We've lived in Chase, near Kamloops for a little over five years. We like it here because there are a lot of roads to take for day trips around the central and southern part of BC. But since we've been here we have been smoked out by forest fires in four of six summers. One summer it got so bad that we packed up the RV and headed for the coast for a couple of weeks where the air was cleaner.
Most of the fires are caused by lightening as storms pass over the forests. Several weeks ago two fires broke out near the Adams River, about 25 km from our home. One is now over 25 thousand acres and growing. The other is over 5 thousand acres. Yesterday the wind shifted from mostly southerly light breezes to mostly northerly brisk winds with large gusts. That's a firefighter's nightmare. Sure enough, the fires began to progress towards our town, and the local authorities put the town on an evacuation alert, which is a warning that an evacuation order may come at any moment so be prepared to leave in a hurry. We watched from our driveway as huge clouds of smoke and ash came billowing out of the Adams River Valley. It was just north of us but slowly moving in our direction. Around 6 pm an ember landed in the forest about 20 km from the fire and started ANOTHER fire. That was enough to cause us to take action. We packed up the RV, closed up the house and left. Currently we are near Kamloops boondocking and waiting for news before considering returning or heading north for a few days. The latest word is that Chase is under an alert, so we are able to return as long as we are willing to leave immediately if need be.
Wildfires are not unique to Chase this year. The nearby city of Kelowna has had to evacuate over 5,000 homes as fire rips through part of the city. The capital of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife has completely evacuated a city of 20,000 people due to approaching fires. BC alone has over 400 active wildfires with firefighters coming from around the world to help out.
Here are some photos of the smoke and glow from the fires.
This one shows the smoke coming from the fire
Smoke is getting closer. Ash beginning to fall.
The glow from the Adams Lake fire and it's progeny, the Turtle Valley fire.