Can you see the layers of smoke on the mountains?The fires continue to burn around us but so far Kamloops has dodged the bullet.
Last week a passing train sparked a fire on Ord Road that spanned several Kilometers and charred the ground. How lucky the residents were that the KFD were able to get a handle on it and had the BC Wildfire Centre right here? A friend of mine lives on Ord Road and the fire burned everything in her yard to within a few feet of her home. When she told us that I almost cried. The cause of the fire is still unknown. Here's the facts:
- A wheel on the train had locked and was spitting sparks. The engineer didn't know about his locked wheel.
- A train car, loaded with scrap steel, caught fire. This could be a renewed arguement to return the caboose to the trains and some have clearly stated that the fire on Ord Road would not have gotten so out of hand if there had been a caboose and an attendant on the train.
- The sparks, or the fire from the car, started a grass fire that came dangerously close to residences, the Kamloops Golf Club and had the potential to become a full blown interface wildfire.
- The KFD can't tell which happened first.
Believe it or not, that's the moon! The smoke and clouds give it an eerie appearance.
It is no secret that I like the caboose and think that the need for a caboose during the dry summer months is certainly there. CN and CP, on the other hand, probably think I'm nuts and definately don't want to spend the money to protect our environment.
No so lucky is the town of Lillooet. The fire is still raging, but the residents have been allowed to return to their homes after several days under evacuation order. The town is still under an evacuation alert, the fire fighters have been able to get 40% containment of the fire, but they are not out of harms way yet. I pray for rain.
So, with all those fires burning in the Kamloops Wildfire District (over 600 at the moment), the air quality is understandably crappy. I admit to making an understatement here. There's nothing like waking up in the morning, pouring a hot cup of coffee and looking out the front window to see a blanket of white. Not that magnificent mountain that normally fills my view. Just white. I half expect to see the title of LOST appear in black letters right before my eyes.
But we do get the occasional spectacular skyscape!The sun, though trying to shine down, becomes obscured by the smoke. The moon, when it rises high in the sky glows an eerie halo. The clouds, when lit from behind, take on strange and beautiful shades. Then, just when we thought the night sky couldn't get any better, it clears and gives us a full moon rising!
