Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

One of the news stations reported the fire moved a-mile-a-minute in some areas.

 

Yup it is crazy. We have hundreds of large embers landing in our yard the last 2 days. Spooky and a real concern.

BC has today implemented an emergency travel ban that restricts all travel to hotels, motels, provincial parks, campgrounds etc and it applies to all of Kelowna-West, Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon.

So no one can book a room in any of these towns unless they are member of the wildfire emergency response.

The Kelowna airport has been closed to all commercial flights for 3 days now to allow firefighting aircraft to do their work unimpeded by other aircraft. It is the 10th largest airport in Canada, so closing it is no small thing.

Extraordinary but necessary steps right now as more large fires are blowing up through the Kamloops/Okanagan region.

 

Not to change the subject from wildfires, as I type this looking outside to high winds and mid 90s temperatures. I'm sure it's just a matter of time something sparks here.

While an easy trail, I think I can check the box on my first true off-road trek. Took La Salle pass west of Colorado Springs off of highway 24. Scraped the factory skid plate three times that I completely chalk up to being a novice. Got to the end of the pass, and instead of pulling back onto highway 24, turned around and did the pass in the opposite direction.

 

Please, change the subject!

Nice photos. Cannot wait to get out again when things start to settle down here.

 

Up at Gallagher Head Lake last weekend, fun trail!

 

There is nothing to the cig butt except rumour.

I had burning ember helicoptering into my yard from the fire just across the border back then. Sprinklers going 24/7 and moving hoses around the yard every few years.

 

Complete incompetence of forest management for the past several years is catching up. Great effort earlier on the Bush Creek and Adams Lake fires would have saved the communities along the North shore of Shuswap Lake. Those two fires had been burning for over a week before taking off with the wind on the 19th.

 

Nope, I can verify it happens. Depends on the veg where it lands, the temperature, the humidity and the wind. Is it common? I don’t know but these ever drying conditions will make it more risky each year.

My wife and I watched one get chucked out a window by a passing car while we waited at a red light. That was rainy Vancouver and it started a fire in less than 30 seconds. I waited and called 911, fire crews arrived in less than 5 minutes and put it out.

Then, the one here at Okanagan center in July 2017. Quickly raced up the hill and destroyed 8 houses.

A couple driving saw the car in front of them chuck the cigarette, and poof, instant fire. Later investigation verified the cigarette fire start on the roadside at the bottom.

Those folks called 911 as did some boaters who saw the fire. It was not a bb-que as the boaters thought.

The fire crews that arrived started hitting the fire at the roadside where it began. A car racing out of the homes at the top told them get the hell up the hill where it is hitting houses. It had already raced up the hill and too late to save the 8 houses.

You can see in this photo where it started on the roadside at the bottom and then up the hill. There are no houses beside the roadside at that spot.

A video here also of that fire start, where at the video end you can hear the person say “oh no it just hit that house.”

https://youtu.be/g0rSBC4VFIk

Yeah, cigarettes can do it if conditions are right.

Yeah more needs to be done at the management level. The boots on the ground do a great job, no question there. It is a shortage of resources when we have so many fires in BC, combined with BCWF management decisions and coordination that can still be improved. More cooperation is needed among groups and with citizens who have firefighting knowledge and have the heavy equipment that is in the right spot and ready to go to work.

The day the mcdougall creek fire on westside started, 11 guys were on it when it was only 15 hectares. I watch the new BC firestarts all day long during summer. I checked the hourly forecast and it was for strong SW winds that in the 39c temp I knew would quickly push it onto the homes. I told my wife that fire will be 600 hectares before you know it and on top of West Kelowna if they don’t throw a ton of resources at it and stop it right now. I drive and hike and 4x4 that area on the westside road weekly, and the entire area is one huge pile of kindling ready to burn.

Well it quickly became 1100 hectares and a wall of death. We watched it from our home, and it was brutal and scary. By the tome they ramped up resources it was too late to stop it. Some 100 homes burned up from that this past week.

The province has gotten better at this the last couple years, but more can be done, and more resources needed. Jeez, cancel the required $240 million loan to build a new Kelowna Rec Center, and spend that on more planes, helicopters, crew, equipment etc. You won’t find any in the Okanagan who will argue that now. The Rec center like so many big ticket items looks good for political careers, but is a foolish spend when the money is needed for critical infrastructure.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brit...troyed-in-lake-country-b-c-wildfire-1.4207979

 

I didn't say it can't happen, I said in that instance it is just a rumor. I live in that area.

I work in the bush, I've fired drillers for tossing cigarette butts, I've seen excavators walking down a road create sparks from the tracks and start fires. It is why we do our moves early in the morning when RH is highest.

 

Yeah the excavator tracks can be a big issue. I have seen them too throw off sparks from logging operations on steep mountainsides.

 

Just got back home from the San Juans. First time out there. Will have to make it a yearly thing now.

 

Put together a whole convoy for today's trip through margaret lake. First time doing the full loop in the summer, hit all the hard lines we pushed a full stock truck and it did nothing but suprise all day

 

Rowher Flats OHV. Played around in the open riding area


then took Rowher trail to Sierra Pelona to have lunch at the Overlook. Took Sierra Pelona to Bouquet. Rowher had some spicy spots, but Sierra Pelona was rougher than I remembered it. So many overgrown bushes and a rockslide that we had to clear out to make it through.

 

looks like i just missed you i left on the 19th

 

Ah, we were supposed to run with a larger group but ended up making up a few hours before them, I think we got there around 11:30, fun trail, harder than previous years.

 

Not an overstatement

 

Wheeler lake trail near Breckenridge.

 

If u saw the cigarette thrown out why didn't you put it out instead of calling the fire department and letting it spread? Just wondering?

 

Hah, I got a chuckle out of that one.

I would hazard that being in my wifes car with no shovel, axe, water or fire extinguisher had something to do with that.

I do piss like a horse still, so that might have worked.

 

Took my belly boat yesterday and tried to get higher elevation to get above the wildfire smoke. It was not too bad when I got there, but a shift in wind quickly brought in heavy smoke.

This small lake has a last half mile trail that seems to keep most fishermen out. I have been here 6 times and have not seen anyone yet. They are small trout, the biggest here are 16 inches.

This too hot of a summer has dried the lake out and the normally clear water is now brown with algae growth.

No good for fishing here until next spring.