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BS: British Columbia is burning
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Subject: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 19 Aug 10 - 11:49 PM I live in North Central British Columbia, near the "top" of the heavily marked fire area. We haven't seen the sky since Monday. Smoke is everywhere with no relief in sight. Where I live, we're not in any danger from the fires yet, but the smoke is making it hard to breathe and ash is everywhere. Map of fires: http://www.cbc.ca/bc/features/wildfires/2010.html. Quoted from the Montreal Gazette: The next day and a half will be critical for B.C's wildfire situation because extreme winds in the weather forecast could fan the flames and make the bad situation much worse. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ChanteyLass Date: 19 Aug 10 - 11:52 PM Im hoping for the best-case scenario. Stay safe. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: katlaughing Date: 19 Aug 10 - 11:57 PM No rain in over 60 days in the interior? Isn't that unusual? I hate wildfires. They are scary, so sad, and fierce. May the winds die down, the rains come, and anger of Nature be spent now. Stay safe and keep us posted, please, as you are able. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Ebbie Date: 20 Aug 10 - 12:33 AM Wow. I dearly hope that your rains come and soak it all down. We've had a great number of wildfires in Alaska this year but fortuitous rains squelched a good many of them. Interior Alaska has been extraordinarily hot this summer so lightning strikes have ignited hundreds of blazes in brush and grasses. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Joybell Date: 20 Aug 10 - 03:59 AM Stay safe rags. All my thoughts. I understand that horror. Hoping for rain for you. Joy in Aus |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: GUEST,I Don't Know Date: 20 Aug 10 - 04:13 AM May you have rain soon. The world is mad this year, to much rain in Parkistan & none for you,lets hope it soon changes. Thinking of you over there from me here in the U.K. where a bit more sun would be nice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: gnu Date: 20 Aug 10 - 04:23 AM Gosh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: gnu Date: 20 Aug 10 - 06:12 AM BC fires news item. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: catspaw49 Date: 20 Aug 10 - 08:43 AM No way to have a very good birthday if you ask me.......Stay safe Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: maeve Date: 20 Aug 10 - 08:57 AM I'm glad you are following the health warnings regarding air quality. It makes a huge difference in lung health when you can avoid the ash in the first place. Take good care, rags. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: JennieG Date: 20 Aug 10 - 09:13 AM Not good to hear - in Oz we know about fires, so we can synmpathise. Cheers JennieG |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Bill D Date: 20 Aug 10 - 10:35 AM I wish we could send you 2/3 of all the rain we have had this month..... be safe.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Rapparee Date: 20 Aug 10 - 10:37 AM I can sympathize, living in Idaho I understand. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 20 Aug 10 - 11:10 AM Living in the edge of Sydney's CBD, I don't often get affected by wildfires - tho one really bad year the fires in the mountains (c.100km) to the west & in northwest suburbia (c.30km away) sent a lot of smoke & some embers our way, setting fire to a roof 1 or 2 km away from me. But I've had friends in bushfire zones with burnt backyards, or cars loaded, ready to evacuate. sending hugs & good wishes for your safety & good health, & a speedy end to the situation sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: open mike Date: 20 Aug 10 - 11:18 AM I hope it is true that you are in no danger from the fires. Here we wore particulate masks to protect lungs from ash when fires were near. These masks are available at hardware stores in the paint dept. hope this gets solved soon. the fire nearest where I live is called the "Caribou complex" several fires burning. (wonder if there is any connection between the Caribou here and the Cariboo there...both were active gold mining areas.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: SINSULL Date: 20 Aug 10 - 12:12 PM I was just talking with someone about Vancouver as a possible landing spot for retiring folkies. Stay safe. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 20 Aug 10 - 02:22 PM The smoke from the fires cast a pall over Calgary (in Alberta) yesterday. the wind has shifted somewhat and a few local rainshowers have improved the air quality today. Vancouver is on the coast, away from the dry interior, and is unaffected by the fires. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Little Hawk Date: 20 Aug 10 - 11:29 PM I think earthquakes and their possibly attendant tsunamis would be the main natural disaster threat in Vancouver. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 21 Aug 10 - 12:03 AM Thanks, everyone, for your good wishes. Open mike, thanks for the suggestion about wearing the masks. I think we have some of those. Maybe if I wore one I could catch up on some outdoor work? Not the painting, though, the ash would ruin the finish. The smoke here seemed a little thinner today. I could hear the drone of the water bombers passing overhead but wasn't able to see one. My daughter in Saskatchewan wrote that the smoke had reached there. The temperature last night dropped to +5ºC. We're trying to keep the furnace from coming on because it draws "fresh air" from outside and so far inside the house seems okay. From CBC News site: Lighter winds and cooler temperatures appear to be reducing the forest fire activity across B.C., but thick smoke continues to cause problems right across Western Canada. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 21 Aug 10 - 08:21 AM Our regional district (county) issued an evacuation alert, Friday, for an area about 30 minutes drive from town. My town is still not in danger from the fires. More help is on its way. Hopefully the cooler temperatures and additional firefighters will turn things around.
rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: GUEST,999 Date: 21 Aug 10 - 10:20 AM Rags, Make sure you have your furnace turned off of the air-intake setting. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: gnu Date: 21 Aug 10 - 10:56 AM I read the smoke is affecting air quality in northwestern Ontario. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: sapper82 Date: 21 Aug 10 - 03:14 PM Heyup Bonnie Lass, keep safe and I hope the situation improves quickly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Ebbie Date: 21 Aug 10 - 08:49 PM Every several years here in Juneau, Alaska, we get smokey skies from wildfires in British Columbia or the Yukon Territory. It is hard on our eyes and noses but makes for some spectacular sunsets. Normally we don't have enough particulates in the air to get beyond pink or sometimes mauve. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 22 Aug 10 - 12:47 AM Make sure you have your furnace turned off of the air-intake setting. GUEST,999, Thanks for your help. Where would I find that? It's a really old furnace with nothing fancy on it. Would it be inside the panel that comes off the front? I think I can figure out how to get that off. Could I just go outside and put a plastic bag, duct tape, or something over the air intake on the side of the house? I know where that is. I think it's just a "fresh air" intake for the house, not needed for proper combustion. sapper82, Thank you. We're still a long way from the heat. I think we'll be okay once the smoke is gone. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: katlaughing Date: 22 Aug 10 - 01:02 AM rags, we have an old furnace, too, and my Rog says ours doesn't suck any air in from the outside. We do have a large air filter mounted in the wall in our hallway through which the furnace recycles the inside air. He says if you know where the filters are, you could change them every couple of days. Hope that helps. Thinking of you and doing a little "rain" dance...kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 22 Aug 10 - 10:51 AM Kat, Thanks for the dance. It must have worked. It's been raining off and on since midnight. We still can't see very far but it's hard to tell if it's smoke, mist, or both that's blocking the view. My furnace does suck the air in from outside. There is a 6 inch diameter pipe that runs from the furnace plenum along the unfinished ceiling and exits above my laundry window. I had a good look last night. I can see no means inside the house, or on the furnace, to block it. I don't think that the filter on the furnace would keep out the smoke. Many years ago, when my dear father would visit in winter, he'd go to the basement to smoke his cigarettes as we were non-smokers. Dad thought he was being considerate by not smoking in the living area, but he'd pace near the air intake on the side of the furnace and the smoke would be distributed throughout the house. So far I've been able to keep the furnace from coming on. I'm hoping that the fires will soon be under control and this will become a non-issue. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Ebbie Date: 22 Aug 10 - 11:03 AM Does your ambient air temp drop below 50-55F degrees? If you set the thermostat on its lowest setting, shouldn't the furnace stay off? |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: katlaughing Date: 22 Aug 10 - 11:10 AM Good to hear about the rain, rags! Ebbie, I was wondering that, too. As well, there should be a shut-off switch or something to turn it off completely, according to my Rog.:-) kat doing a non-issue dance:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 22 Aug 10 - 12:02 PM Ebbie and Kat, The outdoor temperatures at night have been between +4ºC (40ºF) and +10ºC (50ºF). I shut the furnace off when the temperatures dropped. So far we're managing without heat. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Ebbie Date: 22 Aug 10 - 12:31 PM Wow. Are you in the mountains? I'm used to thinking of everywhere south of here as being HOT in the summertime. In Juneau, our overnight temperatures in summertime drop to the upper 40s to the mid50s. Of course, we are on the ocean which tends to moderate temperatures. I hope you get loads of rain! |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 22 Aug 10 - 08:26 PM Ebbie, No, I'm not in the mountains. This town sits inland in a valley at the confluence of two rivers. We don't get much news on Sundays here so I don't know if the the fires are getting smaller or if the smoke is just not coming our way as much as before. It's been windy today. From the way that my trees were bending, the wind was from the north which is the only direction in which there are no fires. Yay! We could see the hill half a KM away with only a little haze between us. We even saw the sun and blue sky for a few minutes before more rain clouds closed in. I'm crossing my fingers that breathing will be easier and that we can use the furnace tonight. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Rapparee Date: 22 Aug 10 - 10:04 PM There was more than 6,700 acres burning in the next valley West of us this morning -- and it's been windy for several days. It's raining!! It's raining the temp has dropped from upper 90s F to 58 F right now! This the third-biggest fire around here this summer -- the largest was northwest of here and burned 109,000+ acres. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 22 Aug 10 - 11:21 PM Rapaire, Thank heavens for rain! In which part of the world are you? rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: katlaughing Date: 22 Aug 10 - 11:41 PM He's in Idaho. We, in Colorado, had a lovely steady rain all afternoon instead of the predicted 90+ degree heat! |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Rapparee Date: 22 Aug 10 - 11:44 PM Southeast Idaho, about 2.5 hours southwest of Yellowstone Park. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 23 Aug 10 - 03:04 AM Rapaire, I hope that the rain and fire fighting technology will keep the fire near you under control. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Rapparee Date: 23 Aug 10 - 10:24 AM I just learned today that 325 square miles are burning in SW Idaho. Makes our fires look a bit puny. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: open mike Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:17 AM looking for an aerial view of smoke..no imges found yet just this: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Smoke+from+fires+blankets+Western+Canada+expected+ease/3427908/story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3a+canwest%2fF229+%28Vancouver+Sun+-+News%29 |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: open mike Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:33 AM here are fires in north west terrirtories http://forestmanagement.enr.gov.nt.ca/fire_management/LatestInfo/FireSituation.png here is what i was looking for http://www.vector1media.com/vectorone/?p=6080 http://bcwildfire.ca/Situation/ http://bcwildfire.ca/hprScripts/WildfireNews/Fires.asp http://bcwildfire.ca/hprScripts/WildfireNews/Fires.asp?Mode=normal&AllFires=0&FC=7 |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:35 PM From: open mike - PM Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:17 AM looking for an aerial view of smoke..no images found yet just this: http://www.vancouversun.com/news From: open mike - PM Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:33 AM here are fires in north west terrirtories here is what i was looking for http://www.vector1media.com/vectorone/?p=6080 http://bcwildfire.ca/Situation/ .................. The last link didn't work at all. There might be a number missing after the p? The two before that went to the same place as the one above them. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:40 PM We woke to clear skies today! We're very grateful. It clouded over partway through the day and has been raining, but the air smells of rain, not smoke. We were able to use the furnace this morning to take the chill off the house. I'm hoping that with the cold temperatures and rain, the fires will get smaller. Rapaire, I hope that the Idaho fires will be contained soon, too. Such a waste. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Ebbie Date: 24 Aug 10 - 01:36 AM The one good thing about a big burn is the fresh, tender new growth that springs up so quickly. It's great for grazers of all kinds. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 24 Aug 10 - 04:41 AM good news, rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: sapper82 Date: 24 Aug 10 - 01:29 PM Fires used to be a lot more frequent before forests became managed resources. As a result there is a lot more "brash" on the forest floor that, when it does catch, causes the fires to become a lot more serious then they would have been in years gone by. |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: katlaughing Date: 25 Aug 10 - 12:25 AM Glad to hear that, rags. May it stay calm, wet, and cool.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: ragdall Date: 25 Aug 10 - 02:06 AM It rained almost all day here today. I've never been so happy to see so much rain. After being very quiet for over a week, my yard was alive with birds again. It was wonderful! rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: British Columbia is burning From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Aug 10 - 03:28 AM did you have your camera with you now that life is back to normal? |
