onto the flats and out of the hills. The evacuations have spread, and my last IM contact has left home.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Saturday update: My house still stands. The main thrust of the fire clipped the south end of my subdivision and destroyed 68 homes, but I live at the north end. There are still hotspots on the flanks that could flare up and threaten it, but I think the worst is over.[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Wow. On the news, the whole thing looks like some bonfires, but when you hear or see people actually talking about it, actually affecting them, it really hits home. I hope the fires continue to die out.


I guess here in BC, Alberta, Washington and Oregon, everyone hopes it stops raining so everything dries up so the mosquitous go away, and then everyone hopes it rains so that the fires will die down. It would be funny were it not so serious and distruptive.[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Fire == bad. :shudders:

Isn't there some way to seed clouds so that it rains, and rains really heavily? I hope the fires die down really soon. Gahh.[/color:post_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Good for you, Sa'ar (though not so good for those who lost their homes.) I know what you mean about feeling helpless -- I watched the riots in South Central L.A. following the acquittal of the cops in the Rodney King beating, knowing my brother lived in the area, and that I couldn't do a damn thing.

Opium, I'm guessing you haven't lived in a place where fires like this can happen. These are [i:post_uid0]way[/i:post_uid0] bigger than bonfires, and extremely unpredictable.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0]Isn't there some way to seed clouds so that it rains, and rains really heavily?[/quote:post_uid0]

Zeke said the same thing. This process requires that clouds be present initially. The whole Interior of the province has been sunny and bloody hot for over a month, with absolutely no rain at all. The only clouds in the sky are smoke.

They allowed the media into the burned area. My house was nowhere near it, and it looks like the fire has moved on. The devastation wasn't as bad as I'd expected, and quite a few homes survived. Even when they did burn, they were usually surrounded by green grass, and a lot of outlying shrubs weren't touched. I only know one person who lost their home.[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Actually, mudshark, that's what I meant: for a while, the news was showing the fires dying down, and what they did show looked like bonfires, not major forest fires. The coverage only changed after some serious damage was done. I've been through Kamloops during fire season, I've seen the damage and the smoke and the seriousness of the situation, but I havent had to actually experience it, and I'm lucky for that.

Hopefully they will make some more Mars waterbombers, maybe even bigger ones (though the current ones are bloody huge) and THEN you'll have some clouds in the sky...well, okay, planes, but they will have water in them.

*hopes for rain*[/color:post_uid0]

[AKAArzosah]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]So is everyone safe? I have no news of fire over here. I didn't even know there were fires until this came up.[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I hear the fires were getting a little better, then a lot worse, but that's just from the news. Although, I know someone going up to the interior, near Kelowna for a family thing, and they were told to bring dust masks, so that is not a good. sign. I hope everyone gets out okay...[/color:post_uid0]

[AKAArzosah]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]So the news is being really informative as usual? Ask the person you know what's happening when they come back, hey?[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Yep...and hopefully Saar Chasm will have some good news about rain soon![/color:post_uid0]

[mudshark]

[quote:post_uid0="Opium"][color=#000000:post_uid0]Actually, mudshark, that's what I meant: for a while, the news was showing the fires dying down, and what they did show looked like bonfires, not major forest fires. The coverage only changed after some serious damage was done.[/color:post_uid0][/quote:post_uid0]
[color=#000000:post_uid0]Ah, okay -- I understand now. Please disregard previous interruption. ;)


I'd imagine the dust mask advisory is due to the amount of smoke and ash drifting about -- respiratory hazard for a lot of folks.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]There have been a few days without strong wind, which means they've been able to establish control lines around 40% of it. No new homes have been lost since that horrible Friday when the fire rampaged through 200+ homes.

I know ABC News in Australia had a story about it, as did news outlets in New Zealand and Malaysia and local news organisations in the States. What really pisses me off is that none of the major news networks have showed the slightest interest. ABC had a short story, and MSNBC had a brief photo montage with voiceover in which they managed to completely mispronounce the name of the city. One of CNN.com's headlines was about Whitney Houston watching her husband get arrested. When did Whitney Houston get so fricking important that she makes headlines and one of the largest mass evacuations in North American history goes unnoticed.

Goddamn American media. This is one of the reasons the rest of the world thinks of Americans as self-absorbed and ignorant. Sorry for the rant, but I've had a harrowing weekend.[/color:post_uid0]

[AKAArzosah]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Australian News stations are so self obsessed. Even during Sep 11, all they showed was 'oh no, some australians died, and Ian Thorpe was in New York two weeks before it happened.'
Probably the only reason ABC had anything was because it's owned by the government.
And now with the Bali thing, it's all 'A football player was burned.' Nothing about the people who actually live in Bali getting killed. Except on SAFM.[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]It's okay, Sa'ar. We all know the American media sucks anyway. :hug hug pat pat: Here, have a cookie. I promise it's not John Sheridan flavoured. :D[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0]Here, have a cookie. I promise it's not John Sheridan flavoured. [/quote:post_uid0]

*disgusted expression, nervous nibble*[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Well, it's not Sheridan flavoured right? See, now I only make cookies out of Minbari.


:watches Sa'ar gag and spit out the cookie:


Hey, I was only kidding...[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Minbari's...tastes so good going down, not quite so good coming back up.

Back on topic, my parents went home tonight. The rest of the ravaged areas will be going home over the course of the next five or so days.[/color:post_uid0]

[Nan]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Glad to hear it, Steve.

I can't remember a fire like this in all my life. The fire risk is extreme on parts of the island, already.

I doubt those damn beetles helped any.[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Beetles?[/color:post_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Methinks Nan refers to bark beetles, which infect and eventually kill conifer-type trees, turning them effectively into standing firewood.[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Oh. But you mean live trees don't burn? Oh wait. Yeah. Dead trees have less water content.

Bah humbug.[/color:post_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]With a big, hot fire, they [i:post_uid0]all[/i:post_uid0] burn very nicely, but a healthy, live tree will generally survive a smaller fire quite well. In fact, some species, such as redwoods and Jefferson pine, [i:post_uid0]require[/i:post_uid0] a fire to cause the cones to open and release the seeds that sprout into new trees.

The beetles, however, have become a major problem in the western US and Canada, leading to forests in which a significant proportion of the trees are either [i:post_uid0]not[/i:post_uid0] healthy or just plain [i:post_uid0]dead[/i:post_uid0]. :([/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[quote:post_uid0="Guest"][color=#000000:post_uid0]In fact, some species, such as redwoods and Jefferson pine, [i:post_uid0]require[/i:post_uid0] a fire to cause the cones to open and release the seeds that sprout into new trees.[/color:post_uid0][/quote:post_uid0]
[color=#000000:post_uid0]Yeah. Learnt that last semsester during biodiversity lessons. :shudders:[/color:post_uid0]

[NeoMatrix]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I never thought I would actually learn something here :shudders:[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]bad beetles, bad mostiquitoes, bad bugs in BC and rest of West...oh well, at least we have the Pacific ocean!

I'm glad to hear that most people are going home to Kelowna. Apperently there are still fires burning around BC, thankfully, though, ones that are as damaging. At least, let's hope it stays that way.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Most of the people living inside the city will be home by the end of the weekend. Outside the city is still on Order, and will continue to be for the next little while, at least until things settle down.

It's Cranbrook's turn next.[/color:post_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I'm back in Kelowna now. I got in yesterday, and saw a huge column of smoke from the bus. There still appear to be trees, although it was hard to tell what colour they were through the haze and tinted windows. I got here just in time for a flare up. I could see massive flames two or three ridges to the east. The fire seems to be lurching at random in massive strides. Today five trestles from the Kettle Valley Railway, built in 1914-16 and now used as a tourist attraction, were burned. It's unlikely they'll be replaced. Most of the evacuees had gone home, but now they've evacuated 3200 or so people for a second time, and put 9000 more on alert. My parents have been on alert ever since they moved back in. The western edge of the new evacuation zone is not too far from us. This is just a precaution, since the fire is still 5km away from any houses. It seems fairly quiet today. The main thrust is well east of me, but there was smoke rising from the hills above my house and considerable helicopter activity. It's my understanding that this was a burnoff operation. There's no glow on the horizon tonight. There's nothing on the horizon tonight, actually - there's nothing but smoke. This means that the wind is blowing north, but there's very little breeze out there right now. The moon is a lurid red.

I went for a walk today to survey the devastation. It was surreal. Most homes were either unscathed or totally destroyed. The only in-between was some scorched and melted siding next to a ash-filled crater. The fire seemed rather capricious as it moved through - in the middle of a row of pits will be a pristine house. Most of the lawns are untouched as well, although it looks like a few cedars went up like torches. In less-affected areas, there's a single torched house on an untouched street. There's also treed lot that was meant to be a school site. It was never developed, and covered with a thick layer of duff. That duff is now gone, and a lot of the trees appear to be dying. On the other side of the subdivision is a steep sandy embankment overlooking a creek. That embankment was covered with 20 years' accumulation of grass clippings and raked needles. It got a bunch of houses along the edge, and came damned close to getting more. Only through heroic firefighter intervention was the neighbourhood saved. If it had gotten into the older part of Crawford - where my house is - it would have run amok through the cedar shingles, dried-out pine trees and piles of desiccated yard waste. Further north is mostly undeveloped thick forest and dead grass. We were damn lucky.[/color:post_uid0]

[NeoMatrix]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]That is weird how only one house on that street got torched. It was as if a stray ember floated and landed in the right place.[/color:post_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Well but if the house was on the end of the street it would make more sense, wouldn't it?


:hopes that the fires GO AWAY AND [b:post_uid0]NEVER[/b:post_uid0] COME BACK!:[/color:post_uid0]

[mudshark]

[quote:post_uid0="NeoMatrix"][color=#000000:post_uid0]That is weird how only one house on that street got torched. It was as if a stray ember floated and landed in the right place.[/color:post_uid0][/quote:post_uid0]
[color=#000000:post_uid0]I'd bet that's exacty what happened. With a fire that big, the updraft will carry away embers the size of softballs and drop them miles distant.[/color:post_uid0]