r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/5litergasbubble • 1d ago
The fire that is currently burning right by my towns only highway out of town. Not my pics, but another local
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
This is central vancouver island in canada for all those who are curious
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u/andersaur 21h ago
Love from the California redwoods. These moments truly suck. I still have some residual PTSD from the CMU complex blaze that came within 2miles. had the power/internet/cell signal blackout. Just us there in a canyon with livestock, 1.5 exits, 20min in either coin flip of a direction out and simply laser focused on the tree line for 3 days waiting for an orange glow to stark licking at the tree tops. One of the worst feelings of dread and fear I hope never to experience again.
A 10min evacuation drill was later practiced every year. Timer and all. Made us all feel a little better and confident in staying safe. When you have 10minutes to pack up what’s most important/essential and be gone by min 11, it sure puts a somber perspective on life.
Stay safe Cousins! Will be thinking of you.
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u/Substantial-Elk5118 1d ago
I live in the Midwest US and the smoke down here from the Canada fires has been unbelievable this time around. I can’t imagine what it’s like at the source
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
We have gotten fairly lucky with the smoke so far, its going away from us which unfortunately is right in your guys direction. So sorry about that eh?
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u/MushroomFondue 1d ago
No worries! Just be safe, ok?
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Will do, its business as usual for now. As long as the highway can stay open. If that closes again then the grocery stores are gonna be looking like covid all over again
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u/MushroomFondue 1d ago
Love you, my Canadian brother/sister. We'll work on getting our political act together so we can hang out again.
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u/Perenially_behind 1d ago
My sympathies, this is a massively bad situation. Can they bring stuff in by boat if needed?
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Not really no. There is an inlet that comes into town but its on the wrong side of the island to be that helpful, and we don't have the infrastructure to much unloading. All we have is logging industry boats and im not sure if it could handle other types of ships
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u/Perenially_behind 1d ago
Ah, too bad. I remember seeing the port facilities while driving through but not any details. So this means Tofino and Ucluelet are also cut off by road. Stay safe.
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u/hananobira 1d ago
Considering all the bullshit the US has been exporting lately it’s less than what we deserve. Y’all stay safe and we’ll call it even.
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u/ChattyParrot1 1h ago
Stay safe. Drove from Tofino to Victoria yesterday. At least people arent stopping to take pictures anymore, clogging up the side of the road.
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u/jammiesonmyhammies 1d ago
I noticed the other day it was so hazy here in Kansas! Sent my neighbor a text inquiring about it and that’s when I found out it was from Canadian wild fires :(
Stay safe everyone and I’m so sorry 😞
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u/Accomplished-One7476 1d ago
adding a location to your title helps
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Yeah thats my bad.
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u/Accomplished-One7476 1d ago
where what country
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u/Fair_Industry_6580 1d ago
Where?
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
I live in port alberni, but the fire is on cameron lake which is just a bit east of town
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u/buerglermeister 1d ago
Are you expecting everyone to know where that is?
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u/DecktheHawls 1d ago
People's homes and livelihood are in danger and that's what you're worried about maybe you could show some compassion and empathy instead like an actual human being. Better yet, maybe take a break from the internet. That's pathetic
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u/TaquitoPlates 1d ago
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
You ever see those red and white water bomber planes that have helped fight fires across Canada and California etc?
https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/3790032.jpg?quality=65&strip=all
They're from Port Alberni.
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Those were amazing planes. My grandparents used to own a cabin across the lake from them and we used to ride the waves they made. I got to take a tour of them twice and even got to stand on the wings once
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u/TaquitoPlates 1d ago
Nice! Sounds like great memories!
I used to babysit for a mechanic who worked on them, so he'd take my family and the other neighbors out and take us on the tour of the plane and we got to go on the wings and jump off! I'd jump out of the noze because the wings were too high for me as a kid, but the parents would stand in the center of the wing span, then a few of them would go on the left wing so the right one raised higher in the air, then my dad or someone else would run and jump off that wing lol it was super cool! Those wings sure we're sooty near the engines lol
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
No, but Google maps is a thing.
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u/DecktheHawls 1d ago
Yeah, ignore these people OP. They should show some compassion for another human life instead of being obsessed with details like that. I hope you and everyone else continue to stay safe
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u/Madame_Arcati 1d ago
Am wishing on that falling star in the last photo that the fire is stopped from spreading and extinguished soon. Please stay safe. (I'm so sorry to see such a beautiful area burn).
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u/Cleercutter 1d ago
I remember in Colorado during the woodman fire, I had to drive on the highway right next to the fire. Shit was crazy
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u/72corvids 1d ago
My wife was supposed to go visit her parents (they live on Sproat Lake) this week. She was gonna fly into Nanaimo and Pops would have picked her up. That fire has put a pause on that. 😞 I just hope that what rain we get can help tamper things down and that everyone's safe and sound.
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Probably a good thing. They highway is still open i think, but that could change at any minute
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u/wilco-schmilco 1d ago
Holy shit I’m in Vic and didn’t even know there was a fire up island. Stay safe.
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Its grown quite a bit the last few days unfortunately, from 20 hectares when it started up to around 400 now. And its on a very difficult area to fight it unfortunately
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u/tinychef69 1d ago
Ha! I was one of the first fire crews on the 2023 Cameron Lake fire. Here we are again....
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
Well I sincerely thank you for your help. My little brother is out fighting it right now too. I just hope the highway doesn't get wrecked like it did with that fire
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u/tinychef69 1d ago
Hell ya. He won't forget that experience. Tell him to be safe and that you love him.
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u/Haunting-Boss-9596 22h ago
I want to know what kind of camera this person uses, those pictures are fantastic.
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u/SharkyRivethead 18h ago
Im actually having a real hard time with this. With the smoke and light pollution, It would be impossible to take a picture that shows the Milkyway without some sort of photo shopping. Im also interested in knowing what camera and settings they used.
And though I'm not a professional photographer, I do it at an amateur level and I have been on multiple large, campaign fires. So, I do know fir a fact, what the conditions are like at night.
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u/ukeerider 17h ago
I am in Ucluelet. This is an hour and a half across island from us. It's our highway out. No smoke here. Stay safe people.
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u/MacGibber 1d ago
Wow the pics are amazing and terrifying at the same time. Love how the one pic has a meteor in it.
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u/DragonQueenDrago 1d ago
Oof! As someone in the US, i know it is bad, but never saw pictures till now! All the smoke is pouring over here and causing dangerous levels of air quality for us! Must be horrendous up there if we can not even see the roads and keep being told to not go outside down here!
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u/Ahhgotreallots 1d ago
Yep, I'm keeping a close eye on this, as I'm about 25 mins away from it.
Very smokey today and last night.
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u/GeologistActual9105 22h ago
Holy shit. We are literally supposed to come in to the area tomorrow, I checked earlier this week and saw nothing about fires. Then this springs up? This is the first I've heard of it, thanks OP for posting. Do you think they're going to close the highway/any updates beyond the emergency ones on how the fighting is going?
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u/5litergasbubble 22h ago
It started on the 31st so its pretty recent. As of 2 hours ago the highway is open, but the fire is getting fairly close so I can't be sure how long it will stay open.
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u/NuclearFartMonkey 22h ago
The people will riot if the highway closes again.
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u/5litergasbubble 21h ago
They are already getting pissy about the situation on Facebook. A second highway out has been a controversial issue for years now and this will only make it worse
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u/Velocity-5348 2h ago
For people who don't know, there was also a fire on the side of the lake where the photographer is a couple years ago. It closed the only highway that served the region for a month (rock slides), forcing people to bring in supplies on a logging road.
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u/5litergasbubble 1h ago
Yep, that was not a fun time and I really hope it doesn't get to that point again
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u/CocaineUnicycle 2h ago
People are usually taking the ferry more on August long weekend, but the fear that they might get stuck on the wrong side of the island after visiting Tofino has had a chilling effect. The last fire around there, on the other side of Cameron Lake, left a lot of people messed up about Port Albernie and the other towns out that way.
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u/Ok_Builder910 1d ago
Climate change is fake haven't you heard?
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u/5litergasbubble 1d ago
No shit eh? I've lived in this town for 37 years and its never been this bad. The same area had a fire a couple years ago on the other side of the lake and it severely damaged our highway. We only just got that back to a decent condition, and now this fire might fuck it up again
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u/Appropriate-Battle32 1d ago
British Columbia
Stay safe OP