Island Fires

[IronNoggin]

Things are looking up. This is from The Peak 93.3 radio...

"The Cameron Lake fire grew to 208 hectares overnight, but crews say fire activity has decreased.

Incident Commander Bryce Moriera says today's cooler weather has helped.

"Early this morning we received a trace amount of rain on the fire, the benefit of that is it was able to decrease the fire activity," he said. "Currently seeing just a little bit of open flame and smouldering groundfire, which is good news for the crews, compared to the last several days."

Moriera says there are 4 helicopters bucketing hotspots and 60 firefighters are on the ground and another 20 people joining later today.
He said crews are working to bring the fire under control before the expected return of hot weather next week."

Rained pretty steady for a couple hours this afternoon. Not hard, but steady. Hope it is helping!!

Fingers Crossed!

 

[dmurph]

Things are looking up. This is from The Peak 93.3 radio...

"The Cameron Lake fire grew to 208 hectares overnight, but crews say fire activity has decreased.

Incident Commander Bryce Moriera says today's cooler weather has helped.

"Early this morning we received a trace amount of rain on the fire, the benefit of that is it was able to decrease the fire activity," he said. "Currently seeing just a little bit of open flame and smouldering groundfire, which is good news for the crews, compared to the last several days."

Moriera says there are 4 helicopters bucketing hotspots and 60 firefighters are on the ground and another 20 people joining later today.
He said crews are working to bring the fire under control before the expected return of hot weather next week."

Rained pretty steady for a couple hours this afternoon. Not hard, but steady. Hope it is helping!!

Fingers Crossed!

Ya it’s rained pretty good at my place most of the afternoon and still cool and raining now, I’m right behind the fire backside of Cameron lake. They hit it hard yesterday with the water bombers also and I hear they’re making good head way, flames have dropped down and crews are able to actually get in closer to the fire now

 

[Old Fisher]

Can anyone from Port tell me if gasoline is readily available in town? Looks like I need to come from Barkley and make the drive through Nitinat/Cowichan Lake tomorrow. Don’t want to strike out without having a full tank in the truck

 

[007]

@sly_karma
great FACTS about aircraft that are effective! It is such a shame, so many islanders still buy into the conspiracy theories about the Mars bombers . There just ain't no belief in them there peoples making decisions

 

[Aces]

Can anyone from Port tell me if gasoline is readily available in town? Looks like I need to come from Barkley and make the drive through Nitinat/Cowichan Lake tomorrow. Don’t want to strike out without having a full tank in the truck

I heard it was being rationed in Port. Tofino out and Ukee expected to be out tomorrow

 

[Dogbreath]

South African Fire Fighters Sing/Dance Upon Arrival in Canada​

Very moving-and We Need their help!

 

[sly_karma]

@sly_karma
great FACTS about aircraft that are effective! It is such a shame, so many islanders still buy into the conspiracy theories about the Mars bombers . There just ain't no belief in them there peoples making decisions

Hey, it's hard not to love that magnificent old plane. I've watched Mars fly on fires in the Okanagan since the early 90s, it is absolutely wonderful to behold that mammoth beast roaring at full noise off the lake surface with 30 tons of water taken on board in a few seconds. But a major fire isn't a historic air show put on for our viewing pleasure.

As humans we have a baked-in fear and respect for fire. We spend millions on city and rural fire departments, and comply with ever more complex fire codes because they save lives. So when a bush fire pops up, we expect that anything and everything will be done to extinguish it. Right. Now. That becomes even more imperative when the fire is close to values like homes and roads.

The expectation is that ALL resources must be flung into the battle - immediately, overwhelmingly, and without thought of cost. In BC, and especially on the Island, that expectation includes a 1945 wooden flying boat that hasn't fit into the provincial firefighting strategy in well over a decade. And so when the province just gets on with its normal system to deal with a relatively small fire without using the Mars or a converted 747, people's expectations aren't met.

Maybe BC Wildfire needs a Media Coordinator whose role is to score a fire in terms of media impact and direct resources to it in a media-appropriate manner. Keep the people happy.

 

[the fog ducker]

South African Fire Fighters Sing/Dance Upon Arrival in Canada​

Very moving-and We Need their help!

Firefighting ? im thinkin.....
maybe there just excited that they all think they just won a free guided trip with No Bananas fishing Charters

, kidding , we thank them !!

 

[scott craven]

Raining pretty good here in Victoria, hope they get some in Port A.

 

[Bifmalibu]

We've had rain all night in Nanaimo. Must have made a good dent in the fire activity. Here's hoping.

 

[IronNoggin]

Can anyone from Port tell me if gasoline is readily available in town? Looks like I need to come from Barkley and make the drive through Nitinat/Cowichan Lake tomorrow. Don’t want to strike out without having a full tank in the truck

There were a lot of stations closed down as of yesterday.
I haven't been out today to see if they still are.
Limited supply would be my guess.

And of course good ol' PetroCan lead the gouging charge due to the shortage.
Bumped the price 10 cents a liter plus yesterday, followed by the Coop which is somewhat unusual.
Swines...

I will be out later this afternoon, will have a look and report back...

Nog

Update: My Lady just got back from a quick run in town.
She said both Chevrons are open, as was the price gougers and a few others. Shell and a few others still shut down.

Cheers

 

[IronNoggin]

Raining pretty good here in Victoria, hope they get some in Port A.

Rained on and off pretty much all night here in Port.

Hope it helps!!

Cheers

 

[IronNoggin]

The expectation is that ALL resources must be flung into the battle - immediately, overwhelmingly, and without thought of cost. In BC, and especially on the Island,

Methinks you might be singing a somewhat different tune if the out of control fire (which could have easily been extinguished in it's early stages were sufficient attention paid to it) were to be in your own back yard...

 

[sly_karma]

I've been in living in Penticton since 1988. We've been evacuated once and on alert notice several times in that period. We live within city limits, not rural. I can see the air tanker base from my deck, and I have friends who work as pilots and ground crew in the air tanker system. I was a volunteer worker on the 1994 Garnet fire.

My comments were about general firefighting air resources in BC and were not specific to this fire. I don't know how the initial attack on the Cameron Lake fire was carried out, and haven't commented on that.

 

[Aces]

There were a lot of stations closed down as of yesterday.
I haven't been out today to see if they still are.
Limited supply would be my guess.

And of course good ol' PetroCan lead the gouging charge due to the shortage.
Bumped the price 10 cents a liter plus yesterday, followed by the Coop which is somewhat unusual.
Swines...

I will be out later this afternoon, will have a look and report back...

Nog

Update: My Lady just got back from a quick run in town.
She said both Chevrons are open, as was the price gougers and a few others. Shell and a few others still shut down.

Cheers

It went up .10 a liter here in Nanaimo too

 

[the fog ducker]

gas went up everywhere

 

[IronNoggin]

 

[Klob]

I heard unconfirmed that both Coombs FD and Mosaic both offered services at the start but were told to stand down.

 

[Unreel]

gas went up everywhere

No, just here in BC. About 40-60cents less around the country on average. $1.35 in Calgary right now. As usual the gas companies in BC bend us over and its just business as usual. Such a joke.

 

[onefish]

As a layman I don't understand why the sequence in fighting fires seems to be
1- start with a skeleton crew of manpower and equipment
2-add crew and equipment after the fire is out of control
3-alerts and evacuations to follow
4-after a long protracted battle costing $, resources, and sometimes lives the fire is finally put out.

As a layman, and maybe I am wrong, it would seem to me a better approach would be
1- hit it early and hit it hard with all the manpower and equipment you have before it gets out of control, don't hold back the reserves until the situation gets worse.

That is just my take on firefighting, as a layman.