I know all the canucks know… but the Fort MacMurray is currently on fire, some 1800 hectares are gone, 1600 buildings and 80k+ people evacuated with no end in sight…
This video is harrowing…
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Pretty much all the videos on CTV right now are harrowing…
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We’re going to be seeing a lot more of this. We’ve expanded into marginal wildlands, kept fire at bay for generations, and climate change is leading to a lot of dead wood.
The fires near Clear Lake CA this last year were only less bad than this because of the enormous concentration of fire control resources brought to bear. But management and planning are going to be the only way to avoid/minimize this damage moving forward. And planning isn’t free.
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I saw that in my news feed yesterday and was just stunned by 80K+ people evacuated in the headline.
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Oh yes, and climate change is not helping. They’ve got El Nino to deal with which is making this fire so much worse. Its been a very hot and dry spring, currently the temps (without the fires) are 28-30C which is breaking 100 year records. The trees are just exploding when the fire gets to them. It jumped the athabasca river too, that is not a small river.
But… this is “oil country” and if you dare mention climate change on a good day you’re likely to get shouted down, mention it now… and you’re in real danger of actual physical violence.
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Gas stations have run out of gas and gas trucks are driving around refilling cars stuck on the roads. Which is awesome and also I didn’t know they could do that?
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The BBC has been all over this for the last three days. It’s truly massive. There’s a really interesting gif that they link to from the Globe and Mail [that shows the extent of the damage over those days.]
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/overlapping-factors-set-stage-for-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-scientists-say/article29878740/)
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Damn polite Canadians in action!
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From what I hear, the current strategy is “wait for rain.”
It’s just impossible for anything other than a storm system to drop enough water to make a difference.
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Hey, @Missy_Pants! Is there a fundraiser going on for Fort MacMurray that you know about? One in which most dollars will get to the victims?
Most people are going with Red Cross as the Govt is matching all donations.
As of Friday $30 million has been donated to the Red Cross.
I don’t know if donations from outside Canada will be matched…
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Thanks. I’ll be sure to earmark as such (US Red Cross is notorious for not necessarily using donations unless specifically requested in the past) and I’ll go through the Canadian RC.
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Here is a direct link to Canadian Red Cross’ page for Fort Mac.
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Also, remember all those Syrian refuges that came to Canada? Seems like it was a great idea!
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The fire has a hashtag too, its pretty heartbreaking…
https://twitter.com/hashtag/ymmfire?src=hash
And yes, thank you, I know I’ve replied to this thread a lot, its my freaking thread, calm your tits BBS! Sheesh!
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Before anyone asks… It’s called #YMMfire instead of #FMMfire because YMM is the Fort McMurray airport (Canadian airport identifiers mostly start with the letter Y).
…And I think some of that smoke must have drifted all of the way to Ontario, because my eyes are leaking.
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I already took care of business, but thanks for putting their link here for whomever else might want to donate. I was going to do this, but you beat me to it (had to wash dishes–my turn–and make a couple of margaritas). They have a dedicated link for this fire.
FYI: The link claims the govt will match all funds, nothing about Canadian-only donations. Keeping fingers crossed.
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