Fire in BC; the role of lightning

Ehecatl:

My son found this abandoned beside a path. I call him Ehécatl, the Mexican god of wind. He sits beside my carport, sheltering spiders, and here, a helmet crab carapace.

About the fire situation: there have been 76 new fires in the last two days, mostly caused by lightning. 51 are listed as "out of control".

The smoke, heat, and ash from the fires creates billowing clouds, called pyrocumulonimbus clouds. 

These clouds can become so intense that they create their own weather and emit lightning that can start new wildfires on the ground. (SFGate).

In the last few days, over 100,000 bolts of lightning struck the ground over BC and parts of Alberta, most over the northern part of the province but the zone reaches down into the populated centre of BC. Many struck harmlessly; where they meet tinder-dry forest, they start a fire.

"I watched, once, years and years ago, as we sat under a tarp in our campsite, sheltering from the pouring rain. On the mountain face (Nusatsum) across the valley from us, lightning struck; immediately an answering flare shot up, a tree bursting into bright flame. And then, almost as quickly, the flame shrunk and died, sputtering out under the deluge."(It's on fire, 2018)

It's not raining this week.

I have written before about the fires, once during a trip when I drove twice through the burning zone. 2018: It's on fire,  2017, and 2010: BC on fire!, The culprits, The wisdom of the elders, Final glimpse.

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Foto: Ehecatl. Mi hijo encontró esto abandonado al lado de un sendero. Ahora guarda mi cochera, protegiendo arañitas, y aquí, la concha de un cangrejo. Le llamo Ehecatl.

Acerca de los incendios:

En los últimos dos dias, han brotado 76 incendios nuevos; la mayoría a causa de relámpagos. 51 están contados como "fuera de control".

El humo, el calor, y la ceniza que producen estos incendios crean nubes grandes, a las que llamamos nubes pyrocumulonimbus.

"Estas nubes pueden llegar a estar tan intensas que crean su propio clima, y producen relámpagos que pueden prender nuevos incendios en la tierra." (SFGate)

En los últimos dias, más de 100,000 relámpagos han caido en tierra sobre la provincia de BC y parte de Alberta, en la mayor parte sobre las areas al norte, pero alcanzando a la zona central, donde hay varios pueblos y ciudades. Muchos de los relámpagos cayeron sin hacer daño, pero donde encuentran bosques secos, prenden un incendio nuevo.

"Hace algunos años, nos sentábamos bajo un tarp en nuestro campamento, fuera del alcance de la lluvia que caía a cántaros. En la cara de la montaña en frente (Nusatsum), al otro lado del valle, cayó un rayo. De inmediato una llama brotó, como en respuesta; un árbol hecho antorcha brillante. Y luego, casi tan rapidamente como empezó, el fuego se encogió y se apagó, inundado bajo la lluvia." (2018)

Esta semana no está lloviendo.

He escrito antes sobre nuestros incendios, una vez durante un viaje cuando cruzé la zona de fuego dos veces. Pueden ser de interés estos posts:  2018: It's on fire,  2017, and 2010: BC on fire!, The culprits, The wisdom of the elders, Final glimpse.

Calm

 Still life with stones.

Top of the old log at Oyster Bay.

Meanwhile, BC burns. Again. I'm just resting my eyes here, after obsessively zooming in on the Wildfire dashboard, watching new sites pop up. Rain! We need rain!

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Foto: naturaleza muerta, con piedras. Encima del tronco viejo de Oyster Bay.

Mientras tanto, se está quemando la provincia. Otra vez. Aquí me detengo para descansar la vista un poco después de horas pasadas examinando el panel de incendios, mientras cada vez aparecen nuevos focos de incendio.

¡Necesitamos lluvia!

Heart of the earth

So the heat wave continues; the weather is heading back towards normal, but now there are fires. 42 new ones in the last couple of days in BC. Lytton is burning; the whole town is up in flames. Old wood buildings, dry as tinder in the best of times, baked under a 49.5ºC. heat wave; not much will survive.

I have driven through Lytton many times, on my way north or south, to and from Bella Coola. A tiny town, a stop for a cold drink on a hot, empty highway. Dry country, parched brown in the summer, frozen solid in the winter. Harsh country, home to strong people. But this is too much.

We need rain!

All I have to offer is a patch of self-heal, growing in a ditch at the bottom of a stony cliff.

Prunella vulgaris.

Also called heal-all, or heart of the earth. Good, comforting names.

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Y sigue el calor. El pronóstico meteorológico mejora, pero ahora vienen los incendios. Hay 42 incendios forestales nuevos en los últimos dos dias. El pueblito de Lytton se está quemando; todo el pueblo estalló en llamas. Son constucciones viejas de madera, secas, muy secas en este terreno árido, y ahora horneadas bajo una ola de calor donde la temperatura (una temperatura seca) llegó ayer a 49,5º C. Poco del pueblo saldrá intacto.

He pasado muchas veces por Lytton, camino al norte o al sur, en mis viajes a Bella Coola, unas pocas casas, un lugar para detenerse en el camino largo a tomar un refresco helado.  Todo seco, la hierba tostada a un color café amarillento en verano, y todo bajo hielo en en invierno. Terreno áspero, donde vive una gente fuerte. ¡Pero esto es demasiado!

¡Necesitamos lluvia!

Todo lo que puedo ofrecer ahora es una foto de la planta a que llamamos "curalotodo", o "corazón de la tierra". Buenos nombres para una planta humilde, nombres que recuerdan consuelo.

Estas crecen en una zanja al pie de un precipicio.

Old burn

In the summer of 1938, Vancouver Island sweltered through the longest drought seen for over 50 years. Sparks from logging operations set off dozens of small brush fires. Smoke hung over the hills.

Fire broke out in a log pile on Menzies Bay, just north of Campbell River, and leapt into the forest. A couple of days later, in spite of the 400 firefighters trying to quench it, it was burning over several thousand acres of timber. By the third day, it was threatening Campbell River, and racing up-river, past Elk Falls. The smoke rose two kilometres into the air, and covered almost two-thirds of Vancouver Island.

The fire headed south then, passing Campbell River, racing towards Comox, and east up the mountainsides to Mount Washington. 2000 men fought it, hopelessly. 470 square kilometres of forest were in flames, and the wind was picking up. At times, it reached 150 km/hr.

And then the rain came. The blessed, drenching West Coast rain, pouring down steadily for weeks. In the ancient forest off Elma Bay, these days called the Miracle Beach Provincial Park, the roaring blaze sizzled into damp coals.

Some say that's how Miracle Beach got its name.

Today, many of the older trees in Miracle Beach Provincial Park still wear the scars of that fire.

Survivor, still green up top.

Older Douglas-fir bark is thick and deeply grooved, providing habitat for many insects and nesting sites and groceries for birds and small animals. And old, damaged bark is even more hospitable. This old tree still retains some old scorch marks; it looks like most has been riddled by insects and then birds collecting insects.

The crevices go deep into the tree; I tried to light the bottom of several holes with the camera's flash, but the light didn't reach that far.

Near the centre of the section above, if you look closely, you'll see a white circle. I moved in to get a better look.

"Come into my parlor ..."

A spider hole, wide enough for a chickadee to wander in.

From another angle

I can't be sure; is that a spider lurking deep inside, or just blotchy patches in the bark? I didn't risk sticking a finger in to find out.

For comparison: a pair of unburnt Douglas-fir trunks. Grooved, but much neater.

And the remains of a smaller tree, after the woodpeckers have eaten their fill.

It's on fire

The rainforest is burning.

Current BC Wildfire Service map, Aug. 22, 2018

Large areas of the province's wildfires are raging, with many areas under evacuation orders. The mid-province fire zone is dry country, prone to fires, burnt off only last year; this year, the fires feed on dry sticks left behind from previous fires.

But the coastal areas, our Vancouver Island neighbourhood, is rainforest. Rainforest with no rain. I counted 50 small fires in the northern part of the island on the map, with the Zeballos fire under an evacuation notice.

Most of the fires are started by lightning. I watched, once, years and years ago, as we sat under a tarp in our campsite, sheltering from the pouring rain. On the mountain face (Nusatsum) across the valley from us, lightning struck; immediately an answering flare shot up, a tree bursting into bright flame. And then, almost as quickly, the flame shrunk and died, sputtering out under the deluge.

This year, there's no deluge. The fires catch and grow, crackling through oily evergreen branches, jumping to the next tree, and the next.

We're breathing smoke. The sun is a pale orange, when it's visible. The moon turned up tonight, a pale yellowish shape in the haze.

On the Lower Mainland, an air quality alert is in effect. Older people, children, people with asthma and other lung complaints, etc. are warned to stay inside, out of the smoke.

Over here on the island, I'm staying inside, near my air scrubber. My throat hurts.

Coastal communities will see a gradual improvement in air quality beginning Thursday as Pacific air moves onshore. While the trough will deliver enhanced mixing of the atmosphere and even a chance of showers, the forecast rainfall amounts will do little to abate the current wildfires. Communities downwind of wildfires will continue to experience high concentrations of fine particulate matter and poor air quality for the foreseeable future. (East Van Isl. alert)

Rain! We need rain! Real rain, drenching, soaking, persistent rain, BC rain!