Tag Archives: fire

Put another log on

I could sit and watch a fire all day. It’s mesmerizing and hypnotizing. I wonder if the appeal is somehow ingrained in our DNA from caveman times, in the same way that animals know things, like turtles hatching and heading straight for the ocean.

Fire is warmth. Fire is safety. Fire makes food. Fire is life.

For thousands of years fire was also community. It represented an opportunity to share stories, to connect with family, friends, and neighbours. We don’t gather around fires anymore. People share stories in different, digital ways.

Thanks for sitting around this digital fire with me. I’m honoured that you choose to join me. The visits are short, but I’m here every day, I’ll keep the flame going between your visits.

Fire and rain

Today on highway 5 my daughter and I saw a plane drop fire retardant (red coloured) water on the hill closest to the highway. There were multiple spots along the closest ridge and hill to our right where we could see smouldering trees. Then we headed into a section of highway where we couldn’t distinguish smoke from fog, and a light misty rain covered our windshield.

We are used to rain in BC, but it has been much too dry and the fires have been out of control. Seeing one of the fires so close to the highway followed by raindrops made me realize how little control we m have over nature. Many fires in BC are not contained, they are forcing evacuations, and endangering lives. It’s one thing to deal with the inconvenience of smoke from a distant fire and yet another to face the flames.

With so many fires burning in BC, it’s a joy to see some rain, and I find myself hoping for much more of it.

A Province on Fire

Yesterday we drove the almost 8 hours from the Vancouver Lower Mainland to Nelson BC. On the way we went through Princeton. Heading into the city, the smell of smoke and haziness was the worst part of the trip.

Heading into Osoyoos, we could see the smoking fires in the ridge above the city.

And after arriving in Nelson, I took this photo at 7:15pm on a short walk.

My wife’s parents were supposed to join us in this quaint city that they spent most of their lives, but they changed their mind due to air quality concerns. Instead, they are vacationing at our house while we are here. Smelling the air this morning, I think they made a good choice.

The reality is that we are a province on fire.

Our record heat wave in late June, followed by freaky rainless lightning storms, then an unusually dry July have made our province a forest full of kindling, ready to go up in smoke. According to the B.C. Wildfire Dashboard right now there are 259 wildfires in BC, and 11 are new in the last 2 days.

We are not doing our planned hike this morning, instead we’ll walk along the lake. We’ll visit old stomping grounds of my wife’s youth, and we’ll probably spend a bit more time indoors than planned.

Still, we are lucky. We are safe, and so is our house. We don’t have an evacuation warning, and we aren’t worried about what to pack and what to leave behind should we have to flee our home. This is the case for many across our province.

It’s usual to be hoping for rain in the summer, but our entire province could use a good soaking, complements of Mother Nature. Rain and low winds are on the minds of many in our province, as forest fires sit on the minds of many of us. It’s hard not to think of them as you peer across hazy horizons and smell the fires burning.