Canadian wildfires

[dylanvb]

North Colorado is pretty smokey, noticed it last night and the wife informed me of he fires. Can normally see for miles and cant see further then a mile.

 

[Gutshot007]

Seems to be finially clearing some in Mn after about a week . Getting light rain . Did smell like an "electrical fire" and not a nice campfire

 

[DiabeticKripple]

Central Montana is bad (Unhealthy); supposed to shift to a more westerly flow and clear it out- we'll see.

Also this isn't the first time Western Canada has sent smoke our way in May and June; anyone venture a guess why their fire season is two months ahead of ours? I would have guessed theirs would be later than ours, but doesn't seem to be the case.

we had a bunch of snow this year but it melted early. Right when it finished melting the temps skyrocketed for this time of year (82F compared to normal 59F) and it hasn't rained a drop.

Basically everything dried out within a month and we haven't got any precipitation. This combined with poor forest management the last few decades has resulted in so much undergrowth and dead fall that it made conditions just right for massive fires. It was also very windy when it was hot which fueled the fires.

We got the worst fire conditions all at once. Tons of fuel, bone dry, and windy.

Here is a map with the fires just to show perspective of the size.

ArcGIS Dashboards

ArcGIS Dashboards

www.arcgis.com

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

Hope this blows out soon.

 

[Stache Attack]

Central Montana here, since Tuesday night poor visibility, pretty harsh air quality at times. Started to clear out yesterday then socked back in.

 

[mtwarden]

we had a bunch of snow this year but it melted early. Right when it finished melting the temps skyrocketed for this time of year (82F compared to normal 59F) and it hasn't rained a drop.

Basically everything dried out within a month and we haven't got any precipitation. This combined with poor forest management the last few decades has resulted in so much undergrowth and dead fall that it made conditions just right for massive fires. It was also very windy when it was hot which fueled the fires.

We got the worst fire conditions all at once. Tons of fuel, bone dry, and windy.

Here is a map with the fires just to show perspective of the size.

ArcGIS Dashboards

ArcGIS Dashboards

www.arcgis.com

Thanks- that would certainly do it- sadly.

 

[Vaquero 45]

Any reports from the UP of Michigan ???? ...........

 

[Gutshot007]

Any reports from the UP of Michigan ???? ...........

Looking at map above looks like they are socked in

 

[Vaquero 45]

Thank You .....

 

[Gutshot007]

Yoopers probably pissed gonna cut down on the UFO sightings this weekend once the sauce starts flowing. Lol

 

[DiabeticKripple]

Thanks- that would certainly do it- sadly.

instead of fighting every fire to put it out as fast as possible, if they had let some burn each year we wouldnt be left with so much fuel in the forest.

Id say theres forest here that hasnt had fires in decades as a result. Some of it is so thick you cant even walk through it, let alone any animals.

 

[marjje]

instead of fighting every fire to put it out as fast as possible, if they had let some burn each year we wouldnt be left with so much fuel in the forest.

Id say theres forest here that hasnt had fires in decades as a result. Some of it is so thick you cant even walk through it, let alone any animals.

Maybe Alberta is different, but in my experiences helping out in Manitoba, they let some fires burn as long as private property or valuable timber isn't threatened.

Edit: typo

 

[Pony Soldier]

Maybe this just an attempt to make the LA transplants feel at home.

 

[DiabeticKripple]

Maybe Alberta is different, but in my experiences helping out in Manitoba, they let some fires burn as long as private property or valuable timber isn't threatened.

Edit: typo

they do that here, but only wayyy up north where theres literally nothing.

much of the bush to the west of the cities they always put out right away.

 

[alecvg]

they do that here, but only wayyy up north where theres literally nothing.

much of the bush to the west of the cities they always put out right away.

Its a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of thing. I am pretty heavily involved in fire here in Montana, right now we have a lot of political push to put out fires aggressively, outside of designated wilderness areas. Doesn't seem like we can do anything that keeps people happy. You let them burn, especially in todays forest conditions and there is too much risk, and heavy criticism. You put them out and the same people who bitch when you let them burn complain that we put them out too early. Most attempts to thin fuel loads on public lands are shut down or litigated. You try doing prescribed burns, and people complain about the smoke, or you run the risk of having an event like what happened in New Mexico last year.

Luckily here where I am at, there is a heavy push towards more WUI fire wise practice awareness, and money from the feds to help private landowners with mitigation efforts, but still the majority of landowners won't put any money towards it. I do some mitigation and fuel reductions work, most people understand it needs to be done, but few try to take advantage of the grant money available, or are willing to pay for it themselves.

This problem is only going to get worse.

 

[ODB]

Is that why Boise is smoggy as I’m literally driving into town at this second? Damn…

 

[Axlrod]

Been bad in SW Montana for a few days. We used to have smoke the last 2 weeks of August. Now 2 days after winter ended! It's like a freaking cartoon here- if there are fires North, South, or West of us we get dumped on. I'm at 5500' in what they call a summit valley, and the smoke settles in and stays.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

Its a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of thing. I am pretty heavily involved in fire here in Montana, right now we have a lot of political push to put out fires aggressively, outside of designated wilderness areas. Doesn't seem like we can do anything that keeps people happy. You let them burn, especially in todays forest conditions and there is too much risk, and heavy criticism. You put them out and the same people who bitch when you let them burn complain that we put them out too early. Most attempts to thin fuel loads on public lands are shut down or litigated. You try doing prescribed burns, and people complain about the smoke, or you run the risk of having an event like what happened in New Mexico last year.

Luckily here where I am at, there is a heavy push towards more WUI fire wise practice awareness, and money from the feds to help private landowners with mitigation efforts, but still the majority of landowners won't put any money towards it. I do some mitigation and fuel reductions work, most people understand it needs to be done, but few try to take advantage of the grant money available, or are willing to pay for it themselves.

This problem is only going to get worse.

Yep I get it. It’s been decades in the making really. I had family lose their cabin along with dozens of others a few years ago do to the feds not taking help offered by Cal fire to immediately put out a lighting fire in this remote canyon in the sierras. They decided it wouldn’t burn out of control and to let it go, ooops! It scorched the area to the dirt. Still looks like the moon up there 6 years later.

I think there are so many factors to wildfires being the way they are lately. But it also seems the majority of the large out of control devastating fires are coming from states that long term have leaned towards preserving the forests (ie no logging, thinning, controlled burns, etc). Am I wrong on this?

What are the experts thinking this summer will be like with all the record moisture/snow the west has had? Since last year was very mild for California fire wise I have hope it’s going to get better, but my firefighting friends say it’s going to get worse like you said.

 

[DWD]

Central MN has been smoky for a couple days. Sure makes for some nice sunrises with a red sun, but air quality has been poor.

 

[alecvg]

Yep I get it. It’s been decades in the making really. I had family lose their cabin along with dozens of others a few years ago do to the feds not taking help offered by Cal fire to immediately put out a lighting fire in this remote canyon in the sierras. They decided it wouldn’t burn out of control and to let it go, ooops! It scorched the area to the dirt. Still looks like the moon up there 6 years later.

I think there are so many factors to wildfires being the way they are lately. But it also seems the majority of the large out of control devastating fires are coming from states that long term have leaned towards preserving the forests (ie no logging, thinning, controlled burns, etc). Am I wrong on this?

What are the experts thinking this summer will be like with all the record moisture/snow the west has had? Since last year was very mild for California fire wise I have hope it’s going to get better, but my firefighting friends say it’s going to get worse like you said.

You are correct that there are many factors.

I would say increased timber harvest, or other forest management activities (hand piling, mastication, burning etc) would certainly help. There are more factors to lessened forestry practices than just anti logging though- the timber markets are just damn tough lately. Fewer and fewer mills mean longer haul, and less, if any profit by the time you get logs to the mill.

In regards to snow pack and this season, I think it could help in higher elevations, but if it gets hot and the rain stops this summer, that all goes out the window.