My prayers are with you guys. We have been fortunate to have some decent rains this spring/summer so our valley has been untouched by major fire so far. There are reminders all around of the devastation of the fires from several years ago here in SW Montana. In some places right off the highway the blackened stick forest on a bare mountain-side still remains. It takes a long time for the forest to recover but the good news is that eventually it does.

maaan, i hope this does'nt turn into another Barriere fire.....

pics from locals:


rose valley fire
http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=rec&w=all&q=rose+valley&m=text


http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=glenrosa&s=rec&page=1

Be safe..I know it's part of nature, but this part sucks.

The wife and I took the mom-in-law for a car ride today.
Headed down that way, but the traffic was quite heavy (mostly
with people heading the same way as us).
We got to a small town about 30 to 45 minutes away from the blaze,
and the smoke clouds filled the sky.
After we got home, we learned that there are now 4 fires in the area
(was 3 this morning), 11,000 people now evacuated and another 6,000 on
evac alert.
Early reporting suggests that the fires were deliberately set.

The fire is still not under control, and threatens tens of thousands
more.

Made the international news. Checked the BBC website and there's a
big story on their front page.

Looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Almost 175,000 people living in that area.

Hope this doesn't turn into another summer like we had a few years ago.
Last I heard 6,500 homes evacuated, but that was early this afternoon

hope it gets better soon..

I hope things get better very quickly!

Arsonists should be burned at the stake. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I hope they can get it under control soon. I remember a while back when a good part of Florida was on fire - it was horrible and we were breathing smoke every days for months. Good luck! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crossfingers.gif" alt="" />

Seems to be the way here too.
A lot of our bush fires seem to be deliberately lit.

On very high risk days now, the police and CFS (country fire service - volunteer fire fighters that cover the country/non metro area) patrol the hills and I think I read that that had reduced the number of fires last summer.

Good luck to the folks in BC and I hope you are all OK.

I'd keep away from the fires, things can change pretty fast on the ground and what seems like a safe place can get pretty dangerous, pretty quick. All it takes is for the wind to change. Also the fire generate their own winds which can often jump fire breaks etc when the winds get high enough.

Staying away reduces the risk to you and makes the firefighter's jobs easier, both by giving them less to worry about and by keeping the roads clear.

Got that right.
In 2003 we had a fire go up the side of a mountain close to town here. Was
captured on video by the local news guys. Took 7 minutes to climb about 1800
feet up the side of the mountain.


Again, right on the button. We were about 50 miles away from the fires and
didn't get any closer. On the way back home (heading away from the fire), the
traffic going towards the fire was bumper to bumper for a solid 50 miles.

Crazy fools both for heading to the fire, and for stupid driving.
Twice I was forced to head for the shoulder of the highway because some idiot
in the oncoming traffic decided to pass without looking. Was crazy.

Amazing how fast things would go if everybody was orderly. Same with going from 2-1 lanes on the freeway. Always some asshat that wants to sneak up all the way and not wait his turn. Makes everything go slower and turns it into a cluster.

Sure there's urgency when getting away from a fire. But geez, lookout for everyone, not just be worried about yourself. Hoping you guys and gals stay safe up there.