This week was actually fairly quiet, for us at least. You can tell that fall is around the corner. Mornings have been cooler, and darker. It’s been nice to be able to see the sunrise, and the sunrises have been beautiful. There’s lots of smoke in the air from the fires on the mainland. Fortunately there isn’t anything too significant on the island right now. Apparently though there was SOMETHING going on though. One night this week the Marten Mars made two or three passes over the house. As they were spread out over an hour it was tough to have a camera ready, but we did get a couple of shots of it. 



Actually the fire situation in southern BC has been pretty grim. They have of course banned open fires, slash fires, campfires, pretty much any open flame. Anyone who starts a fire is liable for ALL of the costs in fighting it and any damage it does. This can easily run into millions of dollars on even a small fire, so that’s brought down the number of cigarettes tossed from car windows and such. They’re getting very aggressive in enforcing the ban on both public and even private property as well. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/banned-campfires-lead-to-tickets-warnings-1.3200200
This week they have been fighting old fires, new fires caused by dry lightning and other causes, and some that have crossed the border from Washington State. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/washington-stickpin-fire-closing-in-on-residents-of-grand-forks-b-c-1.3198984
Things are so bad they’ve not only been using the Martin Mars converted for use as a water bomber and the Bombardier 415 that was purpose built to be one, south of the border they’ve been using converted DC-10s to drop retardant on fires.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150821-the-jaw-dropping-missions-of-fire-fighting-pilots
It’s been rough on the people on the ground though. We’ve heard stories of people losing everything after they were forced to flee with almost no warning.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/80-year-old-wally-yahnke-son-lose-homes-and-vehicles-in-oliver-b-c-wildfire-1.3198721
Stories of campers forced to run for it when the wind shifted.
http://www.citopbroker.com/news/campers-flee-b-c-wildfire-with-only-the-clothes-on-their-backs-8795
Stories of people who risked their lives to save their horses.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-fires-rock-creek-woman-saves-horses-from-wildfire-1.3193996
And others who could do nothing but open the gates and let their livestock run for it in the hopes they could save themselves.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/heartbroken-rock-creek-evacuees-set-animals-free-to-flee-wildfire-1.3191836
But there have been a few happy endings. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/leo-the-goat-survives-rock-creek-wildfire-1.3196573

So all in all things here on the island have been much better than they might have been. Sure it’s been dry, we think we might lose some trees and shrubs, but we’ve had no evacuations and the smoke hasn’t been too bad. It has even been rather cool at night and the humidity is down. If it weren’t August we might even think there’s a touch of Fall in the air. And of course Calgary got snow this weekend.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/summer-snowfall-near-calgary-greeted-with-only-in-alberta-sentiment-1.3200450
So that is a hopeful sign. Right now they are predicting another dry winter but we’ll see what happens. 

Doug & Marsha

PIX: Sunrise Panorama