That’s an incredible picture

I have family and friends in Kelowna affected by this wild fire it is so sad I’m at a loos for words

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umakmehrd
I have family and friends in Kelowna affected by this wild fire it is so sad I’m at a loos for words

Where abouts do you live? Are you from the Okanagan originally?

Sad to read about the Canadian fires and elsewhere in the world, I had great times at the Okanagan Lake in 75

B.C. declares wildfire emergency amid desperate battle to save West Kelowna

By Darryl Greer The Canadian Press
Friday, August 18, 2023

WEST KELOWNA - Homes were ablaze on Friday in West Kelowna, B.C., with firefighters locked in a pitched battle against a rampaging wildfire that helped trigger a provincewide state of emergency.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said the declaration was in response to “unprecedented” fires across the province that forced the evacuation of at least 10,000 more people late Friday, as the situation “evolved and deteriorated” rapidly.

Ground zero was the Okanagan community of West Kelowna, where the devastating McDougall Creek wildfire destroyed a significant number of properties Thursday night, during a battle that the city’s fire chief likened to “100 years of firefighting.”

Residents and officials there described frightening and uncanny scenes — people leaping into Lake Okanagan to escape the fire, and the historic Lake Okanagan Resort engulfed in flames as explosions rang out.

One evacuee said he watched remotely though a doorbell camera as trees outside his home burst into flame.

Smoke loomed high over Kelowna late Friday as the hillsides around the lake continued to burn. Clouds billowed in a thick ribbon from a bright blaze visible from the northbound highway taking evacuees out of town.

Many were bound for Vernon about 50 kilometres away as evacuation orders and alerts sent people packing, with steady lines at gas stations dotting the route.

A firefighting helicopter with a long cable and bucket dipped into the lake in the distance, distorted and blurred by the smoke.

The McDougall Creek fire was “exponentially worse” than expected, Jason Brolund, chief of the West Kelowna fire department, said at a morning briefing.

Wildfires across the province had experienced what the BC Wildfire Service called “extreme” growth Thursday and Friday amid a weather shift that brought high winds and dry lightning.

Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said the number of people under evacuation order in B.C. went from 4,500 to 15,000 in the matter of an hour late Friday. A further 20,000 people were under evacuation alert, advised to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

Ma said the state of emergency would allow the province to compel co-operation in the fire fight from “unwilling partners,” although co-operation had so far been excellent.

Not everyone has been so co-operative.

Brolund told the morning briefing that some first responders became trapped while rescuing people who didn’t heed warnings to leave as the McDougall Creek wildfire advanced rapidly toward West Kelowna, describing the development as a firefighter’s “worst nightmare.”

“There were a number of risks taken to save lives and property last night,” Brolund said. “It didn’t have to be that way.”

He also said a number of people were rescued from Trader’s Cove in West Kelowna after jumping into the water as a “last resort” to escape the flames.

Central Okanagan Regional District chairman Loyal Woodridge said there was no known loss of life.

The BC Wildfire Service said the McDougall Creek fire had grown to 105 square kilometres in size, up from 11 square kilometres Thursday afternoon.

Brolund said the fire fight wasn’t over and residents would be facing another “scary night” on Friday, with conditions projected to be even worse than those that first whipped up the blaze.

[The article continues. Full article / pics here: [www.thestar.com]]

I have friends in Kelowna whose home is in jeopardy. They are out and safe. Horrifying.

Just watched report about Canadian fires on evening news ....

Horrific stuff ...... Hope you are safe Annie ... xx



ROCKMAN

So far, so good Rockeee. It’d been a pretty dire summer. Didn’t there used to be an expression ‘safe as houses’? We might have to re-think that one.

Tropical storm hitting Socal. Hasn't happened since WW II.

I live in Vancouver area have family and close friends in Kelowna Penticton and Osoyoos. Today we are getting the wildfire smoke here in Vancouver

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umakmehrd
I have family and friends in Kelowna affected by this wild fire it is so sad I’m at a loos for words

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umakmehrd
I live in Vancouver area have family and close friends in Kelowna Penticton and Osoyoos. Today we are getting the wildfire smoke here in Vancouver

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umakmehrd
I have family and friends in Kelowna affected by this wild fire it is so sad I’m at a loos for words

Several on this board live in the lower mainland. Paddy, Babyblue, Treacle, myself! I'm in Hope and it's really smoky.

i'm about a hundred miles south of seattle and the wildfire smoke is very thick

some of it from washington fires lot of it from canadian ones

surrounded by bone dry fields and forests

news is filled with reports of devastating fires in hawaii and now canada

enough to make a man nervous

A nice sized earthquake hit the Southern California area a couple of hours ago - a 5.1 on the richter scale which is relatively big, followed by several smaller aftershocks.
Knocked a few things off of our shelves, but was short and sweet in comparison to some of the much bigger and lengthier earthquakes I've experienced throughout the years.
But...coupled with the deluge of rain also hitting the area from the remnants of Hurricane Hillary with flash flood warnings, etc., it's kind of apocalyptic...seems like the ends is near...

Storm Quake

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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ProfessorWolf
i'm about a hundred miles south of seattle and the wildfire smoke is very thick

some of it from washington fires lot of it from canadian ones

surrounded by bone dry fields and forests

news is filled with reports of devastating fires in hawaii and now canada

enough to make a man nervous

I see Washington state has now declared a state of emergency for the fires around the Spokane area. Also read that southern California might get hit with a year's worth of rain in 2 days from the hurricane! STAY SAFE EVERYONE!

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Hairball
A nice sized earthquake hit the Southern California area a couple of hours ago - a 5.1 on the richter scale which is relatively big, followed by several smaller aftershocks.
Knocked a few things off of our shelves, but was short and sweet in comparison to some of the much bigger and lengthier earthquakes I've experienced throughout the years.
But...coupled with the deluge of rain also hitting the area from the remnants of Hurricane Hillary with flash flood warnings, etc., it's kind of apocalyptic...seems like the ends is near...

Storm Quake

It's Hilary, not Hillary.

It's actually normal for earthquake prone areas to have earthquakes during tropical cyclones, or, in this case, barely a tropical cyclone but lower pressure than usual.

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DGA35

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ProfessorWolf
i'm about a hundred miles south of seattle and the wildfire smoke is very thick

some of it from washington fires lot of it from canadian ones

surrounded by bone dry fields and forests

news is filled with reports of devastating fires in hawaii and now canada

enough to make a man nervous

I see Washington state has now declared a state of emergency for the fires around the Spokane area. Also read that southern California might get hit with a year's worth of rain in 2 days from the hurricane! STAY SAFE EVERYONE!

It's possibly something to say such a thing but it's unrealistic - California is not being hit by a hurricane. Tropical storms, tropical depressions, post-tropical and extra-tropical storms all bring a ton of rain, not wind, with them.

Not that California is getting a ton of rain from TS Hilary and the remnants of - they're not. Nor anywhere else.

But for them it is a ton of rain.

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GasLightStreet

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Hairball
A nice sized earthquake hit the Southern California area a couple of hours ago - a 5.1 on the richter scale which is relatively big, followed by several smaller aftershocks.
Knocked a few things off of our shelves, but was short and sweet in comparison to some of the much bigger and lengthier earthquakes I've experienced throughout the years.
But...coupled with the deluge of rain also hitting the area from the remnants of Hurricane Hillary with flash flood warnings, etc., it's kind of apocalyptic...seems like the ends is near...

Storm Quake

It's Hilary, not Hillary.

It's actually normal for earthquake prone areas to have earthquakes during tropical cyclones, or, in this case, barely a tropical cyclone but lower pressure than usual.

Interesting, though according to the news article linked above (and other sources), it was merely a coincidence:

To the best understanding of geoscientists, the earthquake is coincidental, and not related to heavy rainfall in the Los Angeles area, Daniel L. Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles, told USA TODAY on Sunday. And according to the USGS, there is "no pattern in California of large, damaging earthquakes occurring more frequently during periods of heavy precipitation or periods of drought.It's unlikely that seismic hazard is affected by precipitation," the agency said on its website.

And coincidentally, as I'm typing this we just experienced another fairly sizeable aftershock!!!

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Low - or lower - pressure, not rain fall, hence "lower pressure than usual".

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GasLightStreet

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DGA35

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ProfessorWolf
i'm about a hundred miles south of seattle and the wildfire smoke is very thick

some of it from washington fires lot of it from canadian ones

surrounded by bone dry fields and forests

news is filled with reports of devastating fires in hawaii and now canada

enough to make a man nervous

I see Washington state has now declared a state of emergency for the fires around the Spokane area. Also read that southern California might get hit with a year's worth of rain in 2 days from the hurricane! STAY SAFE EVERYONE!

It's possibly something to say such a thing but it's unrealistic - California is not being hit by a hurricane. Tropical storms, tropical depressions, post-tropical and extra-tropical storms all bring a ton of rain, not wind, with them.

Not that California is getting a ton of rain from TS Hilary and the remnants of - they're not. Nor anywhere else.

But for them it is a ton of rain.

Well, it was a hurricane in the Pacific, but got downgraded as it made landfall. A wind gust of 84 mph was measured in San Diego county. Weather Channel reported Palm Springs received half its annual rainfall in 3 hours as well as wind gusts of 84mph and there's major flooding and mudslides all over.

Yesterday was like Bladerunner in Seattle. Still pretty bad today but supposed to clear out by tomorrow. Same thing happened last year about this time but it lasted longer. Hope they are right as I'm going to see Flaming Lips outdoors on Wednesday.

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Rockman


Drumcondra 6.52am ------------- 13 August 2023

Purple haze, all in my brain
Lately things they don't seem the same
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
Excuse me while I kiss the sky
....................... Purple Haze -- Jimi Hendrix

That is a beautiful picture... love the color

Things have changed ......

Drumcondra 6.36am ------------- 23 August 2023



ROCKMAN

"The sunshine bores the daylights out of me"

A different story from the front lines of the forest fires in western Canada. Thanks to all those fighting the fires.

[www.thestar.com]

Firefighter attends citizenship ceremony while on front lines of B.C. wildfire

POPKUM, B.C. - When Walter Roos was planning for the ceremony over Zoom where he would become a Canadian citizen, he expected to attend in business attire while at home in Popkum, B.C., east of Chilliwack.

Instead, after coming to Canada from the Netherlands 18 years ago, Roos was made a Canadian in the back of a firefighting vehicle Monday, dressed in the red uniform of firefighters doing battle with the province’s devastating wildfires.

Chief of Popkum Fire Rescue, Roos has been fighting fires for more than 15 years and is one of the more than 500 called in to tackle the devastating 120-square-kilometre McDougall Creek fire in West Kelowna.

He said when his task force leader found out that he was supposed to attend the ceremony over Zoom, he made sure to plan around it.

“He had the rest of the task force going to different spots and we picked a spot close to the city so that we could have cell reception properly,” Roos said in an interview.

He would become a citizen while parked near Bear Creek.

Roos said he has been planning for years to become a citizen and the decision during the COVID-19 pandemic to move the process online made things simpler.

“The older you get, the more you feel that you’re tied to your community, your system, and you feel the importance of being part of it,” he said.

Roos’ story was shared by West Kelowna fire Chief Jason Brolund on Monday and federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller later posted a photo on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter.

“People are asking me where he’s from and I don’t know,” Brolund said.

“What I do know is he’s going to be from Canada and that, it just gives me goosebumps to tell that story.”

Roos said he recognizes people’s desire for happier news in the midst of struggles, but he doesn’t want his story to overtake the tragedy of the situation.

More than 27,000 people have been forced from their homes by wildfires burning in the province.

Brolund has said as many as 90 structures in West Kelowna and the Westbank First Nation have been destroyed. There is no word yet on when it will be safe for people to go home.

“You’re fighting a fire, you’re doing your best to try to stop more fires from starting,” Roos said.

“But in the meantime, you see really clearly who all lost their everything — their memories, their passions, their everything. It’s intimidating.”

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SomeTorontoGirl
A different story from the front lines of the forest fires in western Canada. Thanks to all those fighting the fires.

[www.thestar.com]

Firefighter attends citizenship ceremony while on front lines of B.C. wildfire

POPKUM, B.C. - When Walter Roos was planning for the ceremony over Zoom where he would become a Canadian citizen, he expected to attend in business attire while at home in Popkum, B.C., east of Chilliwack.

Instead, after coming to Canada from the Netherlands 18 years ago, Roos was made a Canadian in the back of a firefighting vehicle Monday, dressed in the red uniform of firefighters doing battle with the province’s devastating wildfires.

Chief of Popkum Fire Rescue, Roos has been fighting fires for more than 15 years and is one of the more than 500 called in to tackle the devastating 120-square-kilometre McDougall Creek fire in West Kelowna.

He said when his task force leader found out that he was supposed to attend the ceremony over Zoom, he made sure to plan around it.

“He had the rest of the task force going to different spots and we picked a spot close to the city so that we could have cell reception properly,” Roos said in an interview.

He would become a citizen while parked near Bear Creek.

Roos said he has been planning for years to become a citizen and the decision during the COVID-19 pandemic to move the process online made things simpler.

“The older you get, the more you feel that you’re tied to your community, your system, and you feel the importance of being part of it,” he said.

Roos’ story was shared by West Kelowna fire Chief Jason Brolund on Monday and federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller later posted a photo on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter.

“People are asking me where he’s from and I don’t know,” Brolund said.

“What I do know is he’s going to be from Canada and that, it just gives me goosebumps to tell that story.”

Roos said he recognizes people’s desire for happier news in the midst of struggles, but he doesn’t want his story to overtake the tragedy of the situation.

More than 27,000 people have been forced from their homes by wildfires burning in the province.

Brolund has said as many as 90 structures in West Kelowna and the Westbank First Nation have been destroyed. There is no word yet on when it will be safe for people to go home.

“You’re fighting a fire, you’re doing your best to try to stop more fires from starting,” Roos said.

“But in the meantime, you see really clearly who all lost their everything — their memories, their passions, their everything. It’s intimidating.”

Nice article, Popkum is about 20 minute from me!

Stay safe, DGA.

Drumcondra 6.37am ------------- 24 August 2023



ROCKMAN

Well it looks like a hurricane is going to be hitting the west coast of northern Florida soon. Hope everyone stays safe in that area, any IORRers live around there?
Meanwhile, just read Greece is having the worst forest fires on record.

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DGA35
Well it looks like a hurricane is going to be hitting the west coast of northern Florida soon. Hope everyone stays safe in that area, any IORRers live around there?
Meanwhile, just read Greece is having the worst forest fires on record.

Not to my knowledge, regarding Idalia, it's not highly populated. Populated areas will be inundated with storm surge regardless (Cedar Key will be completely under the Gulf Of Mexico).

Been getting some rainbands here from (currently on the higher end of a category 2 with 110 mph winds) Hurricane Idalia in Southeast Louisiana thankfully (29 days of 100F+ and 40 something days without rain - next to an ocean!!!!). SW part of the state continues to burn last I knew.

Watching CNN now, looks like Tampa will get hit with heavy rain/storm surge.

Meanwhile in Southern California...



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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......