Good morning, Jasse.
Smells more of ash ... though to my lousy "smeller", it's hard to tell the
difference.
The air is filled with smoke, again, today, as there are logs, stumps and more
serious "hot spots" smouldering and likely will be until the snow flies, in
November.
I say November, as that is when we usually start to get an occasional snowfall
... and it starts to stay around the end of the month. Right now, we should
have daily high temperatures in the upper 20's to low 30's, with overnight lows
around 10 Celsius. This morning it is 3, at 7am. Yesterday, at this time it
was just 1 Celsius (34 Fahrenheit for those in the US) and only rose to 23 in
the heat of the day.
While this is good for the fire-fighting crews, it's not exactly summer
weather, either. So, we'll see what the fall brings.
Behind the TV station are 25km of cross-country ski trails. There is a large,
brown water tanker truck (brought in from Clinton) that shuttles between the
ski-trails and the lake, 12 hours a day, delivering water to crews battling hot
spots. That's all the driver has done, for over a week. And when that job is
done, they'll all move on to the next spot.
As for "clickbait", our old, blind cat was minded by Madison ... a lovely gal.
At just 19, she is already a 4 year veteran as a volunteer firefighter, and was
on the front lines of the fight. She told us that the fire came through town
as a Rank 6 fire, (Rank 6 being "a blow up or conflagration; extreme and
aggressive fire behaviour") which is the most active of all fires. (She also
told us that 5 years ago, the scale only went to 5, but with climate change has
come a new class of fires.) During the Saturday night of the battle, fire
fighters were actively considering pulling out, giving themselves only a 40%
chance of winning the fight. Had they been forced to do so, most of the 1157
homes would have been lost.
Madison said that had a pull-out been necessary, she'd have scooped the cat on
the way out of town. Most of her days were 18 hour shifts, with one at 21
hours.
The fire has burned past us, but it is still classed as "out of control" and if
the winds change, it could double back on us. As a result, we are still on
"evacuation alert", and must be ready to leave on a moment's notice. I suspect
that status will remain until the snow flies again, too.
Thanks for your concern.
David.
Dear David
So glad to hear you are ok.
Thank you for posting these pics. It is amazing to hear your town
is ok. The media seemingly only reports news that is clickbait
worthy so they only show devastation of towns.
Hoping the charcoal smell dies down. (Actually. Does it smell like
that? I'm here in Okotoks and the smoke smelled like ash).
Jasse
On Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 6:08 PM David Young <dsy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
We arrived home, last Saturday night, to find our house intact,Sunday morning, I went to the TV station to try to set things
though inside it reeked of smoke. Now, some 3 days later, after
much airing out, it's becoming tolerable and we are told the
smell will fade, with time.
right. What I found was a place covered in fire retardant, from an
air drop.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51400545286/in/dateposted-
public/
I am given to understand that after a few days it begins to harden
and becomes almost impossible to clean off. [sigh]
My work done, in the afternoon I went out to the rifle range and
took a walk in, sticking to the road, as it is unwise to walk on
the burned ground. Ash-pits form and if you step on one, the solid-
looking earth can collapse and you fall in. Rather like quick-
sand, but a LOT warmer!
Where their road meets the highway, there is a very polite sign.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51399805367/in/dateposted-
public/
Not far in... a log, still burning 8 days after the fire roared
through.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51400551681/in/dateposted-
public/
A bit further still, a stump. No tree, that's gone. But the stump
is still aflame.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51400811313/in/dateposted-
public/
In a bit further was a much less than polite sign. (If you are
easily offended, skip this one.)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51400551561/in/dateposted-
public/
At this point, I decided to obey the less-than-polite sign. But not
before a shot, down the road.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51401313954/in/dateposted-
public/
More devastation.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51401533315/in/dateposted-
public/
and finally, a 4 panel pano, showing the aftermath of the fire.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155735425@N05/51401313854/in/dateposted-
public/
I think what struck me the most, was the capricious nature of a
fire... some areas are completely burned, in others, the underbrush
has burned but the trees mostly survive, while yet others survive
untouched, surrounded by huge swaths of charred woodlands.
The good bit is that not only did our little town survived where
many others have not (that's a story in itself - one which I may
tell, here, later) but you can only see the destruction in the two
kilometers nearest down, on either side... where the fire met the
road. Otherwise, the town looks exactly as it did before.
Still, I would not wish a wildfire on anyone.
Comments, criticism welcomed, as always.
David.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus
software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
------
Unsubscribe or change to/from Digest Mode at:
http://lrflex.furnfeather.ca/
Archives are at:
//www.freelists.org/archives/leicareflex/
