[Hyack]

Cache Creek has been evacuated...

$1:

From his vantage point in Williams Lake, he could see four wildfires burning.
The Cariboo Regional District Emergency Operations Centre has issued a warning, saying "fires are reported faster than they can be written down — all over the Cariboo."

In 100 Mile House, about 100 kilometres southeast of Williams Lake, a 1,500-hectare blaze has forced the evacuation of at least 3,600 people.

$1:

In the southern Interior, a wildfire near Princeton has also prompted an evacuation order for homes in the area.

This is the worst I can remember in all my years in BC....

[xerxes]

That one year in Kelowna was really bad....

But yeah. The fires have come on hard and strong in a very short amount of time. It's been hot for the last week and today, at least here in the Fraser Valley, it got windy.

[Hyack]

xerxes xerxes:

That one year in Kelowna was really bad....

But yeah. The fires have come on hard and strong in a very short amount of time. It's been hot for the last week and today, at least here in the Fraser Valley, it got windy.

Yeah, that would have been the 2003 fire on Okanagan Mountain, burnt something like 64,000 acres and took out 239 homes..or the 2009 West Kelowna fire that took out some 24,000 acres. Definitely not a good place to spend a summer.....

[Mowich]

herbie herbie:

Just texted my sister - they've closed the highway at 100 Mile and also closed it and evacuated Cache Creek, she posted4 she might be stuck.
Told her about Hwy24 to Little Fort and 99 to Pemberton that might still be accessible.

Eagle Creek: I was there in 1982 installing these high-tech gizmos that turned the newfangled push button phone tones back into rattly dial pulses! When you only had to dial 4 numbers for local calls.

We've only had exactly 48 hrs of of hot weather, there's already a fire (put out quickly) about 30 miles up Stuart Lake. Nice thunderstorm & wind about 3 hours ago snapped off a Cottonwood about 35 ft up dropped it in the yard. Missed my little barn by only a foot! Noticed cleaning it up it was dry as a soda cracker!

Tell her to make sure she checks the status of the two fires burning in Little Fort, Herbie. They were expected to grow overnight - just like every other fire in BC.

[Mowich]

xerxes xerxes:

That one year in Kelowna was really bad....

But yeah. The fires have come on hard and strong in a very short amount of time. It's been hot for the last week and today, at least here in the Fraser Valley, it got windy.

We had a rogue low pressure system blow through here today but it took it's time leaving and the wind gusts were enough to buffet my car at one moment then give me one heck of a tail-wind the next. I can only imagine what it did to the fires. Actually, it took a couple of hectares burning in Ashcroft and turned that fire into an inferno that engulfed a subdivision of Cache Creek and is threatening the village itself.

[martin14]

Damn, it seems half the interior of BC is on fire...

[Hyack]

Hwy 99.....Lillooet to Pemberton, Whistler and on to Squamish is still looking good, but as you know that could change in a heartbeat with one strike of lightning or cigarette butt....

Here's how things are looking.....and it isn't looking good

http://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/kml/wildfire/map.html

[Hyack]

martin14 martin14:

Damn, it seems half the interior of BC is on fire...

Damn close to it....see the map I posted above....

[herbie]

$1:

Tell her to make sure she checks the status of the two fires burning in Little Fort, Herbie

Yeah I just saw some pics of that this morning, it wasn't mentioned on the news last night!

And FFS, stop this constant shit about people flinging cigarette butts out the window as a knee jerk response about forest fires! After 3 generations of Smokey the Bear anyone that dumb should be shot. Smokers don't fire one up walking into a stranger's house or butt their smokes on their dinner plates anymore. They CAN learn (unlike cell phone users). Bet there's as many caused by hikers firing up a joint these days.

The human caused fires around here are mostly campfires not properly put out, ATV and 4x4 mufflers, logging trucks dragging something. And I've seen people who think burying their charcoal thinking that's safe - shit around here there's a foot of pine needles. Surest way to start a fire yet. And they were camping beside a lake!
10 years after the pine beetle, there's still a forest of upright matchsticks out there. Be careful!

[Mowich]

herbie herbie:

$1:

Tell her to make sure she checks the status of the two fires burning in Little Fort, Herbie

Yeah I just saw some pics of that this morning, it wasn't mentioned on the news last night!

And FFS, stop this constant shit about people flinging cigarette butts out the window as a knee jerk response about forest fires! After 3 generations of Smokey the Bear anyone that dumb should be shot. Smokers don't fire one up walking into a stranger's house or butt their smokes on their dinner plates anymore. They CAN learn (unlike cell phone users). Bet there's as many caused by hikers firing up a joint these days.

The human caused fires around here are mostly campfires not properly put out, ATV and 4x4 mufflers, logging trucks dragging something. And I've seen people who think burying their charcoal thinking that's safe - shit around here there's a foot of pine needles. Surest way to start a fire yet. And they were camping beside a lake!
10 years after the pine beetle, there's still a forest of upright matchsticks out there. Be careful!

[Mowich]

It is so dry around here that people are foregoing all outside activity that requires the use of machinery, lawn mowers, weed whackers etc, included. We are aware of how fast a fire can grow from a single spark. Our air is full of tiny ash particles and smoke is heavy in all the valleys obscuring the higher mountains. There is a plus side to the smoke in that it is filtering the sun and our temps are lower than were forecast. It also makes for some truly awesome sunsets.

[herbie]

I just finished piling up all the branches from that tree that fell, was going to toss it back in the gully but it would be a fire hazard to the whole subdivision. Take it to the dump myself, at the glacial speed of the municipal authorities it would self ignite in the backyard!

Sister did get out thru Little Fort, on her way down the Coq now. Met quite a few people staying to visit their folks a little longer before heading back down to Vanc.
Overwaitea's out of all their sale items and bread. Trucks haven't made it through yet. Store on the rez is still stocked, prices on staple foods are so bad it's the last resort.

[Vamp018]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

'Tis the season.

Right now we've got major fires in California, too.

Well if Cali wouldn't listen to wacky Enviro Nuts, your season wouldn't be so Hot and Flaming. I heard Obama and the Enviro's there had a hissy over clearing Dead brush and debris before fire Season, thus leaving Fuel to blow and burn.

[Mowich]

Gusty winds, thunder and lightning are forecast for later this afternoon here in the Cariboo - about the worst news we could hear concerning the weather. A storm cell is building over Canim Lake as I write. This after the weather had held still and calm yesterday giving the crews on the fire-lines a bit of a break. The problem with the storm that is forecast is that the smoke is so thick in most areas, if a fire was ignited by a lightning strike the chances of anyone seeing before it took off are slim to none.

Highway and road closures are causing all kinds of problems with supplies such as food and gas as tankers and transport trucks can't get through due to the closures.

Many of us are beginning to wonder when the troops will be sent in and how much worse things have to get before they will be deployed. 100 new fires broke out yesterday alone. We need all the help we can get and the government needs to step up right now and get the army moving.

[Freakinoldguy]

raydan raydan:

Damn trees!!!

It's okay, given how it's going they won't be around long.