To say hope you're doing alright up there with the wildfires burning out of control in Alberta right now.

It's getting worse before it's getting better, according to the latest NBC reports.

Have you had to evacuate where you are? The entire province of Alberta is under a state of emergency, according to Canadian prime minister Trudeau.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-more-evacuated-blaze-spreads-south-n568476

No worry's Amyjo. The fires are 600 miles north of where I live. I know people who had to evacuate. Can't imagine the terror they faced and the heartache of the thousands of people who lost their homes. Thanks for your concern.

Ron Burr

PS: the state of emergency was declared as that opens up more avenues to emergency funding. And this whole province is very dry. There are at least 3 more wildfires burning in addition to the Fort Mac fire.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2016 08:21AM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

Ron, it works the same way in the U.S. with regard to emergency funding. In our case it is called a "federal disaster area."

Alberta is three times the size of Utah. Lethbridge and Fort McMurray are on opposite ends of the province, about 500 miles apart, the distance from SLC to Denver.

The southern region of the province is farm land, not forest. Not much fire danger there. I have no idea why the entire province has been declared to be in a state of emergency.

That said, having a forest fire this big in northern Alberta this early in the season is seriously alarming. This started in late April. What's July to October going to be like?!

Glad to hear you're doing alright where you are up there in Lethbridge.

Some of my friends in the southeastern part of Idaho could smell the smoke from range fires coming from other states and other ends of the state of Idaho, when they've had (more than their fair share of) range fires in the Northwest.

I wonder if that is why Alberta's been declared a 'state of emergency?' From the smoke that spreads by downwinds?

From reading the news blurb it is sure devastating what's happening in Fort McMurray and surrounding areas.

The Province declared the state of Emergency, but that doesn't mean the entire the entire province is in danger, it just greases the wheels for getting aid to the effected areas.

I just heard there was some rain in the area overnight and the temp has dropped to under 70F. Still a very dangerous situation up there but the fire fighters and bombers may be able to get some control.

RB

You are in my thoughts, Ron.
-Sunny

We're doing fine here Sunnynomo....no fires near us but keep a thought for the 80K+ displaced folks and all the fire and air crews risking their lives. Thanks!

RB

Oil production has been stopped at Fort Mac. This is 1/2 of Canada's total oil production. It has affected the world oil price...it's that big of a deal. Thousands of workers who live in the massive camps at the oilsands mines have been flown home and their thousands of beds opened up for the 18,000 evacuees who drove north. The next priority is to get those folks to Edmonton and Calgary 300 & 480 miles south. Our wonderful locally based airline, Westjet, plus other charter airlines who service the area have been flying out of airports near the camps (most of the large oilsands plants have their own fully operational airports) on their Boeing 737's...on their own dime I might add. This province and it's people and indeed all of Canada is pulling together as one. It happened during the Slave Lake wildfire several years ago, and for the Calgary flood and now for this. We will rebuild Fort McMurray better than ever. It's what we do.

RB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2016 01:56PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

The fire is now moving south...and I'm watching a live news conference that reports that up to 90% of homes in newly evacuated communities are lost. It keeps getting worse. Pray for rain folks.

RB

I'm very glad to hear that you are safe, Ron! But my heart goes out to those whose lives or property are in danger. I grew up in California and know the devastation of wildfires.

Here's to our neighbours up North! Oh Canada, our hearts are with thee! The Californian's Boner.

So glad to hear that you and your family are safe Ron. We get some really devastating bush fires here in Australia, but to hear of 18000 refugees and 90% property loss is truly horrific!

Our hearts,thoughts and prayers are with our Canadian cousins.

Latest number I read was 89,000 evacuees. The fire is moving south and threatening more lives and property. As of 2PM officials said the fire had grown to 200,000 acres!

RB

The fire has grown to 1/4 million acres overnight.

RB

Glad you're safe, Ron. As I former California resident I know it can be disconcerting to read the news, note the closures and evacuations and then sometimes smell the smoke and see the pall over the horizon. And then on the freeways see the fire trucks heading into the mouth of an inferno.

Best wishes to you and to your fellow residents and the gallant firefighters.

You folks just got through a major earthquake down there in Equador.

How are things getting along there, since then?

You are more inland, as I recall, near Quito.

That's where one of my nieces went on her mission.

Thanks for asking, Amyjo. The coast is still digging out. They have a long, long way to go to get back to normal.

The immediate effect here in the interior is a spike in prices. Everything is going up. Ecuador was struggling financially before the quake because we rely on oil exports (Ecuador is the smallest OPEC member) and the long drop in oil prices hit the economy hard. Then came the quake. So the government is hiking taxes on anything and everything.

It's been gratifying to see the response of the people to the disaster, however. Relief efforts sprung up everywhere and are still ongoing. It seems that every church and decent-sized business and community center started collecting donations for the coast. My wife and I schlepped a big package of food and diapers down to a local park and we were blown away at the piles of stuff coming in...and this is in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Ecuadorians are true family people and have a real sense of responsbility for one another. You see these folks walking up with bags of food and toothbrushes and bandages and whatever they can take from home to help out and, well, it touches your heart.

I saw images of two Fire Danger maps - one from a week ago, and another from today on a news site. A week ago, most of Alberta and Saskatchewan (including McMurray) were showing green - low fire danger. This week's map shows more than half of the two provinces in red. It's stunning how quickly things changed, but as Ron said it's very dry this year. We had a mild winter with less snow than normal, have had very little rain this spring and temperatures are unusually high for this time of year. A bad combination, something I am mindful of as I look out my windows at the forest that completely surrounds my community.

What's happening in Fort McMurray is foremost a tragedy for all of those who have been forced to evacuate and have possibly lost their homes. But it's also a tremendous blow to Alberta, which has been struggling with the effects of the oil and gas downturn. We already have many thousands of people out of work, my son in law among them, and this just adds to that. But the last few days have brought out the best in people, as disasters often tend to do, and the outpouring of support has been heartening.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2016 09:19PM by looking in.

That's a relief. Stay safe, Ron.

To put it in perspective, those of us that live in the same region as Ron...it would take us as long to drive to Salt Lake City as it would to drive to Fort McMurray.
We are not in harms way.
Does anybody know if there are any posters here who live or work that far north?

Correct....last time I drove up to Fort Mac it took us 11 hours and we were haulin'ass!! 600 miles and the shortest route is mostly 2 lane.

RB

how come the U.S. is not helping ?

We are. We now have 3 aircraft up there and others from the US as well. As of this morning about 70+ aircraft are up there fighting this fire or transporting people / supplies in one way or another.