43 replies to this topic

[oldman960]

Best case scenario no new fires and infrastructure intact, we could return home as early as next week. 

[oldman960]

They are making some progress but it will be slow. A store in 100 Mile has received a shipment of new fridges and freezers in anticipation of evacuees returning. They lost power there for several days so the fridge/freezers and contents are most likely lost.

 

There is some of the preliminary work being done in Williams Lake also. The cooler weather is allowing crews to beef up the fireguards on the perimeters. Supposed to get warm and dry again on the weekend. The military has arrived via highway 97 from the north. 

 

My friend got in earlier this week to check and locate his cattle. He spend most of yesterday dealing with a spot ground fire. A fire crew is supposed to show up today to take over. They have been doing regular patrols and doing mop up work in his area. He returned home to find they had put sprinklers on his roof.   He said on his way in it looked like they had a looter pulled over. A loaded truck was surrounded by the police. IMO surrounding is not enough. Everything looked good up my way but he didn't go up the road to have a closer look. can't blame though with all he police presence doing patrols.

 

The updates are slow in coming.  Several charges have been laid for open fires/campfires.

[oldman960]

100 Mile looks like they may be getting ready to return. 20kmh+ winds expected this weekend in the William Lake area. If the fireguards hold and no new fires we may be able to return next week. 

[oldman960]

100 Mile returned today, still under alert though. The fire there is 90% contained.

 

The Spokin Lake fire has grown and looks like it surrounding my buddy's place. Hope he found his cows and gets his donkey out of there.

 

The Wildwood fire is NW of me so I think I'm still in good shape.

 

The White Lake fire is pretty much just sitting there. The winds are starting to come up. 

[oldman960]

Nothing new today but it's still early. My friend found his cows and all is good at his place this morning. Still some wind at home and no rain in sight.

[oldman960]

Winds didn't cause as much problems as anticipated. They couldn't do the burnoff that was planned for today. The Soda Creek fire is still a concern. Bottom line, won't be going home tomorrow.

[oldman960]

Winds picking up over night and continuing through tomorrow. WL is pretty much ready to start receiving returnees. Problem is the fires in the out lying areas. Hope tomorrow brings better news but a return this weekend doesn't look promising. 

[oldman960]

 Good news. We get to go home at last.  There are still fires in the area so we will be under alert. People started heading out today so I'll wait a day or two as there will be heavy traffic in both ways. don't need a 5 hour drive to turn into 10 again.

 

Hot again next week and no rain in sight.

[oldman960]

Light winds overnight. Humidity is dropping, temp going up next week. 

 

My friend found all his cows, lost them again, found half. He said he was going to to check his one meadow to see how bad it was, I told him to check for the smell of BBQ sauce.

 

He said he was lucky, lost about 100 fence post. A couple of his neighbors weren't so lucky. He'd been battling ground fires for the last 6 days. When I talked to him earlier in the week it sounded like he would have assistance, that didn't happen. Yesterday a couple of young guys showed up with 200 gal. tank and pump and took over. When he checked later they were gone the ground fire dug up, stumps soaked, fire out.  He was doing some checks around his place today but it seems he won't be alone. He's still under evacuation which means if he leaves he can't go back. Wonder if he ate the cows and forgot.   Still no power at his place so who knows what's living in his fridge and freeze.

[Jacee]

What an absolute sorrow Thank you for keeping all of us updated.

[oldman960]

Okay made it home! Only took 6 1/2 hours. Mainly due to a motor bike rear ending a pick up. Veed the bumper and tailgate, bike bent fork and front wheel. Don't know how the rider faired.

Traffic was pretty good after we passed the accident scene so the rest of the trip took about the usual time.

I swear these things are following me. Drove through Clinton everything looked great. Saw some scorched areas north of the town and a couple of plumes off in the distance. They evacuated the town and closed the highway about 1/2 hour after I went through.

Got home, it was a bit more smokey than wen we were evacuated. Shortly after I got home they put several outlying "parts" of Williams Lake on alert due to winds. The winds have for the moment died down a bit and slightly shifted direction. This could be one of those middle of the night things.

Hot dry weather in the forecast for the next several days so if anyone has a spare rain cloud send my way.

Hey kids, your mom's flowers are doing great. Only lost that one before the evac. Managed to collect about 10 gallons of water in the last two weeks that I was in Kelowna so the flowers must have gotten a drop or two.

Don't think I will see my neighbor again. Too bad, he was the best neighbor you could ever ask for.

I'll check with my buddy tomorrow and see how it's going.

Jaycee, there are a lot of stories coming out of this. My friends is just one of them. The con artists have already swooped in enmass. They've been here from the start but a now more brazen. How low can people sink?

[oldman960]

There were midnight evacuation but not here. 70 Mile and a bit more around Clinton.

Winds are up tonight. 20-25kmh gusts from the north. These were the winds that caused the alerts last night. Hope the got some guards and containments in today.

Really smokey in town today, don't know what it will be like tomorrow at work.

Didn't talk to my friend today but saw that he finally got power Saturday night about 9:15.

[oldman960]

Not much new today. Light winds a very little smoke n town. N or NW winds again tonight. Heading for the 30's on Wednesday no rain.

Might be more fires in the southern part of the province. Dry and temps in the 40's

[mindarya]

How's the situation now?