Fort Mac

88,000 people evacuated ... immense job assisting all of them. Stories of folks that have escaped harm by minutes. Wildfires are so bad in so many ways... potential loss of life & property, damage to atmosphere, loss of $$ from woodland operations.

Saw that on the news today. Looks awful. Hope for the best.

Wow, that is crazy!

Manitoba can't send bombers as their fire season has already started. Ontario sending 100 wildland fire fighters but we have already had fires in our area ... very dry with little snow this winter and no amount of rain yet.

PS. Early evacuation centres are being evacuated as the winds have shifted driving fire south

What's left of Beacon Hill, Fort Mac ...
http://www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=2688141415

Found 2 interesting articles on the fires.

This article from Wired explains why the fire is so hard to control.

http://www.wired.com/2016/05/insane-challenges-fighting-albertas-inferno/

And this one says the tree species are "hard wired for fire". Something I didn't know.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/News/11896164/story.html

I know there are some pine that need fire to dry out cones so they split to seed...

Article didn't touch on the fact that when it gets that big, fire will generate its own wind. New fact for me, apparently also generates its own lightning too.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-creates-its-own-lightning-1.3568325

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/...ters-saving-houses-in-fort-mcmurray-1.3568037
30 hours non-stop ... portions of the community saved including the hospital, most of the airport (lost their airport fire dept) and water treatment plant from what I've seen.

Too large for water bombers. Currently getting smoke at my place from the Manitoba/Ontario Westhawk Lake fire. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...n-manitoba-forces-evacuation-ingolf-1.3569498

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-forest-fires-ontario-1.3569916

begreen said:

Heard today that firefighters are saying that they will not be able to put out this fire with air tankers.

Click to expand...

Help from additional water bombers will be missed, but they're not a panacea. They seldom put out a fire if it's bigger than a few dozen acres. Like most wildfire fighting efforts, they can help direct the fire around a home, slow it down as it approaches a containment line so it doesn't jump the line, or mop up isolated hot spots to keep them from reigniting. Fighting a large fire almost always depends on well-planned, laborious containment and help from the weather.

vinny11950 said:

And this one says the tree species are "hard wired for fire". Something I didn't know.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/News/11896164/story.html

Click to expand...

I recall that being discussed with regards to lodgepole pine during the big Yellowstone fire in 1988. Not only have weather conditions been favorable to fires this past year, but in some species, fires killing off an area and clearing it for a new generation is part of the normal generational succession - a process called serotiny.

View from my deck this afternoon, approximately 400 km from a 13000 hectare fire Nopoming Park/Woodland Caribou Park on the Manitoba/Ontario border with smoke being pushed by a northwest wind... the normal view on the right.

I certainly hope lessons are learned from this. I read an article that the town of Whistler BC has already begun implementing a fire control/barrier program. Weather patterns are certainly changing! We are 2-3 weeks ahead from any spring season in terms of snow melt, etc.

Andrew