Wildfires

[Lewis]

Canadian Wildfires 

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-track-its-worst-ever-wildfire-season-2023-06-05/

https://www.nilu.com/2023/06/smoke-from-forest-fires-in-canada-reaches-norway/

 

Canada with 413 wildfires and 249 out of control, smoke is reaching the US and now in Europe (Norway)

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65828469

Worst Air quality in years

 

 

[Tortuga]

I heard it it burned 13,000 square miles. The US has several states that aren't that big.

[BLEmom]

Has anyone been experiencing any skin reactions to the air quality from the smoke?  For about the past month and a half I’ve had a very new symptom. The skin on my neck gets red and inflamed like eczema. One time it made my entire face react and my eyelids were puffed and oozing. I had to get a steroid shot and am now regularly on allergy meds and benedryl when needed. 
I am trying to narrow down the reason but it seems to occur when I am outside. The Dr seems to think I am being exposed to something on my skin. 
I did read some info that wildfire smoke can cause flare ups of skin reactions. 
Anyone else experiencing this?

[Lewis]

So far 3% of forests in Canada has burned this year, thats around 11M hectares, thats up about 750,000 ha in a day.

 

[Pabo]

Thus far, it is the middle of winter here in Australia, and as the frost has killed the top layers of grass, they are very dry and brown and ripe for burning.

 

Sunday week ago (9th), my brother-in-laws paddock across the road from us had a fire started from a power line arc'd against another line in a very windy day. There were 5 water trucks from the RFS (Rural Fire Service) that came and was able to snuffed the fire out. My brother-in-law and his son and grandson were going about with their tractors with their grader attachment creating firebreaks, and he had lost about 2Ha of grass for his cattle.

 

Then last Friday there was another fire down the road from us (about 1km) which was started perhaps by someone slashing their lawn and a spark ignited from the slasher blades, also it was a very windy day. It burnt out about an acre of their land, and the RFS was there to mop it up very quickly, but luckily the neighbours lawn was still green and wasn't burnt with the frost due the trees offering the lawn the protection.

 

Then last Saturday, there was another fire on the road behind our property caused probably by someone too slashing their property. The wind too was up, but not as bad as the days of the previous fires, but the local RFS station was only just down the road from them, and they had to call for backup and several trucks passed our place.

 

So we have had 3 fires within one week, and there is plenty of fuel on the ground to burn too.

 

The last "big" fire that took out a significant area around our area was back in '65, and we haven't had anything big since. The only fire since then was also caused by a powerline dropping onto a powerline in very extremely high wind and 49C (120F) day in summer was back in mid Feb-17 on a power pole directly across the road from our driveway. As I was already outside moving our hoses in readiness for any possible fire, when it happened, we and a couple of neighbors were able to have the fire completely under control before the RFB showed up (about 7 minutes after it had started). It had burnt out about 2 acres in that very short period of time and we had over 150m of 1 inch hose crossing the road leading into my brother-in-laws paddock extiguishing this fire. Meanwhile about 150-200km away from us, there was a huge fire now known as Sir Ivan Fire that consumed 55,000 hectares of land was in full rage by this time, and we were just covered in smoke haze. Most of the RFS were on high alert and were gathered at the local SES area, thus there were at our place in such a short amount of time.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Pabo

[Lewis]

Wildfire close to home

 

BC Government has declared province wide state of emergency today over the Kelowna fires that keeps growing and intensifying. It is very dry in BC and everything is like a tinderbox, we are in a strict water restriction use right now due to the extreme drought that BC is in. BC Premier revealed that there is a “rapid deterioration” of the wildfire situation in the course of Friday afternoon in Kelowna.

 

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-government-declares-province-wide-state-of-emergency-over-wildfire-situation-1.6525869

https://www.cordemergency.ca/map

 

The town of Lytton that suffered extreme record heat and also almost had the entire town burned down from a wildfire back in June 2021 is on evacuation alert today along with a couple other towns that are affected by a wildfire in the Kookipi creek.

 

https://cfjctoday.com/2023/08/18/village-of-lytton-on-evacuation-alert-tnrd-expands-evacuation-order-due-to-kookipi-creek-wildfire/

 

Lake Okanagan resort was destroyed today

 

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/bc-wildfires-2023-blog

 

Kelowna and Kamloops are under evacuation alerts in some parts as this wildfire is rampant and out of control, tonight suppose to be really bad as it was warned. The wildfire is so powerful that it jumped a 3km wide lake and crossed over to the other side and burning. Today, the wind was very strong and even in Vancouver where I live I noticed it was really windy and I was surprised because it never gets really windy like this during the day.

[hatcheckgirl]

Please stay safe, all who are in the danger areas 💕 We are praying for the best outcome and of course Jehovah’s support. 

[Miss Bea]

We thought we’d escape the fires this year. Nope. So far for us, the closest fire is some 10 miles away. Then in the other direction. About 20 miles away. Lightening storms.

Weve had some bad ones in the past. The Megram fire comes to mind. We were doing a quick build . The week-end sort of quick build. 
The smoke was bad, and I petty well ignored protecting myself. 
(With all our training we have had, now it wouldn’t happen) 

Anyway, I got sick from the smoke, and went to the doctor. I was given the mandatory Z-PAC, and sent on my way. A case of pneumonia. The Z-Pac brought it down to bronchitis. If I went out in the evening, I got really sick. I remember being on a Bible study with a friend, and someone in the household burned something she was cooking. I could hardly breathe because of the tiny bit of smoke. That was in the daytime.
I was in my early 70’s, and figured this was the summer time, and I was really sick, and could not get over what I had. I’d feel okay, then if my breathing was disturbed, ( or breathed chi air, I’d have severe coughing fits. Bad ones.
I went back to the doctor. They said no more antibiotics, that it was now up to my system o fight it. I honestly felt I’d get pneumonia again, and, yes, die. It was summertime and I figured I’d not make it through the coming winter.

Long sorry, short. I talked to the folks at the health food store. They suggested oil of oregano. I got some, (serious powerful stuff) In two days, I got my lungs back, I’m two days, so I wasn’t compromised. 
That smoke is toxic. Forest fires are not as bad as man-made stuff burning, but it was a forest fire that did the damage to me. 
Now, I have that oil of oregano on hand, and I figure if  have to go to a  medical provider, and if I was going to get an antibiotic, out it comes. And I skip the doctor routine.I sort of think the small airways in my lungs suffered so bad I now have, “small airway lung obstruction”.(?) I have had severe coughing fits for years, ut have gotten better as the years go along. Every once in a while... I have an inhaler for those times.
So, bottom line, that smoke is more than an irritation. If you can smell it, you need to protect your lungs. Okay? 

[BLEmom]

13 hours ago, Lewis said:

Wildfire close to home

 

BC Government has declared province wide state of emergency today over the Kelowna fires that keeps growing and intensifying. It is very dry in BC and everything is like a tinderbox, we are in a strict water restriction use right now due to the extreme drought that BC is in. BC Premier revealed that there is a “rapid deterioration” of the wildfire situation in the course of Friday afternoon in Kelowna.

 

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-government-declares-province-wide-state-of-emergency-over-wildfire-situation-1.6525869

https://www.cordemergency.ca/map

 

The town of Lytton that suffered extreme record heat and also almost had the entire town burned down from a wildfire back in June 2021 is on evacuation alert today along with a couple other towns that are affected by a wildfire in the Kookipi creek.

 

https://cfjctoday.com/2023/08/18/village-of-lytton-on-evacuation-alert-tnrd-expands-evacuation-order-due-to-kookipi-creek-wildfire/

 

Lake Okanagan resort was destroyed today

 

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/bc-wildfires-2023-blog

 

Kelowna and Kamloops are under evacuation alerts in some parts as this wildfire is rampant and out of control, tonight suppose to be really bad as it was warned. The wildfire is so powerful that it jumped a 3km wide lake and crossed over to the other side and burning. Today, the wind was very strong and even in Vancouver where I live I noticed it was really windy and I was surprised because it never gets really windy like this during the day.

Watched a live broadcast on YouTube about this yesterday. The whole situation is fast moving and ever changing. One thing they mentioned that I had never even considered was about property prep. Bring in your doormats and anything around the home that could go up easily or easily catch fire. That also helps the firefighters if people prep their property. 

[Lewis]

Wildfires in Greece now.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/greece-wildfires-athens-evacuation-forecast-b2396561.html

 

Greek authorities have warned of an “extreme” wildfire risk around capital Athens as strong winds have renewed burning infernos and prompted evacuations in five northern villages.

The alert was issued for areas around Athens and other parts of southern Greece on Monday as the large summer wildfire, which has already destroyed several homes over the weekend, was feared to have come dangerously close to residential areas.

 

A wildfire, which ignited near the town of Alexandroupolis over the weekend, led to evacuations in eight villages that were emptied on Saturday due to the advancing flames.

[Lewis]

Looking at the outlook for wildfires for Australia between December to March, it’s looking very rough. Australia is entering fire season now earlier than normal.

 

This site shows the bushfire outlook for 2023 spring for Australia.

 

This Australian Bureau of Meteorology site explains how much hotter it will be above normal and dry conditions is worst this year.

If you select either the Maximum temperature or Minimum temperature graph and then go to the Jan-March graph, you will see how hot it is projected to be, well above average.

 

As comparison, this was 2019 fire season outlook, then compare that to the 2023 i linked above, its much worst, and 2019 was a bad fire season.

[Pabo]

When you look at the 2023 bushfire outllok, the areas that are not in red in the eastern side of NSW, that is between the New England Highway and the Pacific Highway, and also between the central caost and that Dubbo,and the SE of NSW and ACT, it was these areas that were mostly burnt out in 2019 bushfire season.

 

[hatcheckgirl]

So everything that wasn’t burnt last time will be this time? 😱

[Pabo]

21 minutes ago, hatcheckgirl said:

So everything that wasn’t burnt last time will be this time? 😱

 

Yes, by the looks.

 

I live in the area that is in red between the sections of grey just north-west of Newcastle. Even though it did come within 50km to the south of us in 2019, but there is still alot of scrub that hasn't been burned to the west, north or east of us.

 

We have had about a dozen smaller minor fires within a couple of kilometres (or miles) around our home since the beginning of August, but we are prepared the best we can just incase it does come ever closer.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Pabo