Fire Visible from Tumbler Ridge
Thursday, August 20, 2015 @ 3:51 AM
Tumbler Ridge, B.C. – A fire burning 30 km west of Tumbler Ridge has the attention of the Prince George Fire Centre.
Fire information officer Jill Kelsh says the five hectare Bullmoose fire is visible from Tumbler Ridge and Highway 29 but due to dangerous terrain and a lack of safe accessibility, is currently considered a modified response fire.
And though it’s expected to grow, she says the fire is not currently threatening any values, including a gas plant two and a half km downhill from the fire.
She says once the fire reaches a point where crews can safely access it, then suppression efforts will be launched.
Comments
So, it’s in the north of the province and doesn’t even rate a helicopter dropping retardant/water buckets??? At 5 hectares that would be my response? If it was in the southern province, I bet it would get more attention!! Just sayin’.
^Your an idiot.^
Only 2 1/2km seems fairly close….it does seem to make sense to hit it while it’s small.
Can get really high winds in the area and its really dry, that fire can move 2 km in one hour with the right wind, better to hit the thing hard and now or be faced with another disaster.
Just another “spin doctor” response to deflect the public from the truth which is this government is prepared to sacrifice jobs in order to save $$. This is no different from what happened at Little Bob tail lake, where they basically ignored the fire at 10 hectares rather than hit it with retardent etc while it was still small. We all know how well that worked, some 20,000 plus hectares. Stop making political decisions on such serious matters.
Obviously none of you negative posters have ever been a forest fire fighter nor know next to nothing about fire suppression.
Many fires in the mountains are allowed to burn without intervention due to many factors of which is it safe to put boots on the ground, can aircraft or helicopters safely reach the fires are there up drafts or down drafts is the terrain viable for aircraft to reach. Then comes into play property and livelihoods the plant is just over a mile away from the fire which is well within safe tolerances as there are several valleys and natural formations in the way that can potentially slow or stop the fire from spreading.
The BC forest service is one of the best fire fighting services in the world as many other countries send people here to learn how to fight fires including the almighty US and they are horrible at forest fire management.
Unless you have been or have knowledge of how forest fires are fought you might want to spend time learning about it before opening your mouths and inserting your overly large feet.
I for one spent 5 years fighting fires and can tell you things have changed regarding remote fires and when you have fire in an area like this with very high and unpredictable winds with dry forests mix of fir, pine spruce you had better pay attention, it can grow from 50 to 5000 hectors in hours and with crowning you can’t get anywhere near.
You are absolutely right WHO DA THUNK. The ministry so screwed up The Little Bobtail fire. Their wait and see attitude cost the province millions of dollars and burnt in excess of 25000 hectares. This in no way is intended to take away or find fault with the firefighters on the ground, but those in charge of making decisions really need to remove their heads from their own backside or pull it out of the backside above them. THIS FIRE WAS CONTAIN ABLE AT 10 HECTARES! !! Talk to the contractors on site.
Well, Dearth, I DO have ‘some perspective’. Dad worked for BC Forests for 20+ years. Things have sure changed from then. It is political now.
We should all know that the “Wildfire Service” doesn’t get much attention from putting out small fires. They want to wait a bit and then go in like a big army, set up a big “Firecamp”, hire contractors with machines and lots of helicopter and planes and put on a big show.
Its all for publicity and political points.
If you put out a small fire and report it to them then they grill you for not telling them first!
They badly want to be in CONTROL.
“Their wait and see attitude cost the province millions of dollars and burnt in excess of 25000 hectares”
************
25000 hectares of mostly clear cut.
Dumb clear cut & 10 to 25 year old plantations.
What happens when the tumbler ridge fire gets into one of the many surface coal seams in the area. A new political experience for our forest service peeps.
Oh DUMBFOUNDED, you’ve definitely earned the first part of your name. They spent millions and millions fighting this fire. There were evacuation orders and alerts for weeks. There was millions of dollars lost in provincial, private and corporate timber. It was not mostly clear cuts.
When the smokes clear, the taxpayers should demand a public investigation into the The Little Bobtail fire.
Dearth, thanks for telling it like it is. Always nice to learn from experience.
really4sure, you maybe want to take up the english language and learn the meaning of compound words. Do you see anywhere in my comment denying the costs to the taxpayer? Check out google earth and see the extent of the clear cuts where this fire burned. Douche!
Original reports indicated it was 30 km west of TR. I took a Google Earth look at the area yesterday. 30km west of TR is almost smack dab in the middle of the old Bullmoose Mines workings. If it’s in the Bullmoose area and still visible from TR it’s likely in high alpine scrub timber.
Good job DUMBFOUNDED, you capitalized on the issue of concern, the use of the English language. Way to go. In 2010 the Binta fire went from 7000 to 35000 hectares in 12 hours. These fires can move extremely fast and are definitely unpredictable. Why not deal with it before it is another financial drain. That’s all :-)
I wonder how good coal burns?
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