Canada wild Fire

[warren]

We have on-site septic and (up gradiant) a shallow, spring-fed well.

I'm in the same boat.

It's always interesting to see how different parts of the country handle situations which we have exercise control over. Well, unless it's remediating conditions which lead to wildfires. As a country we, the US, do little of that. Then we encourage the homeless to camp out in neighborhoods and areas which are tinder dry. And, the expected result generates in a flurry of expensive fire suppression followed by a lot of hand wringing by the officials charged with the safety of humans.

Interesting to note, wildfires in the Russian Far East are largely caused by broken bottles focusing the sun into the tinder. The highway from Magadan to the airport in summer is usually bracketed on both sides of the road with wildfires. No real forests so the fires move slowly through the brush. Only fires near human habitation are attacked. So, lots of smoke followed by new foliage for the critters. The benefits of wildfires usually outweigh the destruction unless, it's your neighborhood that gets consumed.

Mother Nature has ways of slapping our pee-pees and telling us who is in real control.

 

[Hillcrest]

Today will be Lane 1-Q in the unmarked cellini hungarian after reading another thread. Monday and Tuesday I had two eastern cottontails in the backyard trimming the clover and wild strawberries. This morning there were three. I'm starting to see a pattern here. They are like pipes,

Weird - I could have sworn I posted this in the June smoking thread. Sorry about that !

 

[Zero]

Weird - I could have sworn I posted this in the June smoking thread. Sorry about that !

 

[woodsroad]

View attachment 230206

Who ARE you people, anyways?

 

[skeeter456]

what my back yard normally looks like to what i see now

 

[Servant King]

Sadly, most of these fires are started by government agencies. Here in Southern California, it's the US Forest Service. For "forest health," the "service" they provide is arson, a brilliant strategy! They set "controlled" burns which frequently escape their control, and cause massive amounts of property damage (and often loss of life), to say nothing of damage to the trees themselves. They've come under scrutiny for this lately, and have thus delegated the task to other agencies, probably a technicality to get around any statutory prohibitions set in place in the wake of such terrible destruction. The monsoon rains the US west has been receiving the last couple summers has provided much relief, fortunately.

I have little reason to think that this method is different anywhere else, including Canada. But here's some good news:

This is the quantitative precipitation forecast for the next week, and it looks like everywhere east of the Mississippi is getting at least something. That should effectively take care of the fires, I would think.

 

[fireground_piper]

Prescribed burns are healthy and should be done regularly to clear the forest floors of dried vegetation. Things become a lot worse when the ground is filled with perfect fuel.

If an agency is doing it wrong however, that's a different story. It's normal practice here in NJ by forest fire to help prevent spread for actual wild fires.

 

[Briar Lee]

I feel sorry for the wildlife that can't escape it.
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Part of the privileges of my birth a half mile South of Bug Tussle, was being able to listen to very old men talk about the drought of 1901 while I was a child, sitting there soaking in every word.

1901 eastern United States heat wave - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Each year on Decoration Day my folks would make a circuit after church decorating graves, and we’d wind up at Lindley Prairie by Bearcreek and a kinsman of mine named Robert Bruce Ray (how Scottish is that?) would lead me over to a sand rock set in the ground, with indistinguishable chiseled carvings.

He’d say that under that simple stone were the last earthly remains of a good, devout hillbilly boy from Kentucky, that starved to death in 1901 so that his widowed mother could live.

As I got a little older it dawned on me he wasn’t born before 1901 like the other really old men.

I asked him how he knew that, and he replied his uncle and my grandfather Robert Ray Jr (Little Bob) told him, and swore it was true, because he’d help dig the grave in 1901.

No disputing a twice told legend from a dead Scotsman, I figured.

I still decorate that rock, and tell that story to my kids.

 

[TN Jed]

Sadly, most of these fires are started by government agencies. Here in Southern California, it's the US Forest Service. For "forest health," the "service" they provide is arson, a brilliant strategy! They set "controlled" burns which frequently escape their control, and cause massive amounts of property damage (and often loss of life), to say nothing of damage to the trees themselves. They've come under scrutiny for this lately, and have thus delegated the task to other agencies, probably a technicality to get around any statutory prohibitions set in place in the wake of such terrible destruction. The monsoon rains the US west has been receiving the last couple summers has provided much relief, fortunately.

I have little reason to think that this method is different anywhere else, including Canada. But here's some good news:

This is the quantitative precipitation forecast for the next week, and it looks like everywhere east of the Mississippi is getting at least something. That should effectively take care of the fires, I would think.

That's a cool map. Is that available on NOAA's site?

 

[mingc]

Best forest fire and smoke map that I know of is Canadian: Smoke Forecast - FireSmoke.ca - https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/. It covers Canada, US and Mexico for fires and forecasts smoke for Canada and most of the US.

 

[mikethompson]

In the Greater Toronto Area today, we had the worst air quality in the world.

You could feel it on your face as you walked outside.

 

[NightSkyFlash]

Pic of the Chicago skyline from Navy Pier today

 

[Streeper541]

Air Quality alert got up to 347 in Medina County, Ohio today. Worst it's been since the fires started.

My wife works in downtown Cleveland, one block north of Lake Erie. She couldn't even see it.


Our house is about 40 miles SW. I couldn't see the sun for most of the day.

Facing NE toward Cleveland appx 1000


Facing West appx 2000

 

[Peter Turbo]

Had to deal with this a couple weeks ago, enjoy!

 

[daveinlax]

The first time the air was cleaner in the cigar lounge than it was outside. Not kidding!

 

[Servant King]

Prescribed burns are healthy and should be done regularly to clear the forest floors of dried vegetation. Things become a lot worse when the ground is filled with perfect fuel.

If an agency is doing it wrong however, that's a different story. It's normal practice here in NJ by forest fire to help prevent spread for actual wild fires.

I couldn't disagree more. Prescribed burns are a primitive, obsolete strategy, an archaic dinosaur of the same ilk as bloodletting with leaches, germ theory, and muzzle-loaders. Human interference, WAY more often than not, either makes an already preexisting problem worse, or creates one where one did not exist prior. The creation can take care of itself just fine, has for hundreds of thousands of years. I remember George Carlin had a few choice words to offer back in the early 90s about the arrogance of humans meddling with nature, attempting to control it, and how it backfires on us every time we try. Too true. It's always done wrong and in spirit of destruction. Different topic, yes (he was talking about saving endangered species, I believe), but the principle is the same. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of people taking responsibility for their own land, maintaining it, clearing the flammable vegetation (and ONLY that, not destroying every living thing in sight, like people in my area are wont to do). In fact, it's downright essential to do this. But this kind of individual responsibility seems to be looked upon unfavorably nowadays. When people rely on government entities to do everything, all too many times we end up with what happened in New Mexico last year (largest, most destructive fire in state history). If it turns out that the current ones were started this way too, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

That said, I pay pretty close attention to these countrywide rain maps (yes @TN Jed they are available on NOAA's site, although I would take most information of theirs regarding atmospheric "science" with a grain of salt...long story!), and once the monsoon kicks into a higher gear, I don't see much of the country being without rain, thereby moistening otherwise dry fuel. If it can't be lit, it can't burn, hardly a foreign concept to us pipe smokers, right?

I do hope everyone out that way gets through this time. Relief is on the way!

 

[kcghost]

Meanwhile it will 102F tomorrow in KC but we will have decent air quality.

 

[brian64]

I couldn't disagree more. Prescribed burns are a primitive, obsolete strategy, an archaic dinosaur of the same ilk as bloodletting with leaches, germ theory, and muzzle-loaders. Human interference, WAY more often than not, either makes an already preexisting problem worse, or creates one where one did not exist prior. The creation can take care of itself just fine, has for hundreds of thousands of years. I remember George Carlin had a few choice words to offer back in the early 90s about the arrogance of humans meddling with nature, attempting to control it, and how it backfires on us every time we try. Too true. It's always done wrong and in spirit of destruction. Different topic, yes (he was talking about saving endangered species, I believe), but the principle is the same. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of people taking responsibility for their own land, maintaining it, clearing the flammable vegetation (and ONLY that, not destroying every living thing in sight, like people in my area are wont to do). In fact, it's downright essential to do this. But this kind of individual responsibility seems to be looked upon unfavorably nowadays. When people rely on government entities to do everything, all too many times we end up with what happened in New Mexico last year (largest, most destructive fire in state history). If it turns out that the current ones were started this way too, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Well said, but don't worry, the problem is being solved...it's been announced that by 2025 all wildfires will be required to be electric!

 

[OzPiper]

So sorry to see/hear of the fires and smoke problem affecting so many.

We had devastating fires in Oz not so long ago, followed by floods
Thousands are still homeless and living in makeshift accommodation today

An insidious problem is sinusitis caused by the smoke haze
A few years ago I was in Malaysia and Singapore when there was a constant smoke haze over the country caused by forest fires over in parts of Indonesia.
My sinuses were affected within 24 hours, which then developed into chronic rhinosinusitis with complete loss of sense of smell for 2 years.
Thankfully sinus surgery fixed the problem with complete return of smell and taste

See your doctor or ENT specialist should you develop similar problems.

 

[warren]

They set "controlled" burns which frequently escape their control, and cause massive amounts of property damage (and often loss of life), to say nothing of damage to the trees themselves.

Frequently? Fascinating! What percent of controlled burns turned into wildfires in the last ten years or so? Do they build the usual breaks before igniting the fire? Are fire fighters standing by? Who is doing the monitoring of the burns?

I read of a least least two big CA fires in the last few years were started by arsonists. One was up by San Simeon if I remember correctly. True or, is the media screwing with us?

Your government blames climate change. Someone started a fire with a gender reveal party. A flat tire,k sparks from the rim started another fire. I'm guessing the lack of rain the last few years added to the tinder laying on forest floors.