Re: Changes to B.C.’s Emergency Program Act
Posted: Nov 14th, 2017, 11:18 am
Thank God they were First Nations, and thus it wasn't politically correct for the RCMP to forcibly remove them.
I visited that fire this summer, and am quite familiar with the geography. The Chilcotin Chief is indeed correct that his people saved their community, BUT they also had luck on their side as well. This is a semi-arid valley, so the reservation is not surrounded by trees. The trees grow up on the hill, but around all the houses is just grassland. Meanwhile, next door at Hanceville (the white community), there are a lot more trees, and the fire came ripping through there so fast that people barely had time to leave as the Douglas fir forest went up in smoke along with numerous houses, including the only restaurant in town.
The wind, heat, and low humidity pushed the most extreme fire from the north to the south across the Chilcotin River, which is to the south of the reservation. By the time it had moved west to the Anaham Reserve, it was not moving as fast, and thus easier to fight. At that point it was only rank 3 fire activity. Still, without the reserve's resources, the grass would have been set on fire, and potentially the houses as well.
I visited that fire this summer, and am quite familiar with the geography. The Chilcotin Chief is indeed correct that his people saved their community, BUT they also had luck on their side as well. This is a semi-arid valley, so the reservation is not surrounded by trees. The trees grow up on the hill, but around all the houses is just grassland. Meanwhile, next door at Hanceville (the white community), there are a lot more trees, and the fire came ripping through there so fast that people barely had time to leave as the Douglas fir forest went up in smoke along with numerous houses, including the only restaurant in town.
The wind, heat, and low humidity pushed the most extreme fire from the north to the south across the Chilcotin River, which is to the south of the reservation. By the time it had moved west to the Anaham Reserve, it was not moving as fast, and thus easier to fight. At that point it was only rank 3 fire activity. Still, without the reserve's resources, the grass would have been set on fire, and potentially the houses as well.
