The village of Lytton in British Columbia was destroyed yesterday evening in a sudden wildfire that quickly engulfed the area, leaving residents with only minutes to get out.

Lytton is about 3 hrs outside of Vancouver, 250 population. It had set records for 3 days in a row this week with the highest temperatures ever recorded in Canada and then it culminates in this. And it's Canada Day.

It is being suggested that perhaps a CN Rail train sparked the fire.

People scattered in all directions and not everyone is accounted for yet. Hopefully, there have been no casualties.

ETA: Officials are saying about 1000 people could be affected. I guess the numbers are fluid. Also, it is being reported that some Indigenous People are among those who had to flee. It's going to be challenging to get an accurate head count right now and authorities are scrambling to try and account for everyone who may have been in the affected area.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-lytton-july-1-2021-1.6087311



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2021 04:33PM by Nightingale.

How tragic! Please keep us updated.

Frightening and heart breaking.

They're saying folks would barely have had time to grab a go-bag, never mind trying to gather up all their precious things.

My parents' home in the woods in a small community years ago was destroyed by fire. My mom thought the younger kids were inside and the kids, who were fortunately all outside, thought that Mom was in the house until they were all reunited at a later point.

I can't think of much else that is so frightening and traumatic.

TV news at the moment is showing people's video of driving through the dense smoke in desperate attempts to flee the fire, which is spreading rapidly as we speak.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2021 04:38PM by Nightingale.

I was watching that as well Nightingale. It brought back memories of people fleeing the Fort McMurray fire a few years ago. Very scary scenes!

Small communities in the Caribou and elsewhere up country here in BC are currently under threat by wildfires, such as Deka Lake, which has also recently received an evacuation order.

The Premier of BC is currently mentioning climate change as a close and present danger and that the current situation with the fire risk in BC this summer is a warning to us that we need to take immediate action (long overdue).

A great big clue for us is the reality that our permafrost is melting.

We've been talking about climate change forever, it seems. So are we getting a clue yet about the urgency?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2021 04:46PM by Nightingale.

Has anyone correlated the population growth to climate change?

2 billion. 1927
3 billion. 1960
4 billion. 1974
5 billion. 1987
6 billion 1999
7 billion. 2011

Seems to me there are too many of us.

Too many means more energy, food, etc., is being used.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2021 06:48PM by tumwater.

I have always thought the extreme amount of airplanes burning engines in the atmosphere is to blame. But I don’t see air travel lessening any time soon.

Very sorry to see how the heat wave and fire threat is hitting Canada and the Pacific North-west.

Unfortunately this is the new reality for many parts of the world, along with storms and floods in other parts.

Commiserations from Australia

I hope everyone is found soon.

I can't even imagine what they are all going through, and I am so sorry.

UPDATE:

B.C.'s heat wave likely contributed to 719 sudden deaths this week, coroner reports

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/heat-wave-719-deaths-1.6088793

It was heartbreaking to watch the interview on CBC with the poor fellow who watched his parents home burn with them in it. He shot video of himself running to find a safe place on the railroad tracks until the fire passed.

To burn your finger on the stove is so painful, I can hardly imagine what fire victims go through.

kathleen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To burn your finger on the stove is so painful, I
> can hardly imagine what fire victims go through.


I've over 20 years experience fighting forest fires and have been close to maybe a dozen deaths by fire.

As gruesome as it seems, almost all the deaths happen relatively quickly according the medical people.

The air is super heated to 800°C (1,472°F) or more. One breath will kill almost instantly. Surely a mixed blessing.

How disturbing.

I fear what's going to happen in Australia and California when the fire seasons begin there.

Yes, ^^^ is 20 miles north of us. We watch while the oven preheats.

I fully expect my little snuggle-ry to be gone by fall.

I've been involved in evacuating people in fires. I could toggle from phone number to address on my office computer and called people in the fire's path.

When I told them to they had to go as quickly as they could, women said, "Thank you--we're outta here!!" Men said, "How much time have I got?" They had no time.

Men, please listen to your wives.

Don't wait until you're told to go.

If you have no time to move livestock, turn them loose.

"Officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington report some 580 deaths related to the extreme heatwave paralyzing the northwest as scientists are predicting that deaths from extreme heat could surpass those from infectious diseases by 2100."

You designate this as a topic not germane to this site. But in fact it is strongly relevant. A great deal of the opposition to any sort of constraints on humanity's exploitation of the planet comes from end-times religious groups, including the LDS community. Any suggestion of responsibility is interpreted as an attack on their faith. And so here we are.

+1

Today I learned that the Mormon church is responsible for the weather. Lol.

Yes, please don't get like the other R site when the slightest variance of Mormon centric themes is jumped on with jack boots by the mods. I love how we are able to stray a bit and discuss the news.