Forest fire

[sawguy21]

My bil and nephew are on their way to Calgary  8) This is really crippling a fragile oil industry as well as local forestry, the area is a major producer of pulp and strand board. There are some sawmills but most of the timber is 'swamp spruce' or tree length fence posts.

[coxy]

My bil and nephew are on their way to Calgary  8) This is really crippling a fragile oil industry as well as local forestry, the area is a major producer of pulp and strand board. There are some sawmills but most of the timber is 'swamp spruce' or tree length fence posts.

sorry to hear      wish you could get some of the rain we are getting

[starmac]

They have a dire situation over there. We had one of the dryest winters on record and are worried about the fire season we will have. They are in the same boat, except are ahead of us somewhat. I drove through northern Alberta a couple of weeks ago, not that far north, but talked to some of the fire crews that were already fighting fires in the high prarie area.

It is somewhat unusual for a fire to go through a city, and their plight is compounded by the fact there is just one highway going through there, Not to mention highways there are smaller than what most think of county secondary roads, they have quite the predicamint going on, lord help them.

[coxy]

I know its been dry but is part of it because of no logging and all the dead trees and no roads/trails to help fight it    please tell me if I'm wrong or out of line for saying it that way

[sawguy21]

The area is criss crossed with seismic cut lines so there is lots of access. They didn't get hit with the beetle infestation so most of the trees are reasonably healthy, just dry. The fire started heading away from the city then the wind changed, and the forest seemed to explode.

[Bandmill Bandit]

as tragic as this Fire situation is, this is Alberta! We get knocked down and we get up again and then help some one next to us to get up too.

We may be a Gang that will mob you when you when our province is attacked but we are the same gang that will load pickups pulling trailers with jerry cans and slip tanks full of GAS and Diesel and drive straight up a SINGLE road into the heart of the fire to provide fuel to people that have run out of fuel so they are able to get out. Even horses have been put to use to transport fuel to stranded people.

There are crazy people and then there are Albertans. We have to be to live here! Our basement is the true location of Hell!

[Brucer]

I know its been dry but is part of it because of no logging and all the dead trees and no roads/trails to help fight it    please tell me if I'm wrong or out of line for saying it that way

You're not out of line, the questions are valid. Some answers are ...

1) These are healthy (huge) forests.
2) Fires are part of the life cycle of a forest and help to rejuvenate it.
3) The access roads are there but are of absolutely no use in fighting a fire like this (see David Poston's post #6 on the previous page).

This fire would not have been a big deal had it not happened to hit Fort McMurry, just as hurricane Katrina would not have been a big deal if it hadn't hit New Orleans.

I listened to someone on the radio yesterday complaining because "the government" wasn't doing enough to protect large cities in Canada from wildfires. What could they do? The fire was blowing basketball clumps of burning debris over a mile ahead of the fire (and that was before the winds really picked up. It jumped the Athabaska river, which is over a kilometer wide (half a mile).

What really matters is how the entire country has pitched in to help. The oil companies in the area opened up their camps to refugees who had to escape to the north. They're now providing accommodation to police and firefighters. Canada's second largest airline, Westjet, has been offering free flights from the camps to the major cities in the south. A company has donated a bunch of mobile homes, and the land to erect them on, in a smaller city south of Fort McMurray. Two weddings that would have been postponed have gone ahead with everything donated (including the wedding rings in one case). Bed and Breakfast owners are donating their accommodations. Private donations have surpassed $30 million dollars (in just 3 days).

And, as is usually the case, the media picks up on the devastation. Photos appear of whole neighbourhoods completely gutted. That's newsworthy. You don't see photos of the other end of the city where whole neighbourhoods are (so far) intact.

[thecfarm]

Basketball clumps of burning debris is bad enough but sending that through the air a mile is really something bad.
We've had 2 fires here on the hill. Both small ones. One bordered my land and things helped slow it down. No slash for it to burn on,at that time my land was not logged. There was nothing for the fire to creep onto. As soon as it got into my pines the ground was bare. No fuel for the fire to burn.The other guy had his cut hard,so it did not have many softwood trees to burn,fire dept came with a 2 inch hose and it started to rain.I was cutting trees on his side so the fire would not get into my pine.

[SwampDonkey]

It's about the worst nightmare to be in the middle of that fire. One thing about fire in thick softwoods is it does not even have to be on the ground if there is a hard wind. Plus wind created by fire. It can travel fast just in the tree crowns. Plus all the fine dry fuel tied up in dead lower limbs. Those green tops is like burning kerosene. Spruce-fir woods grow thicker than pine so it's easy to move tree to tree.

Good luck to all getting out and safe. We are just thankful in or neck of the woods because of lots of rural settlement that we have lots of ways out. And large cleared fields to break up such a disaster. Back in the day of the great Miramichi fire of 1815 they were not as lucky. One of the largest forest fires on the continent. Over 500 lives lost.

[sandhills]

Central Nebraska is just a haze right now, I haven't heard of any fires around here so with a strong north wind I'm guessing it's coming from Canada?  Wish the best for everyone up there, I can't imagine the devastating losses, stay safe.

[sawguy21]

Swamp talks about crowning, that has to be seen to be believed. No way anyone is outrunning it. Some years ago I flew over the area burned by the large Mariana Lake fire south of Ft Mac. It was quite amazing, there were islands of green untouched by fire amid huge swaths of black, the fire had crowned taking out the trees on high ground and going right over the lower swampy areas.

[Roxie]

Central Nebraska is just a haze right now, I haven't heard of any fires around here so with a strong north wind I'm guessing it's coming from Canada?  Wish the best for everyone up there, I can't imagine the devastating losses, stay safe.

I heard on the news this morning that satellite images are showing haze as far south as Georgia. 

[sawguy21]

Only several days of heavy rain is going to slow this one down, it could burn for weeks or even months. It is headed east and will likely cross into Saskatchewan. There are no major centers in it's path but there are many native villages, some with no road access, that will need to be evacuated.

[Brucer]

The fire front has moved on. Temperatures have lowered (good), humidity has increased (good), a bit of light rain (good). Forestry crews are hunting down hot spots and extinguishing them -- hot, dirty, grueling work but necessary to prevent flare ups.

Government officials, along with the media, have toured the city (and sent video to the evacuees). Yes, whole neighbourhoods were destroyed, but other neighbourhoods were untouched and 85% of the homes are still intact. Early on, fire crews fought to save the water treatment plant, the hospital, and the schools. It seemed trivial to many people at the time, but those facilities are key to getting the town up and running again. Gas is off, but power is still functioning in several areas. There is a lot of toxic ash that has to be cleaned up.

The planning for resettlement is already under way. None of the tarsands production facilities were damaged. They shut down during the worst of the fire so they could ship out their operating and maintenance personnel to make room for fire fighters. Now two small facilities have restarted and the big ones are making plans to start up again.

Tens of millions of dollars were donated to the Canadian Red Cross for relief efforts in Fort McMurray. The federal government and the Alberta government pledged to match those donations dollar for dollar. That's in addition to hundreds of millions in government spending to restore the city.

It will be weeks before people can start returning, but they will most definitely be back.

[sandsawmill14]

thanks for the update Brucer im glad to here its getting better

[Ianab]

I'm guessing that with water / power / school / hospital etc and the majority of the houses / businesses intact that most people will be able to move back home in weeks ?

If they had lost those essential services it would take months to make the city habitable again.

Different sort of devastation, but Christchurch was badly hit by an earthquake in 2011. They are still rebuilding the center city area. Most of the larger buildings withstood the quake, as did most houses. But most where damaged and, and the majority of the larger building have to be rebuilt. Takes years to rebuild a whole city.

[Brucer]

My guess is 2 to 4 months :(.

The governments have learned from previous disasters and actually improved how they handle the restoration.

Among the first people to be moved back will be shop-owners (provided their shops are still standing). Not much point in letting people go back if they can't buy groceries and other essentials.

Every refrigerator and freezer in the community will be unsalvagable. I'd guess there'll be 40,000 or so appliances that will be trash. After the Slave Lake fire 5 years ago they had the owners duct-tape the doors shut and roll them out to the curb. They were taken directly to the landfill.

There will be toxic dust everywhere -- all generated by the high temperature fires in the burnt-out houses. Standing homes will have to be checked out before people can safely move back.

I just read that the guy who managed the recovery of Slave Lake was hired to spearhead the restoration plans for Fort McMurray. That will help speed up the process (and get it right).

[sandhills]

Unreal, very sad.

[Bandmill Bandit]

The recovery & Restoration process is now under way and is going quite well From ALL reports.

The team tasked with getting it underway is experienced and lead by a very capable adn experienced Gentleman.

A look at this report  http://www.slavelake.ca/live/digitalAssets/2/2272_1Transition_Newletter.pdf 
will give any one who is interested a pretty good idea of how this recovery will go.

The Volunteer part of the clean up program is expected to launch this wee kto allow people to spend the Victoria Day week end in the "Fort Mac" area to help get things well under way. There many families booking their holidays to go up there to help. RV sales at the local dealers here have increased quite sharply and a couple of the sales people I know at the dealers are saying that the first trip for most of them is to Fort Mac for a week end and up to 4 weeks to help the clean up.

We may be red necks in this Province but we help our neighbor. Slave lake took 4 years and there are still a few infrastructure improvements under way so it no over yet for that community. Fort Mac will not be any less time to recover. But recover we will!       

[red]

Hard to believe the fire is still burning

[DelawhereJoe]

This fire is nearing the size of Delaware about 2000 sq mi's, its a terrible thing that so many people have been displaced by this fire. If I could find a way to send some of this rain up that way I would gladly do it.

[Bandmill Bandit]

the last week has been cooler and we are getting some rain BUT we need it to rain steady for 3 or 4 days. Recovery is underway.

My oldest daughter and a few friends organized a group to volunteer distribute clothes and food and other essentials at one of the main distribution centres in Edmonton for the weekend. I will post a report when she gets back to town. I am sure she will have a few pictures I can post.

If people from the forum would like to donate I can post the Red Cross Donation web site to make it simple to do and so you dont get to any of the scam web sites out there.

http://www.redcross.ca/donate#selected-appeal-82628fd5-2c84-4db7-abe8-5968eca9335f

That link will get you there.     

[sawguy21]

 8) The response has been tremendous. Residents are scheduled to start returning June 1, utilities have been mostly restored and most homes have been deemed safe to enter. Full recovery is probably a couple of years away. Right now a major concern is foraging bears who have been burned out of their habitat.

[coxy]

at least that's some good news  the bears will become food for the people  :-\ ;D

[sawguy21]

The  fire is still out of control, it could take months to stop unless the weather cooperates which at this point seems unlikely. It has already burned over 580,000 hectares, more than 1.4 million acres. Fortunately the area is sparsely populated but the livelihood of the residents is destroyed along with the vegetation and wildlife.