That’s part of the problem. I wonder if a national quick response water bomber squadron (similar to the Feds involvement in what is usually provincial SAR) might help deal with fires that threaten communities. Fires move very quickly, and reallocating resources takes time. No single province wants to dump more money than necessary into fire mitigation, so perhaps a collective passing of the hat, be it through an inter-provincial agreement or via the Feds, might make it financially reasonable to have enough resources on standby to deal with the major fires on a timely basis.
Think of it this way: the insurable damage of the Slave Lake fire was $700 million. I expect the cost of the McMurray fire will be significantly more. If snuffing out the fires quickly can prevent losses such as these, it might be money well spent.
You still run into the problem of resource allocation, though. If you have water bombers in Thunder Bay, they still have to be relocated to somewhere near Fort McMurray to deal with this, which takes time, and operates on the assumption they can be spared. BC has already refused some help because they’re using their resources.
The collective amount of firefighting capability in Canada is not necessarily deficient. In fact I’ve not seen anyone present any evidence of that at all. There is nothing about this disaster, from all accounts, that would have been mitigated by the feds having some waterbombers or firefighting teams. You can only react so fast, and the wildfire quite literally happened faster than firefighting resources could be deployed to handle it. Fires aren’t cooperative when it comes to scheduling.
When I was a kid, we’d go to the Ontario Science Centre where there was a “fight the forest fire” simulator. You could call in firefighters, water bombers and, I think, make fire breaks.
I went to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) after work tonight. They’re asking for a $2.00 voluntary contribution for Fort McMurray, and every single person in line said “sure.” This is gonna add up quickly. Oh, the donations were actually going to the Red Cross, so double the amount through the feds.
I did, just once, but used so many firebreaks that I think I destroyed more than I saved. Interesting simulator though; it did a lot to illustrate just how difficult fighting a forest fire could be.
All I recall from the Ontario Science Centre was the ball that made my sister’s hair stand up (through electrostatic charge) and playing X and OS against an unbeatable computer. And by golly that amazed me as a 10 year old kid. In fact it probably started to plant seeds in my career in electronics. (Which has now diversified extraordinarily).
Cub is attending a football camp at Taylor Field. Beautiful spring day. And yet the haze in the air is a reminder of the 80,000+ people next door whose lives are in chaos.
So, the Saskatoon Police Services have been criticized for some of their practices recently, but they responded today by saying that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, they’re just going to treat it like a duck. Consider yourself warned.
I live in the Municipality of Oliver and Paipoonge, so a few years ago Canada Post got it in its head to change my address to Slate River. It didn’t go well.
Stats Can is having difficulty accepting that that my municipal address and my post office address are not the same. They have advised me that for their purposes I will remain homeless until they send a person to observe my home. I gave them my home’s lat-long for Google Maps/Street View, but they still insist that they must send someone to observe it in person.
I’m kinda with Stats Can on this one. A picture of something just isn’t the same as the real thing. So, since you’re homeless, here is a cash donation to help you out.
The bookeeper at the firm upstairs would shoot you on sight. On Friday she was grumbling about having to do extra paperwork concerning deposits made by photographs of cheques.
