Canada Burning

[Neighbor]

JULY 17, 2023

Another day  of heavy smoke is in the air at the smokey Mountains of North Carolina. It looks and feels like Los Angeles 1968. Can't see "views" in the mountains, it is all just haze, not the fog that looks like smoke in these mountains. There is a smell too, unlike smog of the old Los Angeles  days, there is that slight  wood burning smell plus it is a bit difficult to breath deeply.  

Some 880 fires are evidently burning Canada  up at this time. What must it be like at Canada?

[Neighbor]

I find I do think - Time of the signs. On a everyday practical application basis  though, what of those even more directly facing these fires?

I  don't see details in the news. Course, we don't receive news much here either. What is known by those on the WCF board? 

[FJK]

Fires with a purpose maybe.

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, FJK said:

Fires with a purpose maybe.

Like God doesn't want me outside painting the patio today? LOL

Aah maybe they are a way of  holding back global cooling, yes that must be it. 

I just don't know much about Canada, not it's policies regarding it's forests, tending them etc. I am hoping someone here might have  at least a little insight or even just practical knowledge of the areas aflame. I know much of California fires come as result of poor local  and State government management of woodlands as example. While Florida has fires without having much  in the way  of government land management policy.

North Carolina cuts swarths of land right to the ground making vast scars through the mountains. Much of the TVA land gets scalped regularly as example. Making for lots and lots of ugliness, but perhaps it also  does help control burnings from getting out of hand. I just don't have a strong feeling  regarding prevention of fires, except keep man away  totally if they are not well aware of what their actions in the woods may do. But that isn't going to happen. And so I sit today inside with AC running instead of being outside in the once fresh air now polluted with bits of very fine ash wondering how could Canada have 880 forest fires? ???.

I also see that there is report that there are really some 2400+ separate fires at Canada at this time, including controlled burns done deliberately for forest management. Maybe it is simply too much "control" at one time? ???

[Kristin]

Most fires are started by arsons. There are groups now who are called “ecoterrorists”.  Trying to force their climate change ideology by creating climate crisis. 

[com7fy8]

I suppose there are the good things that God can bring from it.

Canada might not have resources to deal with the amount of fire they have. 

I have been told that earlier people managed the prairies and forests. And one place gave Native Americans opportunities to resume what they had been doing earlier, and that worked pretty good.

But there could be ecoterrorists, and arsonists without some cause, and someone tossing a hot cigarette butt here or there, and forest management fires, and fires because there is no management. 

And some crow could have stolen somebody's lit cigar and realized it wasn't a hot dog, at a barbeque.

And people do burns of leaves and brush and it gets out of control. And a discarded glass bottle, I have been told, can magnify sunlight to ignite leaves near the bottle.

So, I suppose there could be more than one thing going on.

[Sower]

16 minutes ago, com7fy8 said:

So, I suppose there could be more than one thing going on.

A few googled stats;

More than 20 million acres have been charred by wildfires in Canada so far this year.
This year's wildfire season is already the country's worst in at least a decade

Wildfires in Canada have burned a staggering 25 million acres so far this year, an area roughly the size of Kentucky. With more than a month of peak fire season left to go, 2023 has already eclipsed Canada's previous annual record from 1989, when over 18 million acres were scorched.

Canada's eastern provinces like Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia have been hit particularly hard this year by large and at times uncontrollable blazes.

As of June 27, there are 480 active fires across the country, with 251 out of control and 152 under control, according to the Canadian Inter agency Forest Fire Center. Officials on Tuesday reported the highest number of active fires in Quebec. British Columbia, along Canada's west coast, had the second-highest number of active blazes followed by Alberta and Ontario.

The fires have scorched at least 7.8 million hectares — or around 19.2 million acres — of land across Canada since the start of this year, according to the fire agency. The acreage has surpassed the previous annual record from 1989, reported by the National Forest Database.

Are wildfires in Canada common?

Wildfires are common during this time of year when warmer, dry weather creates the perfect environment for blazes, especially in Canada's forests. However, devastation from this season's fires has put the country on track for the worst wildfire season in recent years.

Wildfire Causes.
The B.C. government says the majority of wildfires each year are caused by lightning, while in Alberta, the majority are caused by humans — including from off-road vehicles, campfires, fireworks, ammunition, industrial activity, agriculture, power lines and some arson.

 

[teddyv]

5 hours ago, Neighbor said:

I find I do think - Time of the signs. On a everyday practical application basis  though, what of those even more directly facing these fires?

I  don't see details in the news. Course, we don't receive news much here either. What is known by those on the WCF board? 

I can give you an update from BC in a bit. We'll be driving through smoke and close to several major fires in the BC interior during much of today.

[farouk]

Over on the eastern side also there have been a lot of fire with extensive smoke. The smoke has been regularly from totally different fires.

It's more of a commentary about the weather and dry conditions.

[teddyv]

There has been surprisingly little smoke so far, due to the winds I presume. It was really bad when we were going the other way about a week ago.