Wildfire Branch Hoping for More Rain
Prince George, B.C. – In spite of the cool wet weather of the past week, it didn’t take long for the fire danger rating to inch back up to extreme in some areas of the Province.
In The Prince George Fire Centre, some areas, particularly in the north east, which had been listed as ‘high’ on the danger rating Friday, are now into the ‘extreme’ red zone says Fire Information Officer Jillian Kelsh “We do still have a large fire danger rating out there and it will take a substantial amount of rain to bring that down, we’re hoping we get that rain this week, so it’s a matter of wait and see what we get out of the rain coming.”
There were two new human caused fires reported to the Wildfire Management Branch yesterday, both in the Fort St. John area. “One was industry related and the industry reported it to us so we could go out and take a look and make sure everything was under control, and we did that, and it’s still in the hands of the industry. The other one was on private land and it was started due to haying practices, but again the private public took care of it, they just reported it to us so we knew, but it’s out now.”
The two minor fires were among 6 new fires in the Province reported to the BC Wildfire Branch yesterday. Three of the 6 were caused by lightning in the Southeast. One of the human caused fires was reported in the Southeast as well, with the other two being the minor fires noted above in the Prince George fire Centre.
The Puntzi Lake fire near Williams Lake remains 40% contained, but crews have seen increased fire activity on that fire and expect to see more aggressive fire behaviour today due to high temperatures and strong winds. The updated size of the fire is now estimated at 8,102 hectares. The size has changed due to the successful burn-out operations from the last few days and to a more accurate mapping of the perimeter.
Comments
“One was industry related and the industry reported it to us so we could go out and take a look and make sure everything was under control, and we did that, and it’s still in the hands of the industry.”
Interesting… in the last 250 news submission by MLA Mike Morris, he stated forest fires being caused by two sources, human caused and lightening caused. How much of the human caused fires were from industry? Why are industry fines not being looked at for increase?
Yeah… AND they were blaming butts…
Nice to see that both “industry” and the “private public” were both responsible, taking immediate action to mitigate any damage that was caused and to prevent further damage! Looks like both parties were also responsible enough to report the incidents to Fire Control!
In spite of all of the criticism that seems to be directed at industry and business in general, it would seem that responsible business practices do exist! But of course, we already know that, even if we don’t want to admit it! Looks like ethical people might actually exist, in all walks of life! Except maybe for smokers who drop their butts on the ground, or toss them out the window, walking or driving away without looking back to see if they have started a fire!
“The power line sector is at fault for nearly half of all industry-caused large wildfires. Wind is routinely the co-conspirator, felling trees that snap active cables. The oil and gas industry has caused a handful, including one that started with a vehicle near Shell’s Albian oil sands mine and damaged an area equal to six Toronto Zoos.”
www. macleans.ca/news/canada/whats-behind-western-canadas-forest-fire-outbreak/
Wow, I had no idea BC Hydro was responsible for such a large amount of industry related forest fires, but I guess we can’t have government fining itself, now can we Mr.Morris?
Sophie, your post is a just a tad misleading! Not onece, I repeat NOT ONCE was BC Hydro mentioned in the Macleans article.
You seem to have a “mad on” for BC Hydro! Perhaps this is why you would choose to copy and paste only a couple of lines from the article. Was this yet another of your feeble attempts to appear more knowledgeable than the rest of us? If it was, then I’m sorry to tell you that you have failed!
You’re all about the “facts and truths”, right? So, let’s look at some more quotes from the article so that we can get a better picture of the “facts and truths” in the article!
And let’s not forget that NOWHERE in the article was BC Hydro mentioned!
Here’s some of what was in the article:
“While a helicopter and ground crews fought these new outbreaks in matchstick-dry northern Saskatchewan, the government announced their likely root: arson, all six of them.
Most of the fires have been caused by lightning, nature’s way of regenerating forests. But we help out nature a lot.
Many of the worst blazes in recent history can be blamed on either human menace or carelessness.
The Alberta government keeps and publishes astonishingly detailed data on wildfires This huge database shows that in the last decade, human causes were behind 43 per cent of all large wildfires—those that charred more than four hectares (roughly the size of four major-league baseball fields).
There were 1,039 of these large fires in Alberta between 2005 and 2014. The majority caused by lightning are easier to identify or predict, between advanced weather-tracking systems and investigators who find lightning-scarred trees at a fire’s epicentre, says Alberta wildfire investigator Theo Bailey.
For the hundreds of human-caused large blazes, investigators use first responders’ photos, burn-pattern analysis and detective-style witness interviews.
Fifty-one of the last decade’s large fires were labelled arson.
Campers have caused, on average, 300 wildfires yearly in Alberta, but the vast majority damage only a few square metres.
Far more large fires are caused by all-terrain vehicle users. Muddy clumps of moss or grass get stuck around exhaust pipes and ignite, leaving investigators to follow a trail or tire treads to the origin point.
The power line sector is at fault for nearly half of all industry-caused large wildfires. Wind is routinely the co-conspirator, felling trees that snap active cables. The oil and gas industry has caused a handful, including one that started with a vehicle near Shell’s Albian oil sands mine and damaged an area equal to six Toronto Zoos.
Sometimes, wildfire management means prescribed burns to limit the risk of wildfire. Sometimes, this preventive medicine goes down the wrong way. On the eastern slopes of Banff National Park in 2009, a prescribed burn that got out of control took 25 days to contain, and scorched 720 hectares.
Many accidents of this type, too, start at home. Residential owners often cause large fires when they clear brush into a large pile in a corner of their property, torch it, but don’t fully extinguish it later.
Nine of the large wildfires were caused by children. The biggest began as an abandoned fire in May 2005, and burned 27 hectares at Little Red River Cree Nation.
So Sophie, it would appear that the majority of fires are caused by lighting. Of the remaining MINORITY of fires, there are numerous other causes and it would appear that fires caused by industry in general would only be a portion of the MINORITY. So, the power line sector is responsible for nearly half of a small portion of human caused fires, and human caused fires are far less likely than lightning caused fires!
Sophie, picking and choosing a few lines to make BC Hydro appear far more responsible than they are is not what I would call revealing the “facts and truths”!!
I guess that you really aren’t interested in the “facts and truths”, at least not where you can ignore all of the “facts and truths” and make up a few of your own!
I repeat, BC Hydro was not mentioned in the article, NOT ONCE!
For those of you who didn’t bother to read my previous lengthy post, let me summarize it for you!
Sophie posted a quote from a Macleans magazine article, a quote that stated that “The power line sector is at fault for nearly half of all industry-caused large wildfires”.
Sophie then posted that she had no idea BC Hydro was responsible for such a large amount of industry related forest fires!
Sophie provided a link to a Macleans article!
No where in the article, not even once was BC Hydro mentioned!
So much for Sophie’s “facts and truths”!
Once again, another example of Sophie’s credibility going, going, gone!
Ummm… that’s because the title of the Macleans article is “Whats behind “Western Canada’s”forest fire outbreak”. The article contents is about Western Canada, which also includes BC, when the article states that the power line sector is responsible for half of Western Canada’s industry fires, it applies to BC Hydro, Alberta’s Power Company, Manitoba’s and Saskatchewan’s Public Power Supply Companies.
I think perhaps more fires are attributable BC Hydro than the other prairie provinces because we have more tree than they do, that could come in contact with power lines and start fires. Think about it; how many trees do you see on a drive from say Edmonton to Calgary? It about logical and deductive thinking skills HG.
SS is a proven liar and extremely boring and predictable. Time to move on troll
“we have more tree than they do”
Haha! I got a laugh out of that one! We have more tree than they do!!
Sophie, you’ve been especially ridiculous this evening!
Tell us, Oh Great Sophie, Master of the Google Search, if lighting causes the majority of fires, and if man causes the majority of the remaining minority of fires by arson, ATV’s, accidents, etc, just what very small percentage was caused by Industry?
And of that very small percentage caused by Industry, what even smaller percentage was caused by the power line sector?
And of that extremely small percentage that was caused by the power line sector, how many were caused by BC Hydro power lines?
Sophie, you put forth a statement tonight to try to make BC Hydro look like a villain! That’s what you do! You failed!!
How does it feel to have a Conservative point out how ridiculous you are? I hope it makes you throw up a little in your mouth tonight, haha!
Cheers!
This is my last comment on here for a few days. If others can put forward constructive complaints about my comments, and I accept those complaints and will try and accommodate them accordingly, can I not make a legitimate and valid complaint against Hart Guy? This man is literally obsessed with me, he constantly follows me around on this site attacking me personally. I try to ignore him, but cyber stalking is cyber stalking and this is what this person is doing to me.
I make comments on other news sites and even have people that click the option to “follow me”, because they are interested in what I have to say at a national level. But this is not what is happening here.
Hart Guy is a good example of why I need to protect my identity online through the use of an anonymous moniker and the use of proxy sites. It would be extremely unnerving to have someone as obsessed as Hart Guy stalking me in real life, as he does in a cyber manner on this site!
Aw, that is so sad. So for the next few days SS will only post under her alias’s…..Ataloss and PG 101. What a relief.
Wait, what? Don’t assign SS’s lunatic ramblings under my username.
If you two kids don’t stop bickering, we’re turning the car around and heading home!
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