As you know, Bob ...

... British Columbia is burning.

I wish to confirm that I am safe, and that I have not been in any danger whatsoever.

But that doesn't mean I'm not living in interesting times.

This shows everything everywhere all at once, in BC:
https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map

but I must say that navigating that is a pain in the tush.

This is something that can show the whole world:
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:24hrs;_100,40.0,4.0z

(Huh. I swear I used that to view other parts of the world than just North America, but it doesn't seem to allow that today, so sorry about that. What is does show is that all of Canada is burning. Argh.)

It is based on satellite data, which is updated usually not more than twice a day. It is also based on infrared, which means that hot smoke shows as well as actual flames and smoldering fuel.

The most accurate evacuation order/alert information about the fire closest to me is this:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a5a71009863947d3b1c77792afefe1a5?fbclid=IwAR2Ev-97Eu2THqmY7aAfyS7Uw-F3169jsbHOHVTo72aDozhqqAwxd_eX5RE

Climate Change and Canada Burning.

I've been anxious about climate change for a long time, but just like everyone else, I thought we had more time to organize our response. I also thought, in a slightly joking way, that as the climate warmed, Canadians could just move North to the cooler parts of our usually frozen country. I thought it was unfortunate that trees and stuff couldn't move fast enough to get to the cooler areas, but I certainly thought the cooler areas would be there.

Hah.

As I showed in the previous entry:
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:2023-08-21..2023-08-22,2023-08-21;[Bad username or site: -83 @ 1],42.8,4.0z
all of Canada is burning. We are rapidly reaching a state where the evacuees have no place to evacuate to.

This past week we experienced some of the drama of the fires. Truly, we have been safe the whole time, but uncertainty has been our companion. We had a close family friend visiting Salmon Arm during the past week. One of the plans was to travel down ("down" map) to Penticton to visit another friend and then put our visitor on the plane in Kelowna on Sunday.

Well. First of all, the night before we were to leave, the McDougal fire to the west of Kelowna and Westbank (now called West Kelowna in a brilliantly original name change), went absolutely ballistic. It travelled up and over the mountain eastward to the homes along the lake, and then embers blew eastward across the lake to the hills westward of Winfield (now brilliantly known as Lake Country), then the new fire travelled up and over the hill towards the Kelowna airport (just past Rutland). This all happened between the evening of Thursday and the morning of Friday. The airport was closed, and the road was restricted to local traffic only.

We cancelled our trip to Penticton, and our visitor changed his flight to leave out of Kamloops ("up" map) on Sunday. Then between Friday morning and Friday night, the Adam's Lake fire went ballistic. Two fires merged near the mouth of the Adams river and then raced eastward along the shore of Shuswap Lake, and at the same time raced southward through Squilax and jumped across the lake to Sorrento, raced southward up the hill towards Notch Hill, and then jumped from peak to peak to Black Mountain and started down the hill eastwards towards Tappen. The Fire Service said the fire travelled 20 kilometers in 12 hours.

This caused the TransCanada Highway ("Number One") to be closed to all traffic at Sorrento, which meant that the regular route to Kamloops was not available. Considering that things were changing by the minute, Mom and our visitor left Saturday morning to travel by the Falkland route to Kamloops (through Silver Creek and other back roads - an extra hour to two hours). Mom said the road was packed. They spent the night in Kamloops and our visitor made his flight on Sunday morning. We have since had confirmation that he made it home. *whew*

Both fires have continued to be held at these locations, but we certainly couldn't know that they would be while everything was so fluid.

During all this the smoke has been hostile.

Sunday/Monday the remnants of Hurricane Hillary made it up here, but it was mostly lightning and very little rain. It has really been the smoke that has shielded us from the heat of the sun, which makes the temperatures better for fire fighting, but worse for visibility, so no water bombing. We have several new fires from lightning strikes.

The value of good PR and photogenic taking heads

During all the hooha of the Kelowna and Shuswap fires there has been a good example of how having regular updates from a personable figure sooths the freaked-out public.

The Kelowna fire (McDougal Lake) is across several jurisdictions: Kelowna, West Kelowna, and Lake Country, and this group of communities is often working on common projects. A lot of people were evacuated quickly, and there are a lot of people looking for information. The Kelowna area has held regular press conferences, and they have centered their presentation around the fire chief out of West Kelowna, probably because his jurisdiction was hit first and hit hardest, but really because he had a very good on-screen presence. Here is an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscFbthwTDo

There don't seem to have been the stories of unrest from the public in the Kelowna area. In the Shuswap, however, a lot of disruptive behaviour has occurred. An example is that there is a particular bridge, The Scotch Creek Bridge, which is crucial as the only way out, and vulnerable because mostly wooden. The pumps and sprinklers keeping it safe have had to be set up three times because people keep "liberating" the equipment. I think it is because the fire moved so fast across jurisdictions that normally don't need to behave in a concerted manner that the act of getting soothing information out to the public lagged (quite seriously), and then the spokespeople were uncomfortable and off-putting. I can't find the example I was looking for (apparently no one found his presentation worthy of a clip on youtube), but here is a less egregious example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhmrdTzRwL8

The lack of information and the "don't question the experts" attitude seems to have left a lot of rural people feeling abandoned. Several people have appeared on TV asking "where is everyone?" There has been video of a lot of houses burnt to the ground. Thus there has been a huge DIY movement for the Shuswap fire with people sending over supplies to areas that are not under order/alert but are cut-off because the road they need is in a no-go zone. The DIYers are meeting resistance from police, and things are getting very ... er ... very.

An additional impetus for DIY is Lytton. The place burned to the ground two years ago, and rebuilding has not started. In fact, getting approval for insurance and/or grant assistance is still in process. AND THEN there was the recent example of Enterprise (a town) near Yellowknife. Evacuated and "allowed" to burn to the ground, except for some DIYers who broke into the fire hall, found the keys, and used the trucks to save their own house and some of their neighbours' houses.

Maybe the difference is rural and urban. Urban areas seem to get more help (bigger tax base, so makes sense), and rural areas are pushed down the list of priorities because fewer people. It makes fiscal sense, but it does mean that rural people feel that the penalties for disobedience are not as bad as the benefits of trusting.

Well. This didn't go where I expected. This is why I HATE writing essay outlines. I have no idea what my paper is going to be about until I write it. I usually need to go back and recast my thesis statement and whatnot. I ain't gonna do that this time because I still think that some of the compliance experienced by the Kelowna area has to do with having regular communication from someone who takes the time to make things personal by telling us that one of his fire fighters missed his becoming a Canadian Citizen ceremony in order to stay in the fight, so they brought the ceremony to the fire fighter by zoom. Warms your heart, doesn't it? That pleasant approval rubs off on the person who brought you that story, and permeates the rest of the message they are sharing. Shuswap could take a page.

One last thing

I haven't unpacked my suitcase for my trip to Penticton.

One less thing to worry about while I consider ways to stuff two outdoor enthusiasts into boxes and bring food and litter for them. Gotta catch'em all. (Hoo boy - Maggie is *not* going to come willingly.)