Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf
Sorry, I will not stand down until we start to take these Mega Fires serious, especially our 'Governments in Training'. I cannot believe someone from Drayton Valley can believe we have forest fire fighting under control, 'nothing to see here folks' We just burned almost 5% of our Boreal Forest in one season.
|
I am from Drayton, was evacuated, I have lived in areas that were evacuated in BC, have wildfire fighting experience, evacuated from jobs and really way too much experience choking on smoke
The wind conditions, unseasonably dry weather, high temperatures, combined with multiple fires burning throughout the province needing resources I would say they did a pretty good job. I watched the fires near entwistle take off well at work and could see the one coming towards Drayton after work. The winds that created these fires to take of like this no one was going to control them
What I can tell you from the two seasons I spent working wildfires in BC is man has way less control of them then you seem to realize. Under high winds, high temperatures, and extremely dry conditions there is almost nothing you can do but hope you can slightly direct the fire or slow it a little till Mother Nature plays nice
I worked the shovel lake fire in BC and guys were on that within minutes because it started from a buncher catching fire and the loggers were equipment with tanks, equipment and training. That fire tore through the bush and was basically unstoppable. Really what put it out was snow not man. Feel free to google what that beast burnt. There was no way to stop it and it jumped breaks non stop. My brother was air lifted out twice on that fire once leading to his dozer burning
The environmental conditions last year in Drayton were far worse
What you fail to realize is how little control man has no matter what equipment or man power they have
My recommendation stand down completely till you spend some time fighting a wildfire and you will realize it’s not so simple
Could Alberta improve wildfire response of course but there is always room for improvement. But I have no complaints on how guys dealt with the fire in Drayton and I realize how close it really came to the main town