Please Pray for the Folks in Nova Scotia

[Sheilajeanne]

Two large fires in Nova Scotia are burning out of control, and there is no relief in sight from rain. Mass evacuations have started in some areas - police have made 2 lane roads one way only to hasten the evacuation.

Please pray. Livestock are in danger too - much harder to evacuate them. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tantallon-hammonds-plains-pockwock-wildfire-evaucations-forest-fire-halifax-1.6857729

[Handstitched]

Thats very serious. Sadly, this is something we're used to here in Oz . Its rare for a fire to start by lightening here, quite often its the work of a 'fire bug' . Makes people so angry when theres someone deliberately starting fires, and theres very little comeback.  

Let hope no-one gets hurt or worse. 

HS

[Sheilajeanne]

When a member of the press asked the Ministry of Natural Resources officer about how the fires started, he said they were caused by humans, but whether deliberately set, or accidentally is still under investigation. 

[chuck123wapati]

The smoke from the Canadian fires reached us about a week ago, at one point it was so bad you couldn't see a mile. 

[Sheilajeanne]

Yeah, that would be the Alberta fires. We actually got some of that smoke in southern Ontario!

[Sheilajeanne]

From the front lines in Halifax:

https://www.facebook.com/wade.pgrandy.3

For those of you who don't have FB, Wade Grandy is a fire captain in Halifax:

These fine young men were amazing last night. 15 hours of back breaking work none stop. Small break for coffee and a snack. Pee break and back at it. Ride with each one of ya anytime. First 10

Man crew. Great job fellas. Hats off to

Sean Berrigan for wheeling that truck around and

Pumping probably 30000 plus gallons of water. Lost count of how many times we broke down repacked and off to another.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Sheilajeanne

[Handstitched]

Have to take our hats off  for the strength and courage of emergency personnel.

When fires occur down south ,  we get the  smoke  a day  or so later. I'm in the central wheatbelt. It gets so thick some days. You think the fire is local considering the amount of smoke,  but its actually way down south. It is literally the way the wind blows here. 

HS

[DwightT]

The area where I live is down in a valley, and it seems like if there is a fire anywhere in the western half of the continent, the smoke settle in here.  My step-daughter is severely asthmatic so whenever that happens she has to stay in her house with the HEPA air filters.

We also have the National Inter-agency Fire Center (NIFC) for the U.S. here.  They coordinate the fire crews across the country during the wildfire season.  Years ago when my son was in scouts we got to go tour the command center.  It was fascinating watching all that goes in to planning how to respond to the multiple fires that are going on at any give time.

My hat is off to the fire fighters and smoke jumpers.  They are putting their lives on the line every time they go out for one of these fires.

    /dwight

[Sheilajeanne]

5 hours ago, DwightT said:

My hat is off to the fire fighters and smoke jumpers.  They are putting their lives on the line every time they go out for one of these fires.

 

11 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Have to take our hats off  for the strength and courage of emergency personnel.

Yes, indeed! 

 

There are actually FOUR separate fires, and only the smallest one is under any sort of control. Fire fighters and equipment are coming from outside to help - two water bombers from Newfoundland, eight aircraft from New Brunswick as well as fire fighters from New York and New Hampshire. 

The Westwood Hills fire is the one that's caused mass evacuations as it started in a residential area close to Halifax.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by Sheilajeanne

[Northmount]

A little info on the Alberta wildfires that have been raging for the past month.  Some people from a month ago have been able to return home, many still out.  Newest wildfire is in the far NE at Fort Chipewyan (commonly called Fort Chip, the oldest European settlement what is now part of the Province of Alberta (incorporated 1905), during early fur trade days).  Fort Chip is only accessible by air or boat this time of year.  Winter by air, ice road and dog team.

Fort Chip https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/northern-alberta-residents-stay-back-to-help-protect-community-from-wildfire-1.6423950

Alberta wildfire map https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/3ffcc2d0ef3e4e0999b0cf8b636defa3

Real time map https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/digital-map-shows-alberta-wildfires-in-near-real-time/

Mapping wildfires and smoke https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/alberta-wildfires-map-1.6838361

 

 

 

 

[chuck123wapati]

Sadly, in the US,  the environmentalists have gotten so many places designated wilderness that the roads which were originally cut for fighting wildfires have been closed off. Yea firefighters cant drive in either how is that for environmental logic?  Additionally the amount of deadfall due to the Pine Beatle years ago doesn't allow for the firefighters an easy way out  if trouble happens so it to dangerous to fight, most of the time they can only stage and watch it burn.  The Mullen fire here a couple years ago was that way, all they could do was fight a few places where they had access and save a few cabins, for months they just sat at the staging area watching the planes try. In addition almost the whole states funding was spent doing nothing because they couldn't do anything.

Its a shame. 

[tsunkasapa]

23 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

Sadly, in the US,  the environmentalists have gotten so many places designated wilderness that the roads which were originally cut for fighting wildfires have been closed off. Yea firefighters cant drive in either how is that for environmental logic?  Additionally the amount of deadfall due to the Pine Beatle years ago doesn't allow for the firefighters an easy way out  if trouble happens so it to dangerous to fight, most of the time they can only stage and watch it burn.  The Mullen fire here a couple years ago was that way, all they could do was fight a few places where they had access and save a few cabins, for months they just sat at the staging area watching the planes try. In addition almost the whole states funding was spent doing nothing because they couldn't do anything.

Its a shame. 

The state did that in the area I used to hunt. And to close the roads, they went in and 'thinned' the trees, felling them across the road. The last time I was in there, those dead dry trees were so thick I could hardly walk up what used to be a road. Now, not only can't they get there for a fire, they've created the fuel to make it a major fire.

[Sheilajeanne]

1 hour ago, tsunkasapa said:

The state did that in the area I used to hunt. And to close the roads, they went in and 'thinned' the trees, felling them across the road. The last time I was in there, those dead dry trees were so thick I could hardly walk up what used to be a road. Now, not only can't they get there for a fire, they've created the fuel to make it a major fire.

SMH... 

Of course, there's a total ban on open fires in N.S. right now, and fines have been increased to a maximum $25,000. Still, some people have decided, oh, this doesn't apply to me! 

Quote

Several Nova Scotians are facing a $25,000 hit to their bank accounts after violating the provincial ban on fires imposed this week.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Chris Marshall said that the force has issued five tickets with the whopping penalty since an emergency alert went out Monday night notifying of the ban.

At 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday, a 27-year-old Waterville woman was slapped with a ticket after having a fire on her property.

“A person reported seeing a bonfire at a home on Highway 1,” Marshall said. 

The fire department had extinguished the fire before the officer arrived, and she was given the ticket by the officer.

Other tickets were handed out to a 41-year-old Oxford man Wednesday night, a 58-year-old Elmsdale man for a fire in Enfield on Monday night and two men aged 47 and 52 from two separate incidents in Sipekne’katik.    https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/no-excuses-nova-scotians-receiving-25000-tickets-for-violating-fire-ban-100859605/#

Idiots!! 

Have several friends and one family member living in the area. They say it is very, very dry right now. And yesterday, there was a thunderstorm, and lightning strikes triggered some fresh blazes. Province just can't catch a break...

Edited June 3, 2023 by Sheilajeanne

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

The state did that in the area I used to hunt. And to close the roads, they went in and 'thinned' the trees, felling them across the road. The last time I was in there, those dead dry trees were so thick I could hardly walk up what used to be a road. Now, not only can't they get there for a fire, they've created the fuel to make it a major fire.

Where i hunt the pine beetle kill is so bad the deadfall is six and seven feet high. The critters have all had to change their trails and habits, they cant even get through it.

AND get this, a bit more to think about on the fire problem. yes more environmental logic. Traditionally and historically folks used to camp near the creeks and rivers, now called riparian areas, why? because it was moist and fires could be more easily controlled very easy to understand even to people thousands of years ago with no education. Now thanks to idiots with degrees it is illegal to camp within 100 feet of riparian areas because you may damage the fauna. So guess where people camp???    In the dry brushy areas or trees where a fire is 1000 times more likely to catch the place on fire than the moist riparian areas. 

Its a shame! 

[Handstitched]

Those ' in charge' are not always the smartest. Our fire authorities  do controlled   or prescribed burns  before bushfire seasons each year . But ,their so called controlled burns have in the past got out of control burn more than they intended  and even burned houses down  and put communities under threat. Scientists argue that these ' prescribed  burns' do more harm than good and have no basis in science. They destroy diverse and sometimes rare  flora   and fauna . 

 Thats not very ' environmental friendly' .   Go figure? 

The best people to do burns are the '  Indigenous  Peoples ,  they know what, when and where to burn,  they're been doing it for thousands of years, they know exactly what they're doing and without destroying  the very fauna they need to survive. 

HS