Lightning Sparked 115 New Fires Yesterday
Prince George, B.C.- The thunderstorms that rolled across the province yesterday are being blamed for causing most of the 115 new fires that were sparked yesterday.
There are 259 wildfires burning in the province today, 22 of them new today. “Certainly an increase from what we’ve been seeing in days past” says Chief Information Officer for the BC Wildfire Branch, Kevin Skrepnek. “Significant lightning activity in parts of B.C. Sunday night and over Monday, so it’s been definitely the big driver in activity right now and we’ve seen an increase in the number of active fires as a result.”
He says the new fires today are “”Either from recent lightning strikes or the fires flared up from a recent lightning strike because of a shifting in the wind.”
Skrepnek says the initial attacks on many of the new fires were successful, but there are a number of new major incidents as a result of the high level of starts and high winds. Most of the major incidents are in the Kamloops Fire Centre region. There are 17 fires of note in the Province, 9 of them have evacuation orders or alerts in place.
Yesterday alone, fire fighting efforts cost about $3.5 million dollars, with the total for this season now hitting $136 million. That compares to $76 million spent over the same period last year.
Skrepnek says many of the personnel from Ontario will be heading home soon and fresh firefighters will be brought in, likely from Ontario.
Comments
Wow, 115 wildfires started by lightning yesterday, any idea how many wildfires were caused by humans yesterday Mr. Morris? Too bad we can’t fine lightning, maybe we should be going after the fossil fuel industry whose products are causing these warmer temperatures and increase in wildfires?
With your mentality then we should all be fined as we use these fossil fuels..if there was no demand then there would be no drilling etc.. So it’s your fault Sophic :-). Mine too..guess what..now they will look at this and tax us more..hehehe
The precedent has already been set with the Tobacco Industry. Individuals with lung cancer took the Tobacco Companies to court for damages and won. Google all the court cases if you want.
Did you know the Netherlands Government was successfully sued by 900 civilians and order to cut carbon emissions by the court?
http: //tinyurl.com/oxvz52h
There are numerous other cases where youth and citizens have taken their governments to court over climate change inaction and won. Guess we will have to wait until after the next election and have this done to the Harper Government if they get elected, which is highly unlikely.
Government can, and should take the fossil fuel companies to court to recoup the extra costs associated with mitigating climate change.
Hey Sophie, Prove to the rest of us that you live your life without the use or the influence of any fossil fuels and maybe we will start to take your endless preaching on the subject of fossil fuels seriously…in the meantime I would suspect that I am not the only one that frequents this site that is getting sick and tired of you hijacking every thread with your never ending whining about Harper, Clark, and Fossil Fuels! In this case you managed the trifecta…talk about TROLLS!
I don’t have to prove anything to you or anyone else on here. Try typing and submitting a comment that advances a discussion rather than attacking other posters on this site, I am getting sick and tired of your and hart guy’s constant whining, bellyaching, and complaining.
Don’t like my comments, don’t read them, then you won’t have a reason to whine at me and everyone else. I hardly read any of Hart Guys comments, I just ignore them, and I have only complained about his comments just once. So why don’t you do the rest of us a favour and zip it.
P Val and Nytehawk, Sophie disappeared a few days ago! It appears that she did not like that I took her to task over something she posted.
In my opinion, her post only contained information that would support her side of the story when in fact the story contained far more information. She suggested that BC Hydro was or might be responsible for causing forest fires, when in fact BC Hydro was NEVER, not even once mentioned in the story!
I just presented the “facts and truth” which seemed to be different from the “facts and truths” that she posted!
You will also note that my post is not directed to Sophie! Wouldn’t want to get accused of stalking her, even though she just brought up my name twice in her last post!
She’s back! Maybe she missed me!!
“Tree Falling on Power Line Causes Fire
Determinations under the WA often involve significantly larger amounts of money than determinations under FRPA because they include orders to pay for damage to resources and costs of fire suppression. In one case, a dead tree on Crown land fell on a power line supplying electricity to a mobile phone mast. The power line fell to the ground, still carrying electricity. This ignited decaying leaves and vegetation on the forest floor, resulting in a wildfire that burned over 380 hectares.
4 FPB/SR/45 Forest Practices Board
A fire centre manager concluded that the company that operated the power line had contravened the WA. Anyone who carries out a utility transmission operation—which includes a radio, microwave or telephone service—must maintain equipment apparatus and materials in a manner that, “reduces the likelihood of producing an ignition source capable of starting a fire on or adjacent to the site.” The fire centre manager ordered the company to pay $1.3 million in fire suppression costs plus $870,000 for damage to Crown timber. The contravention finding was appealed to the Forest Appeals Commission, which upheld the decision of the fire centre manager. A subsequent appeal to the BC Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Commission.”
www .bcfpb.ca/sites/default/files/reports/SR45%20%20Penalty%20Determinations.pdf
This applies to Telus Mobility Inc. who was the company involved in this incident, but I do not know whether BC Hydro is required to pay for any forest fires caused by trees coming into contact with its power line… my guess is probably not.
Never fails, when man made global warming can be added to the story, it will be. The biggest reason for so many fire starts are the pine beetle, with so much dead ,dry wood in the bush, it is a lot more likely to start a fire, without the dead wood it would not create as much heat to dry out the green plants to keep the fire burning. A few days without rain and it is ready to burn again, some areas have all the trees down and are going to be a lightning fire hazard for a few years
Sage you have never answered the question on your made up electric car. Reduces your credibility.
So you deny climate change then?
Sage! you are a real piece of work!
Read the Head line for the story!
By the way, Thought you were signing out for a few days! Couldn’t wait to comment with more useless links to support your one sided comments.
Huh, I guess we are both correct bc bob. This expert is quoted as saying; “Now, driven by climate change and fuelled by a stockpile of debris, the forests of B.C. are headed for another period of frequent fires.”
I believe this UBC Professor was referring to mountain pine beetle kill as the stockpile of debris. Another quote from Natural Resources Canada states;
“But this time around they (forest fires) will be more intense and the fire season will be two months longer, according to one Natural Resources Canada study that looked at the impact of climate change on forests.”
www. theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/forest-fires-climate-changes-new-normal/article19793117/
Look at the date of the article, that was made just last year, and what did we have, a forest fire season that started one month earlier this year and will likely end one month later.
Don’t attack the messenger, address your hate mail to UBC and Natural Resources Canada, and NOAA, NASA, etc… damn scientists think they know about this stuff than we do… right?
ohreslly, I thought that Sophie was going to do us all a favour by disappearing for more than just a day or two, but I think she likes and misses me! ;-). Sorry!
Oops ohreslly should read ohreally! Darn small cellphone keypads!
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