Earlier comments contain some good links to current situational info, so I'm tossing these online wildfire map links into the mix:<p>Canada:<p>BC Wildfire Service's Wildfire Map:
<a href="https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map</a><p>BC Air Quality Health Index:
<a href="https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/bcairquality/readings/find-stations-map.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/bcairquality/readings/find-sta...</a><p>NWT Live Fire Map:
<a href="https://www.gov.nt.ca/ecc/en/services/wildland-fire-update/nwt-live-fire-map" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.gov.nt.ca/ecc/en/services/wildland-fire-update/n...</a><p>Alberta Wildfire Map:
<a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/3ffcc2d0ef3e4e0999b0cf8b636defa3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/3ffcc2d0ef3e4e0999b0c...</a><p>USA:<p>WA & OR Fire Map:
<a href="https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/firemap.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/firemap.php</a><p>ID Fire Map:
<a href="https://idfg.idaho.gov/ifwis/maps/realtime/fire/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://idfg.idaho.gov/ifwis/maps/realtime/fire/</a>
For anyone getting an emotional response and willing to blame climate change deniers, here's some dry government statistics on Canadian forest fires [0].<p>The number of fires over the past 4 decades is trending down. The numbers for area burned looks like each time there's a peak, it burns out enough fuel to make subsequent years easier. There were a couple of peaks in 1980s/1990s, but nothing that big recently.<p>Also, notably, the area burnt is lowest during recession years and COVID lockdown year. So when people could not afford to go camping/ATVing, the amount of fires was drastically less. Climate change probably does play some role here, but so does the 20% population increase in BC over the last 2 decades.<p>So, the correct question to ask is "what can we do as a reasonable trade-off to reduce the number of fires in the future without compromising the quality of life?". And the correct answer is "educate people on how to spot hazardous terrain and contain the fires they accidentally started". Requiring fire extinguishers at campsites/ATVs could help. Doing some training would help. Doing controlled burns would help. Renaming Environment Canada to "Environment and Climate Change Canada| and closing down local production in favor of Chinese imports won't.<p>[0] <a href="https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/ha/nfdb" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/ha/nfdb</a>
The capital city of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, is also under a full evacuation order.<p>That is 62 degrees from the equator, 20,000 people.<p>Air quality in much of Western Canada is horrific.
I was born almost fifty years ago in Oregon. Growing up I never remember another event like the fires of 2020. Is this just me misremembering? Is there something fundamentally different about the smoke now compared to then? Was it all heightened three years ago because of social media and wouldn't have been as impactful in the newspaper era? Do any other Pacific Northwest natives recall smoke like there is lately? I'm reading a lot of the comments and believe that this isn't the worst of the last forty years but my memory tells me differently and I'm wondering how I could be so off.
I was in Nelson BC for the past couple of days. AQI was in the 200’s most of the time, the red was shining a reddish hue. Kelowna is in great danger and US side was worse, with the city of Medical Lake having been completely destroyed today. The interstate is closed and lots of ranch animals had to be let loose and are wandering about.
I am in between a few of the fires in southern bc. My friends are mostly evacuated with a few on alert. Yesterday was scary because of high winds, houses have been lost. Today the air quality is terrible, my deck furniture was covered in ash this morning.<p>Fire here has always been common, the most common pine tree requires fire to open it's pine cones. Fires starting here always sparks climate change battles. The reality is that there has and will always be fire here.
Sock it to us, BC.<p>"OKANOGAN COUNTY, Wash. — The Crater Creek fire, that has burned an estimated 54,000 acres in British Columbia, has entered into Okanogan County."
<a href="https://inx.lv/mi5t" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://inx.lv/mi5t</a>
<i>Scientists start to discover that the Earth is warming</i> "Maybe they're wrong."<p><i>Scientists develop sophisticated models that show the dangers of global warming</i> "We'll deal with it before it becomes a problem."<p><i>The catastrophic consequences are now being felt on a regular basis</i> "Okay, it's definitely time for gradual, market-based solutions to global warming."
<a href="https://fire.airnow.gov/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://fire.airnow.gov/</a><p>So far, air quality in the PNW isn't too bad, this is barely notable compared to past years. Hopefully it stays this way.