Oliver fires

[Queen K]

No, a people's page for Penticton, not an official page from the city.

And yes, stupidity reigns.

And social media isn't my only source either. Jus' saying.

[Troy]

That being said, here's the official information from BC Wildfire Service:
https://twitter.com/BCGovFireInfo/statu ... 3965723648

URGENT: Fire aircraft were just grounded at Testalinden fire due to a drone in our airspace #OliverBC #BCWildfire

[BoB76]

*removed*

[Frisk]

From the Facebook page.

URGENT: All air operations at the Testalinden Creek fire were just halted because of a drone violating our airspace.
It is illegal to operate a drone over or near any wildfire.
Our aircraft will return to the fire once we can confirm the drone has been grounded and we can safely operate.

[Frisk]

Yeah, it was windy...

At 0:40 notice how ineffective the helicopter water drop is when it's very windy. It just blows away.

[binky11]

All aerial fire fighting been halted due to a drone. They should find the owner and string him up by his balls.
Now you want to know how I really feel?

[Queen K]

You guys will believe this because the level of stupidity in our society never ceases to amaze.

A helicopter pilot just reported that someone is flying drones over the fire zone in Oliver. And you know what came next, all helicopter services dedicated to putting out the fires had to be temporarily suspended.

Who does that? Didn't the same thing happen for the Westside fire? Drones caused planes and helicopters to be pulled?

Link: Penticton's facebook site. Yes, a post from a pilot. Not the usual news service, please let's get over that official news services are the only sources. It's not true anymore in our social media world.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#146063

Yup, here's the official story. But you heard it first from social media via me at 12:44 pm. I swear to God Binky, I'm with you on this one. And Bob, there's nothing wrong with needing to stop for lunch, what is wrong is being forced to stop because of stupidity beyond belief.

[Drip_Torch]

At 0:40 notice how ineffective the helicopter water drop is when it's very windy. It just blows away.

I do have a couple more clips that I haven't shared... some more effective, some not. To be honest with you, I'm amazed the aircraft were having any effect at all. It was windy - I'd estimate consistent gusts of 55k+, with few far beyond that.

Did you notice some of those flame lengths? Flame height of about 6", but flame length of about 6 feet.

Day two, a completely different picture.

(More action, far less drama.)

[Bunnyhop]

Great footage. Those pilots are amazing with their skills and accuracy. Were the snorkel helicopters getting their water from the river? And how many retardant drops do the planes have before they have to refill? Same question for the skimmers?

Sad to see the devastation. But thankful there weren't any lives lost.

[Frisk]

Good video, thanks for sharing.

[Drip_Torch]

Those pilots are amazing with their skills and accuracy. Were the snorkel helicopters getting their water from the river? And how many retardant drops do the planes have before they have to refill? Same question for the skimmers?

On the east side of the fire they were scooping out of a pond around 306 ave (?) near Deadman Lake. The electra can, and often does breakup loads; the fireboss and the airtractors have a computerized dispersal systems. That was the first time I witnessed the "fireboss", amphibious planes perform and it was impressive.

In the video they were all dropping the full tanks - except for one electra run, and it looked like a 2/3rd drop to me.

(...and, thanks.)

[Noilly]

*bleep* these pilots are amazing (not forgetting the ground crew too)

[Always Sunny]

Scum bags.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/dozens-of- ... -1.2519164

For some Oliver residents, the return home was met with further disappointment. Looters appeared to have ransacked a few homes, in some cases leaving with thousands of dollars of property.

John Nunes says his garage was robbed of golf clubs, dirt bikes and a number of power tools.

“I was pretty ticked off. I didn’t know what to think,” Nunes told CTV Vancouver.

The RCMP has not confirmed how many homes are believed to have been hit by looting.

[Woodenhead]

Scum bags.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/dozens-of- ... -1.2519164

**snipped story about looters**

That is why I stayed behind when we were evacuated. (Joe Rich fire) The police do patrol, but they can't be everywhere at once, and they don't always do thorough checks.

[Troy]

The evacuation order for properties affected by the Testalinden wildfire near Oliver has been removed:
http://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/ ... lowed-home