Sep 07, 2011

State of emergency!!

It had to happen.  Why oh why could we not get through at least one summer without a forest fire??

The fire was reported about 10:05PM Monday, the 5th and so began the evacuations of about 550 residents in the area along with campers at Bear Creek Provincial Park.

Very roughly, this is occuring to the West of us just on the other side of Okanagan Lake.

Yesterday morning we awoke to the smell of smoke.  Soon the sky around us was covered in what appeared to be a white fog but of course was smoke.  Personally we are affected as this puts an end to Colin’s photography.  So far 25 hectares are involved.

The hot air is trapping the smoke in the valley...

Because of the thick smoke ( can you see downtown Kelowna ) it took a while for the helicopters to start dropping their water. Fortunately the ground crew & the heavy equipment operators were able to slowly begin to contain the fire. .

The fire apparently started in the area of the walking trails off Bear Creek Main Forestry Road.  While no cause has been determined, fire officials say it was definitely human caused.  One woman sleeping in a tent with 3 young children woke about midnight because of the smoke, packed her kids into the car and left their camping gear in the campground.  There are many stories like this.  Fortunately no one was injured and no homes were destroyed, unlike the very sad fire situation in Texas.  By Tuesday evening they were letting residents return.
Sadly the fire has grown to 39 hectares and today  we are still experiencing smoke haze.  Fortunately Colin was able to schedule indoor shoots for today.
I do apologize for the delay in today’s post but yesterday was an event of its own with us getting to bed about 2AM this morning.  I’m about 6 hours behind my already behind schedule.  For yesterday’s event check in manana.  OMG…have a look at today’s word of the day!!

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6 responses so far

6 Responses to “State of emergency!!”

  1. George & Suzie says:
    September 7, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    Wow that’s a pretty close forest fire, good thing nobody was injured in this disaster.

    Reply
  2. Elaine says:
    September 8, 2011 at 12:54 am

    Oh my stars Contessa glad its finally contained and that your both safe and sound!!
    hugs

    Reply
  3. Sandie says:
    September 8, 2011 at 3:00 am

    So glad to read the fire is contained. But what a tragedy. Texas is burning up and here in MT we have several fires burning all around. Sure happy you guys are okay and that nobody was hurt. Very scary.

    Reply
  4. Marty says:
    September 8, 2011 at 3:38 am

    It is so dry-what a contrast to the wet snowy spring!

    Reply

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