canadian wildfire may 2016

[Harry Moon]

https://www.facebook.com/CTVEdmonton...6124731755914/
You can recognize the area from the previous video in relation to the blue SHAW trucks.
Basically the trucks heading straight at the fire trucks were running out of the burning building.
Its not like the movies, people remain calm, unless they are on fire, then they scream and panic, but regularly people act calmly and help each other out.
I hope peoples fascination with Urban forests takes a beating, this could happen to any city with a large tree canopy. And yes that is my neighbourhood!

[rob love]

Here as well Harry. We have a 90 year old forest nearby which is primarily Jack Pine planted in the 1920s and perhaps some in the 1940s. At this point many of the trees are starting to go over, and combined with a floor of pine needles and firebreaks that are no longer maintained and now grown over, it is not a matter of "might" but "when".

There are a good number of houses just across the road from the forest, including a lot of the new builds. Natural resources has now allowed cutting of fuelwood for the first 100 yards into that forest to make some level of fireguard, but as can be seen in the video, the safety of 100 yards may be an illusion.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Hmmm? Ninety year old Jack Pines - there's a city of log houses standing on the stump.

In case people are wondering why the military has not been mobilized, the hierarchy of mutual aid is city or rural municipality first, then the region, the province itself, and any neighbouring provinces who might be able to help.

The last line of defence is the federal govt after the lower levels have exhausted their resources. The provincial Attorney General has to make an official request to his opposite in federal government before any soldier can turn a wheel to help out. Even so, the meter starts running whenever a province asks. And troops don't come for free.

[cletrac (RIP)]

This is quite the picture!

[Peter Duggan]

Guys,

Here are some of the folks that are on the front line of what will turn out to be the largest natural disaster in Canadian history.

The people of Ft McMurray are in the middle of horrible battle with mother nature. Hopefully the physical fight will be soon over. The subsequent trauma and psychological struggle will be just as challenging. The rebuilding process will take years.

The only positive aspect to this disaster is the overwhelming positive support from the rest of the country. Keep it up, they deserve it.

Peter

2016-05-07 09.54.07.jpg

[maple_leaf_eh]

http://esrica-psvt.maps.arcgis.com/a...3aa7681067db4d

My old supervisor works for ESRI and he posted this link on Facebook. The various feeds show all sorts of information, and the Fort Mc' fire is one of them. Open and close the layers to see more information.

[motto (RIP)]

There is a surreal feeling about the videos that is hard to describe. No sense of urgency, no water bombers, no talk of containment lines or assets committed. Even the fire seemed to be taking it easy. The wind wasn't blowing a gale and most of the houses look to be quite defensible, simply a matter of putting out spot fires and watching out for ember attack.
I understand that there was a compulsory evacuation ordered but wonder at the necessity of that if some preparation had been carried out. It was like as though the fire was completely unforeseen and no preparations made.
We live in a fire prone area and have water tanks, fire pump and generator with the idea in mind of staying and fighting and what I saw at Fort Mc seemed quite strange.
I see that there has been some lively debate over the non use of water bombers in the Canadian parliament with mention of the Martin Mars and C-130 aircraft. They alone probably would have decided the issue, easily so in the days prior to the town being ravaged.
There must be more to the story.

David