The Ongoing Wildfire Thread

[Nyah]

Unfortunately, this really deserves an ongoing thread. From Osoyoos, Maui, Northern Alberta, Yellowknife, now to North and West Kelowna. It's been a really bad spring/summer and there really doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.

The Kelowna fire has come into the city, and then jumped to North Kelowna in the night. The videos are something else. I know we have CP members who live there, I hope you and your property are all safe along with your families.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1692446070582960244

https://twitter.com/user/status/1692425728984572035

https://twitter.com/user/status/1692412809647383014

[Scornfire]

I packed up my cats and took them to my office last night. The fire jumping to the North side happened pretty well out of nowhere and has completely exhausted emergency services, there wasn't even an alert pushed to phones as communities were being evacuated into the night. A ton of people left their homes and just parked on the side of glenmore road as I was leaving, getting my office/warehouse prepped this morning to house other evacuees just incase

[MoneyGuy]

As you said, it’s unfortunate that this deserves its own thread. I can’t imagine the horror of having to evacuate your home and community not knowing if you’ll have a house to return to. We know people who lost their house in Fort McMurray and had to rebuild while dealing with a child’s cancer scare. I watched a video from a home security camera that showed normal, then you could see red through a window, then the red increased in intensity and soon the video cut out; the house was lost.

I fear and expect this is our new normal and with climate change it will worsen. This is a huge problem and I’m not confident our political leaders will deal with it effectively.

[Bigtime]

Also keeping an eye on the Horsethief Creek fire burning just north of Panorama on the other side of Mount Bruce. The resort and other areas around it are on an evacuation alert.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

How many thousands might be without homes soon? We’re going to have a domestic refugee crisis if this keeps up. We don’t have enough houses and support for people now. Wait until thousands, if not tens of thousands, of homes burn down. Where are these people going to live?

[Huntingwhale]

We are going camping with my parents close to Parson for 5 days over the weekend. Will definitely be keeping an eye on things.

[GGG]

There is no reason for amy homes to be lost in amy forest fire if they have been built properly and the vegetation around the properties sufficiently managed.

This is a self inflicted building code issue.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/built-to-burn/

[calf]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

How many thousands might be without homes soon? We’re going to have a domestic refugee crisis if this keeps up. We don’t have enough houses and support for people now. Wait until thousands, if not tens of thousands, of homes burn down. Where are these people going to live?

If we can't afford to address housing and climate now, we REALLY can't afford to deal with the aftermath in the future.

[Nyah]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

I packed up my cats and took them to my office last night. The fire jumping to the North side happened pretty well out of nowhere and has completely exhausted emergency services, there wasn't even an alert pushed to phones as communities were being evacuated into the night. A ton of people left their homes and just parked on the side of glenmore road as I was leaving, getting my office/warehouse prepped this morning to house other evacuees just incase

Best of luck, hope everything goes okay. Waiting to hear updates on what things look like this morning.

[btimbit]

I might be getting sent to Yellowknife to help coordinate the evacuations. 10 guys (and girl) from work are already on their way as of yesterday

Truly heartbreaking stuff. Yellowknife is one of my favourite cities in Canada. And seeing the pictures from Kelowna are heartbreaking too, so many great memories there, and great people

Best of luck to everyone involved

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I might be getting sent to Yellowknife to help coordinate the evacuations. 10 guys (and girl) from work are already on their way as of yesterday

Truly heartbreaking stuff. Yellowknife is one of my favourite cities in Canada. And seeing the pictures from Kelowna are heartbreaking too, so many great memories there, and great people

Best of luck to everyone involved

I might also be going to help with the aftermath if the fire hits the town.

Stay safe big man and you are right Yellowknife is a wonderful city that more Canadians should visit.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I might also be going to help with the aftermath if the fire hits the town.

Stay safe big man and you are right Yellowknife is a wonderful city that more Canadians should visit.

Hey not fair, I lost that weight two years ago!

[Winsor_Pilates]

Terrifying images; hopefully losses are only to material items.

We are in Osoyoos now and driving back to Vancouver today. Not sure if I should go Hwy 3 close to the Kerameos fire, or up to Hwy 97 near West Kelowna...

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Terrifying images; hopefully losses are only to material items.

We are in Osoyoos now and driving back to Vancouver today. Not sure if I should go Hwy 3 close to the Kerameos fire, or up to Hwy 97 near West Kelowna...

Looking where the actual fires are, 97 seems a bit more distant.


https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map


But looking at Google traffic, 97 looks a bit slower than normal. I'd check both of those sites before leaving and decide based on that.

[bc-chris]

last night was pretty bad. we have a good view of west kelowna from our place so watched things unfold.

the fire jumping to the kelowna side was probably the worst case scenario. the kelowna fire is well away from where my family is, but we have lots of friends that were evacuated late last night.

a couple shots from my deck...

this was around dinner time. 'bridge hill' (which is where hwy97 approaches okanagan lake bridge) can be seen mid-centre/right. as the night went on there was only vehicles fleeing west kelowna. the only 'tail lights' going up bridge hill were more fire trucks that were responding from all over (joe rich, winfield, ellison, lumby, armstrong, etc.)

IMG_1123 by bc-chris, on Flickr

one lone fire truck way out on westside road. it looked like the fire came down to the lake later in the night
IMG_1142 by bc-chris, on Flickr

the constant stream of headlights getting out of west kelowna
IMG_1171 by bc-chris, on Flickr


IMG_1309 by bc-chris, on Flickr

IMG_1327 by bc-chris, on Flickr

this was around 2am. tons of fire trucks battled to keep the flames away from houses
IMG_1361 by bc-chris, on Flickr

it's pretty windy this morning and on the news they said the wind is supposed to shift later today. it's been blowing from the south-west (pushing the westside fire north). the winds are supposed to start blowing from the north, which could push the fire a lot closer/into west kelowna - i have a feeling it's going to be a long day.

hoping everyone in these affected areas stays safe!

[Mazrim]

My parent's place in West Kelowna is on the edge of evacuation orders right now, but the wind shift could place them on evacuation. It was surreal in 2003, but that was the other side of the lake. It was eerie when the fires were in Smith Creek and Glenrosa, but they never got close. This one feels different. Just hoping for the best.

[rohara66]

Those photos are ####ing terrifying.

[PaperBagger'14]

My great aunt lives in West Kelowna and her community was evacuated last night. Luckily she was already in AB visiting family so she's safe.

[Zulu29]

Am in Kelowna as well, emergency services are working around the clock here and it’s all hands on deck. Very concerned about the wind shifting today, this fire is massive, it was surreal watching it lastnight. I have friends on the west side and north Kelowna, got my house ready to take them in if they need it. Just chaos right now.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Pictures from your deck and seeing those pictures that is crazy and horrifying.