563 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

People in Malibu live in burned out neighbourhoods all the time, then they re-build them within a few years (or more since California has crazy rules).

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 July 2024 - 06:11 PM.

[Mike K.]

Everybody else had insurance pay for AirBnBs away from toxic fire destroyed zones.

You guys aren’t making sense. I think you’re both trolling.

[todd]

“Alberta government seeks help from military to combat wildfires, help evacuees“: https://www.cbc.ca/n...berta-1.7273606

[Victoria Watcher]

Everybody else had insurance pay for AirBnBs away from toxic fire destroyed zones.

You guys aren’t making sense. I think you’re both trolling.

 

I'm not saying you have to live there with no water, but saving your home is high on lots of people's list.

 

Some percantage of people also stay even when an evacuation order has been given, to save their home.  Some of those die, of course.

 

 

 

 

Emergency officials and police are urging British Columbia residents to respect evacuation orders ahead of fast−moving wildfires, but some First Nations are standing their ground, successfully protecting their homes and property.

 

The chief of the Tl’etinqox First Nation said RCMP officers told them to leave or risk having their children taken away. Instead they erected a fire boundary and prepared to fight.

 

"We are generation after generation that continue to live in a fire zone. This is not new to us," said Chief Joe Alphonse, whose community is about 100 kilometres west of Williams Lake. "We feel this is the safest place for our community members to be."

 

There are about 1,000 residents on the reserve, but Alphonse said only about 300 stayed to fight the fires.

 

 

 

 

https://www.national...ditions-improve

 

 

 

 

Ultimately, Alphonse said staying was the right decision and it saved at least 10 homes.

 

The chief of the Bonaparte Indian Band north of Ashcroft said they also defied an evacuation order over the weekend and successfully stopped flames from overrunning their reserve.

 

"My community has some really skilled firefighters, like a lot of First Nations reserves, and they came together and they stopped that wildfire from wiping out that whole community," Chief Ryan Day said.

 

He said 60 of the band’s 280 members stayed to fight the fire.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 July 2024 - 06:19 PM.

[max.bravo]

My point is simply that the narrative we’re presented with is false: “wildfires are bad, and can’t coexist with human habitation.” It’s a false dichotomy.

Wildfires are necessary, and they will persist as long as we have forests. If we fear them and suppress them all, we just make the eventual wildfire way larger and more destructive than it needs to be. A self fulfilling prophecy in a way.

If we change how we think about wildfires, and human habitation in forests, then we can 1) have smaller wildfires; and 2) keep peoples homes and businesses in tact when a fire comes close to a human settlement - through good building ideas like firebreaks, metal roofs, and smart thinking about situations.

Wildfires are not an all-or-nothing destructive force. That’s the same kind of fear based logic that scared perfectly healthy young people into taking an experimental gene therapy with unknown side effects for a respiratory disease with a 99% survival rate.

People are capable of learning about things, and making informed personal decisions in line with their own values. Whether that be saving their home from fire, or bodily autonomy.

If we leave it up to the media and government, they will scare us into submission and make us think the only option is evacuation (or taking the jab). I’m just pointing out it’s the same principles at play here.

Edited by max.bravo, 24 July 2024 - 06:24 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Australia does a good job.  Nobody there has asphalt or wood roofs.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://x.com/lilkd4...6912104/photo/1

 

[Victoria Watcher]

[Mike K.]

Somehow this conversation has veered into the COVID debate.

Letting fires near our communities burn themselves out is madness. Staying back when an evacuation order has been issued is suicidal.

I don’t understand where this expertise is coming from that Max is pushing, but I caution anyone who feels like there’s merit to these suggestions to speak with experts and seek their guidance.

Fire is the scariest thing I can think of that could actually put me and my family in danger. I’m bewildered by this conservation treating it like it’s a controllable, predictable and insignificant issue.

[max.bravo]

At some point in the near future, we need to have a cultural conversation about cities situated in firebox forests.

There’s nothing charming about a city burning to ashes because it feels environmentally friendly to have a thick “urban canopy” or whatever the tree-hugging, anti-carbon lunatics call it.

[Mike K.]

Good lord. I was in Jasper not long ago.

They evacuated Jasper on Monday night, I think? That’s sheer terror right there in those photos.

[max.bravo]

Somehow this conversation has veered into the COVID debate.

Letting fires near our communities burn themselves out is madness. Staying back when an evacuation order has been issued is suicidal.

I don’t understand where this expertise is coming from that Max is pushing, but I caution anyone who feels like there’s merit to these suggestions to speak with experts and seek their guidance.

Fire is the scariest thing I can think of that could actually put me and my family in danger. I’m bewildered by this conservation treating it like it’s a controllable, predictable and insignificant issue.

It’s the same ‘expertise’ that got me through COVID unjabbed. ie, critical thinking and common sense.

‘Trust the experts’ is a good slogan when you want to outsource responsibility for decisionmaking - but it really depends who you ask. Some Uvic grad in an EMBC office in Victoria will probably agree that it’s “suicidal” to ignore evacuation orders. While another frontline wildfire worker might tell you, “it depends.”

Anyway, I’m not saying let cities burn down. What’s happening in Jasper is the direct result of stupidity - why is a forest allowed to be so close to the townsite??!!

I’m saying let’s just become way smarter about wildfires. It’s not that hard to think about a forest fire and figure out how it works. And therefore how to protect yourself from it. (Let the ones that don’t threaten people burn themselves out; protect cities and structures with fire breaks and good building materials. Simple as)

[Victoria Watcher]

 

Pictured shared by 

@tiredinAB

 which appears to be geolocated to a boat dock at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge showing incredibly high flames toward the south of town.

 

https://x.com/vcdgf5...301824254828861

[max.bravo]

Maybe we should reconsider all this forest we’re constantly battling in Canada & the western states.

Imagine how beautiful the island would look if our mountains were covered in grassy pastures like Ireland or Scotland. Instead of rugged, ugly, dangerous forests.

When I’m driving through a clearcut on the island, i notice it’s often the most beautiful part of the drive.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://x.com/JasperNP

 

[max.bravo]

Footage of a water bomber on Shawnigan lake picking up to fight the Old Man Lake fire. https://youtu.be/Py5...8l1nbejLRRwIBjf

[Nparker]

...If we leave it up to the media and government, they will scare us into submission...

But submission IS the goal.

[LJ]

It was smokey at our house this morning, but the wind picked up and it disappeared. The AQI was always good.

[LJ]

I just went on a Chicago architectural boat cruise so I know about these things.
 

My wife went on one of those today, quite enjoyed it.

[Mike K.]

Jasper fire crews are now focusing on protecting assets like the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Crazy.