Fire!!!

[NorthernRedneck]

Forest fires...that is.

Our town has been designated as basically an evacuation center for many years. This year is no different. For the past two weeks, we been hosts to 500 evacuees from a northern reserve who's community was close to being burned to the ground. They returned home last saturday. Today, we are in the middle of getting 1000 more from another northern reserve. There is currently 103 forest fires burning in Ontario with most of those being in the north.

Smoke from the fires up north is engulfing the entire area I live in with a thick grey haze right now. It's been hot and humid which makes it quite hard to breathe when outside. We've had lots of lightning storms pass through the last few days. There were reports of a mini tornado not far from here that closed the highway last night until cleanup crews could get out and clear downed trees off the highway. Hail the size of golfballs fell last night in Longlac, which is a 25 minute drive away and also where I work. Smoke seemed worse over there today then here. There are reports of fires within an hour drive in all directions from Geraldton which is where I live. The majority of fires started this summer were caused by lightning and lightning is forecasted for the next five days for the area.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/AFFM/2ColumnSubPage/268862.html

 

[NorthernRedneck]

The situation isn't getting any better up here. My cousin works up at musselwhite mine, which employs close to 2500 people I'm told. It's a northern gold mine that only has access by plane. They had to be evacuated on a moments notice.
Here's a link to some pictures they took as they were evacuated from the mine site.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150248930452947&set=a.10150248903802947.326912.703977946&type=1

Believe it or not, there's a town under that smoke in the next picture. Some of the people from this place are staying across the street from my house right now at our arena.

3,300 people evacuated as Northern Ontario forest fires rage
Published On Wed Jul 20 2011



There are 112 active forest fires burning across 300,000 hectares in the north — five times the normal average, Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey said Wednesday.

There are 112 active forest fires burning across 300,000 hectares in the north — five times the normal average, Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey said Wednesday.
MITCH MILLER/ONTARIO MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Image
By Tanya Talaga Queen's Park Bureau

Raging forest fires in Northern Ontario are forcing the evacuation of nearly 3,300 people as far south as Ottawa and Kitchener.

There are 112 active forest fires burning across 300,000 hectares in the north — five times the normal average, Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey said Wednesday.

“The situation is changing by the hour,” she said. “These are extraordinarily difficult times.”

Two thousand firefighters on the ground and in the air are trying to combat the fires, including 500 firefighters from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, the Yukon and British Columbia.

Ontario’s emergency operations centre was mobilized Monday and it is working in conjunction with Ottawa and Canadian Forces.

More than 3,000 people have been evacuated including two full communities — Cat Lake First Nation and Keewaywin First Nation, north of Red Lake. Most of them were evacuated by the military.

They are being put up in hotels and recreation centres in Kapuskasing, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Greenstone and as far away as Arthur near Kitchener.

Hot, windy weather and lightning are hampering the firefighting. The smoke is so thick that in spots it can be seen from the Manitoba border across to Quebec, said Al Tithecott, the province’s chief firefighter at the Ministry of Natural Resources.

“We are expecting 15 to 20 new fires on a daily basis,” Tithecott said from Sault St. Marie.

In the last two days fires have “aggressively moved toward communities” and firefighters have to keep at a distance, he said. The fire is within 3 kilometres of buildings in Keewaywin and at Sandy Lake the fire is within 10 kilometres of the community.

But the biggest issue people are facing is the dense smoke, he said.

There are 104 aircraft in the north including water bombers, twin otters and helicopters.

“Our first priority is to protect people,” Jeffrey said.

But Nishnawbe Aski-Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy has criticized what he calls the slow removal of people out of harm’s way.

“I am . . . asking the province to declare a state of emergency so that all necessary resources can be directed to protect the health and safety of the residents of these communities,” he said in a release.

“Many remote First Nations under imminent threat from these fires rely completely on air transportation,” he said. “There is a very real danger that heavy smoke from these fires could prevent aircraft from landing, making it impossible to get people out safely if an evacuation is ordered.”

Tony Clement, minister of economic development for Northern Ontario, was in Dryden on Wednesday meeting with those affected by the fires.

 

[muleman]

These super hot temps sure are not helping any to stop fire either. We need a hurricane or two to bring you folks some rain up there.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

We've been getting the odd shower passing through which helps to moisten the ground but when each rain shower is accompanied by many lightning strikes, the fires just keep popping up.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

A few of my coworkers went in last night right after work to work with the evacuees. They reported something quite disturbing. Some of the larger communities that were evacuated from up north had to be split up and sent to different locations. There were mothers with children trying to locate their fathers, who where sent to one of any towns in Ontario taking in evacuees. There were also fathers there frantically trying to track down their loved ones.

Some of the communities only evacuated the elderly and women/children at first. Others opted for the entire community to be evacuated. In total right now, Our small town of roughly 2500 people has taken in over 1000 people in the past week due to forest fires threatening their towns. Longlac, located 25 miles away, has taken in another 300 with more expected any day. Most of the small towns around here have done their part and have either taken in evacuees or are on standby to start taking them in. It's a sad situation. Families being torn apart with the threat of losing their homes and everything they know.

 

[muleman]

That is a tough situation with folks not getting placed together. Hopefully someone can get some rosters worked up for who is where. Even if it takes a while it is good to know that loved ones are safe.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Just a quick update. Most of the evacuees have returned home though there remains 135 active fires in Ontario. We had a couple close calls around the area I live in. Over the weekend, I counted 9 fires that sprung up within a 40 mile radius of where I live. most are either under control or out completely but one roughly 30 miles south of the town where I work has doubled in size since saturday and is now covering roughly 190 hectares. It was only 100 hectares yesterday when I checked the fire map. We had some rain go through the area yesterday but not enough to improve the situation since the ground was so dry to start with. I was out in the boat saturday fishing in the eve when I noticed the sky getting darker by the minute and as the sun when behind the cloud of smoke, it turned an orange-redish color with a ring around it. It was neat to watch. Minutes later, the smoke was so thick you couldn't see the sun anymore. Over the weekend and still this week, there's been a steady stream of different CL415 waterbombers, helicopters, and smaller spotter planes flying back and forth to the fire just south of town. Some days when the wind is blowing just right, there's a thick layer of smoke in town and on the highway.

 

[muleman]

Hope we get some moisture from this tropical storm Emily and it makes it up there. Seems that is the only thing that is going to end this dry spell. We got some real rain yesterday for the first time in almost 6 weeks and it will help to lessen the fire danger. Folks have been pretty smart about not burning since it has been dry. We did have a combine catch fire last week but they got it out before it reached the woods. The dust from the grain harvest is unreal.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I'd welcome a good steady all day down pour. Any moisture we've gotten this summer has been in short spurts accompanied by severe thunderstorms. The lightning from the storms is starting more fires than the rain can put out.