Burnt To The Ground

[Brian T]

Fort McMurray in northern Alberta is being burnt to the ground, street by street. 250,000 acres so far, only rain can put it out. 88,000+ evacuated. Now I read that smaller windfires near Fort St. John (north of me) have joined, evacs in progress.
Possibly another burn-out.

[Nancy-G]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

I assume you in BC are safe from those awful fires in Alberta. I hope so!!

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Not at all. The Fort St. John (BC) evac area has just been expanded 10X. The Alaska Hwy is closed around M-80. Mile Zero is in Dawson Creek, not far from Fort St. John.
The feds said they would match the Red Cross donations (30megs so far) and we will need more in our own back yard in the days to come.

Most folks don\'t comprehend how dry it is up here and north of me. The forests just explode, 800 - 1,000C temps. Firenadoes and lighting from the smoke clouds.

[MustangA1X]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Best of luck to you RV. Hope the fires stay away from your door.
Mike

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Thanks, we\'re OK. The big AB fire is moving SSE away from the city.
Know more about N of me in the morning. More big fires up and running further east.

Volunteer supply group set up in a Walmart parking lot = they got kicked out. Home Depot took them all in.

[joepaulbutler]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Boy Brian, You need a good weather low to come in and give you a good dowsing, best of luck!
. . . JoeB

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

JB, the temps should be in the 50\'s, not the 90\'s. Maybe 1/3 of the normal rainfall is all they got in the past 6 months.
All they\'re doing now is trying to protect city buildings. Everybody agrees that this fire will burn until it rains. Not humanly possible to get it under control.

I can\'t imagine lives and careers driven out of town by fire, with the clothes on your back. There is none of your stuff, cars, trucks included, to go back to. What next? Like New Orleans.

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

The fire north of Fort St. John, BC. might be burning east into the next province, Alberta by tonight. \"The Beast\" is burning east and may be into the next province, Saskatchewan, by tonight.
My fire is your fire.

[Arthur C.]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Sad situation. As you said, Brian, like New Orleans with the hurricanes. Mother Nature can be bad tempered at times.

[drhandrich]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

wow. i finally saw some of it on the news last night. there was a news spot where it showed the interior of a house living room. you could see the fire outside the windows, then the smoke coming in the vents, then the walls heating up and turning to flames... all this was being monitored and recorded by a mans home security camera system. that made it even more personal than the far away shots of the news teams. gives goosebumps.

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

9AM May.08 = IT\'S RAINING in Fort McMurray!

[Gypsy31]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

I totally understand your feelings, living in Southern California,
I have experience similar circumstances, the only thing that saved
my house from burning was a Freeway separating us from a horrendous
forest fire that consumed hundreds of homes.
Stay safe,
Oscar

[joepaulbutler]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Great to hear, just hope it is enough.
. . .JoeB

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Wildfire isn\'t any threat in the village but a structure fire jumping from one building to the next is a consideration, on our Main Street in particular.

Last evening, I got to wondering what I would do. Suppose the police showed up to tell me that I had to be driving away from the house in exactly 15 minutes. No alerts, just get the Hello out.

Imagine: all cloth, plastic and wood in the house is totally consumed. All the metal parts from everything you own are in the concrete hole of the basement.

[Brian T]

Re: Burnt To The Ground

Which reminds me: Some country homes in this district are structures so old that they need to be condemned. So what happens is that they strip the house of every possession and useful parts and burn it down in demolition! The volunteer fire department turns out to monitor the perimeter.