It has been beary dry which is not unusual... but it has been much drier and hotter than normal. Our lawn, has gone yellow much earlier (except for the weeds of course). We didn't have as much snow in the mountains as normal and that has affected river levels. People are being urged to conserve water.
On July 4, we woke up to a brush fire not too too far from us... apparently caused by improperly extinguished personal smoking material (i.e. cigarettes).
And we also saw helicopters with water buckets. That fire was a bit farther away. It was caused by a haying machine that had over-heated bearings. Another one was caused by high-school grads who didn't take care of their campfire.
And then... one morning.. we woke up to this. It's not fog. It's smoke! And it smelled smokey too! We had fine ash over everything in the house (all the windows are open cause of the heat).
Most of that smoke came from a fire up near Pemberton on the mainland. This satellite photograph shows the southern part of Vancouver Island covered in smoke. Nice.
It did make for red sunsrises and sunets. But it has been beary disconcerting. Lots of small brush fires. And across B.C. we've had 1025 forest fires since April 1.
The BC Government has even re-engaged the services of the Martin Mars Water Bomber stationed near Port Alberni. It is a huge (200 foot wing-span) converted WWII US bomber. Only 2 remain in the world. It is beary expensive to operate (something like $8000/hour) but it carries 27,000 litres of water. (Did you notice how I happily switch between imperial and metric measurements with nary a blink?)
We did have a bit of rain last weekend, so are keeping our paws and toes crossed. A beary smokey Sandy Bear signing off...
Cute Bear and great blog !
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWow you have it much worse than we do. So, it's $8,000 an hour to run the plane, is that Canadian money or US funds? Either way, it's expensive.
ReplyDeleteI think you might an emergency trip to get away from the heat. I hear Hawaii is nice this time of year.
Yes... it has been a bad wildfire season. That's $8000 CAN/hr... expensive either way... plus there is an "on-call" fee too. Oh well...
DeleteI do think we need to get away from the heat - I hear Iceland is nice at this time of year!
only YOU can prevent forest fires!
ReplyDeleteSo true!! You'd make a great Smokey Bear Ajdin... you just need that cool hat.
DeleteOh boy. I hope you are staying safe up there. How is the water conservation going to affect the garden?...
ReplyDeleteWell, even during the worst water conservation level, we can still water the garden (veggies, flowers, bushes) with a hose that has a nozzle that shuts off. At that extreme level, no sprinkling, no house washing or car washing or hosing off driveways, decks etc. Oh, and no filling residential pools or fountains, etc. etc. I think we might be good though. We have a reservoir that is 85% full... some communities rely on river water and that is getting beary low.
DeleteWe are seeing the Canadian smoke in Minneapolis...obviously not caused by stuffies. Let us know if you need us to send emergency water!
ReplyDelete