All Eyes On Forest Fires

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 09:05 AM

file photo of the Dog Creek/Alkali Lake Fire courtesy of Cliff Chapman

Prince George, B.C. - It will be a day of watching and waiting across the entire central portion of the province, to see what the day brings for the fire fire situation...

As mentioned in an earlier story, a low pressure weather system has officials with the B.C. Forest Service anticipating the worst, with gusting winds expected to whip up a frenzy.

B.C. Forest Fire Information issued an evacuation alert via its Facebook page for Nimpo, Charlotte Lake, Tatla, Puntzi and the Redstone Areas. Posts to the page show the concern people in the Cariboo-Chilcotin are feeling. Shani Hance's post questions whether there is financial assistance for Bella Coola residents stranded in Williams Lake. Highway 20 is closed for a 36-kilometre stretch between Anahim Lake and Bella Coola, due to fires.

Air Quality advisories due to smoke are in place in Prince George, Quesnel, Williams Lake, Terrace, Kitimat and the Bulkley Valley and Lakes District. The Fire Centre in Smithers says forecasted gusty winds on several large fires burning south of Houston and Burns Lake are expected to increase smoke significantly over the next few days.

In a release, the Emergency Operations Centre in the area says, "Aggressive fire behaviour on all of the fires in the area will mean that columns of smoke will be visible from a large distance away. These columns are expected to blow eastward starting on Wednesday August 18 causing smoke to blow into communities east of Houston, including Prince George."

For up-to-date information on air quality, click here

Meantime, the B.C. Forest Service has uploaded a four-minute video to youtube, showing footage of fire fighting efforts on the Pelican Complex wildfire, 20-kilometres north of Nazko in the Cariboo, click here for the link.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 09:05 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: Slim2229 on August 18 2010 9:34 AM

I am really hoping government will get their butts in gear and ban the back country for the public, allowing forestry workers to do their incredible jobs.
I think we need this now rather than when its too late and forestry resources are used to find and escort to safety those who feel their rights come first.
Folks its dry as a bleached bone and hot out there. What you gonna do when the wind comes up with a fire and you're caught with your kids out in the bush.
Camping and the bush are great, but lets use a little common sense.

Posted by: cougars fan on August 18 2010 10:25 AM

I agree, people should stay out of the bush right now.

I am surprised at how many campers and boats I have seen on the roads the past few days.

Why would you want to go camping with all this smoke anyhow?

And as mentioned by Slim2229, it would not be good if the fire comes raging towards your campsite. The smoke is so thick they might not even be able to see the new fires that get started when the lightning goes through in the next few days.

This could get very very bad.

Posted by: seamutt on August 18 2010 10:32 AM

Go to you tube and you will see Putin flying a water bomber and making a drop on the fires. Hey Cambell there would be a photo op for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXMsGw_NC6M&feature=channel

Also a RT newsreportersays Russian planes drop 40,000 tons at a time. We need some of them (sarc)

Posted by: DPJ on August 18 2010 10:34 AM

Smoke has gotten worse in last few hours in Prince George. The winds must be begginning to come.

Posted by: pansy on August 18 2010 11:58 AM

How can anyone say they are surprised by the number of campers and boats out there. It depends where the boaters/campers are going.....they may not necessarily be going too far into the bush. Could be going a nice resort at lakes close to towns, could be they are just transporting a boat and alot are just passing thru. You cannot judge anything by the # of campers on the roads.
You can put a ban on going into the bush but who will enforce it!!
Hopefully people will use common sense, I for one am going out, but not too far into the bush - that's for sure!

Posted by: cougars fan on August 18 2010 12:52 PM

I am mostly surprised that anyone would want to camp in this smoke. I dont think it matters how far they are from the highway or city, there is no getting away from it right now - the fires are everywhere, and the weather is going to make them very unpredictable.

Posted by: jakeadoo on August 18 2010 1:13 PM

They generally shut down all logging and any other work activity in the bush during the high to extreme conditions in the bush.They did last summer,and I'm pretty sure they have already this summer,so don't think that if you go out camping in the bush that someone is going to be out their to save your asses.

Posted by: cluculzjogger on August 18 2010 10:31 PM

a BIG THANKYOU to Opinion 250 for keeping us up to date and posting the incredible facebook link.