I am surprised we don’t have a thread for this (or maybe we do but I am too lazy to dig deep enough)
Well it looks like the chickens are coming home to roost again this year with several major forest fires burning in the Okanagan Valley.
As of now we have Okanagan Mt. Park (340 HA)
Mt. Eneas near Peachland (500 HA) which is causing havoc on the 97.
Mt. Cockle (93 HA) near Summerland
Then there is Scully Mtn. (400 HA) near Keremeos.
Placer Mtn. (150 HA) also near Keremeos.
And then dozens of small spot fires throughout the area and some larger ones in the Central Interior as well.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...neas-1.4752971
Pics are from the article posted.
A low pressure system will be just skirting the southern interior tomorrow before heating up again. This could go three ways, it dips low enough to give at least some relief to the fires, it stays too far north and is neutral to the fires, or it gives little to no precipitation but ignited thunderstorms causing more fires and spreads the existing ones through gusty winds.
I really don’t want to be smoked out in BC again this summer... so I hope they get things under control.
That said, nearly all of these fires are natural (started by lighting, not people) so I am asking, did BC learn anything from last year??
The Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir forests of the southern interior are over crowded with saplings, spindly trees, and thick underbrush from over 100 years of fire suppression. This last winter and spring, how many controlled burns did the province perform in the Okanagan??? I have personally noticed for many years that the stretch between Summerland and West Kelowna is especially long overdue for a burn, same with the stretch between Kelowna and Vernon.
PS someone please fix the title
Threaded Mode