Never Thought It Would Happen to Us

We've lived in Chase, near Kamloops for a little over five years.  We like it here because there are a lot of roads to take for day trips around the central and southern part of BC.  But since we've been here we have been smoked out by forest fires in four of six summers.  One summer it got so bad that we packed up the RV and headed for the coast for a couple of weeks where the air was cleaner.

Most of the fires are caused by lightening as storms pass over the forests.  Several weeks ago two fires broke out near the Adams River, about 25 km from our home.  One is now over 25 thousand acres and growing.  The other is over 5 thousand acres.  Yesterday the wind shifted from mostly southerly light breezes to mostly northerly brisk winds with large gusts.  That's a firefighter's nightmare.  Sure enough, the fires began to progress towards our town, and the local authorities put the town on an evacuation alert, which is a warning that an evacuation order may come at any moment so be prepared to leave in a hurry. We watched from our driveway as huge clouds of smoke and ash came billowing out of the Adams River Valley.  It was just north of us but slowly moving in our direction.  Around 6 pm an ember landed in the forest about 20 km from the fire and started ANOTHER fire.  That was enough to cause us to take action.  We packed up the RV, closed up the house and left.  Currently we are near Kamloops boondocking and waiting for news before considering returning or heading north for a few days.  The latest word is that Chase is under an alert, so we are able to return as long as we are willing to leave immediately if need be.  

Wildfires are not unique to Chase this year.  The nearby city of Kelowna has had to evacuate over 5,000 homes as fire rips through part of the city.  The capital of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife has completely evacuated a city of 20,000 people due to approaching fires.  BC alone has over 400 active wildfires with firefighters coming from around the world to help out.  

Here are some photos of the smoke and glow from the fires.

This one shows the smoke coming from the fire

 

Smoke is getting closer.  Ash beginning to fall.


 
 

The glow from the Adams Lake fire and it's progeny, the Turtle Valley fire.

 
 

I did wonder if any of you guys in Canada where being effected, now I have the answer. I genuinely hope it passes by with causing you any damage, in the interim getting away is absolutely the sensible thing to do. Too many people stick it out regardless and put rescuers in jeapordy !! Be safe, everything else can be replaced/rebuilt

I hope the fires bypass your town and that the firefighters can get them under control soon.

I sincerely hope you guys get through this without injury or damage. Cant begin to imagine what it must be like. Pictures of the scene across the lake from Kelowna look like a nightmare. 

There are/were a few other kzr members in that central BC area. Hope they are ok also.

Thanks for the good wishes.  We are back in Chase but under a fire alert.  Winds have died down and are mostly from the south again.  There is very little smoke in town, but lots to the North of us.  As we left town last night we saw a lot of horse trailers heading up into Turtle Valley, likely to rescue animals.  There is a donkey refuge up there with a lot of animals that need protection from the fire.  

The main highway is closed because of the fire, so if you're planning to ride the Trans Canada Highway in the next few days....don't.

Today the smoke has made it south to Lynden Wa. near the border but the draft from the Straight of Juan de Fuca has kept the smoke from coming further south to my area. So far we haven't had any smokey days like the last few years.

HRM - Be safe, we're thinking of you.

Scotty

Hardrock I was thinking of you up there today. We were on our way back from Seattle riding in dense smoke from all the fires in Washington and Canada. I-90 was shut down near Spokane and it took us 1 1/2 hours to go 5 miles before finding some backroads to get home. 

Hope thing go good for you. Keep us informed.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone!

We finally got an update to the fire map last night.  They have been fighting two fires for most of the last month.  There were some really strong storms about two weeks ago with a lot of rain, but the fires continued to burn.  On Friday the winds changed from South to Northwest and were very brisk, with strong gusts pushing the fire to the Southeast, which was directly towards the town of Chase.  It travelled 20 km in 12 hrs, expanding in size from 25,000 acres to 100,000 acres.  It wiped out four communities, but Chase was saved, likely because there is a lake (Little Shuswap) between us and the fire.  We are at the S end of the lake.  The fire went through the N end.

We came back home yesterday.  Winds had died down but smoke was very intense.  I went for a bike (Bicycle) ride but cut it off due to smoke.  This morning the smoke seems a bit less than yesterday so I'll give the bike ride another try in a couple of hrs.

So we were lucky this time.  The city of Kelowna was not so lucky.  Thousands of people evacuated and hundreds of homes burned.  

Smoke map with outline of the fire.  Chase is in the lower left corner at the end ot the lake.


Smoke from Friday
 

Smoke from Saturday...same view
 

Prayers for you, yours & everyone affected.   Can't imagine...  Stay safe.

slmjim & Z1BEBE

Thanks Jim.  I guess the good news is that no one has died in this conflagration.  The community of Scotch Creek had to evacuate by boat, as the road out was in the fire zone.  At least two firefighters have died this year by accidents while fighting to protect our communities.

Hoping you have the best outcome possible. Good luck and be safe!