JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
OTHER FORT MCMURRAY FIRE NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-16-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-14-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-13-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-12-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-11-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-10-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-9-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild-fire.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/officials-say-it-may-take-months-to-put.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/canada-evacuates-8000-by-air-from-fort.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/fort-mcmurray-fire-explodes-8-times.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/1600-plus-structures-burned-in-fort.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/fort-mcmurry-alberta-is-burning-out-of.html
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
FORT MCMURRAY FIRE UPDATES
http://www.alberta.ca/emergency.cfm
ALBERTA CANADA RED CROSS.CA
http://www.redcross.ca/in-your-community/alberta
OTHER FORT MCMURRAY FIRE NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-16-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-14-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-13-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-12-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-11-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-10-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/day-9-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-wild-fire.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/officials-say-it-may-take-months-to-put.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/canada-evacuates-8000-by-air-from-fort.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/fort-mcmurray-fire-explodes-8-times.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/1600-plus-structures-burned-in-fort.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/05/fort-mcmurry-alberta-is-burning-out-of.html
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
FORT MCMURRAY FIRE UPDATES
http://www.alberta.ca/emergency.cfm
ALBERTA CANADA RED CROSS.CA
http://www.redcross.ca/in-your-community/alberta
UPDATE-MAY 17,2016-04:25PM
THE FORT MCMURRAY WILD FIRE IS STILL BURNING OUT OF CONTROL. AND WILL BE REACHING THE SASKATCHEWAN BORDER TODAY. ALSO THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION IN FORT MCMURRAY LAST NIGHT-DESTROYING ANOTHER 10 HOLMES. 8,000 PEOPLE WERE EVACUATED FROM 19 OIL SAND PRODUCTION SITES YESTERDAY. THIS WILD FIRE HAS NOW BURNED 355,000 HECTARES. AND STILL GOING STRONG. 985 MILLION DOLLARS HAS BEEN LOST IN OIL PRODUCTION SO FAR. AND 663 BLACK SANDS OIL WORK CAMP SHELTERS WERE DESTROYED.
THE FORT MCMURRAY WILD FIRE IS STILL BURNING OUT OF CONTROL. AND WILL BE REACHING THE SASKATCHEWAN BORDER TODAY. ALSO THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION IN FORT MCMURRAY LAST NIGHT-DESTROYING ANOTHER 10 HOLMES. 8,000 PEOPLE WERE EVACUATED FROM 19 OIL SAND PRODUCTION SITES YESTERDAY. THIS WILD FIRE HAS NOW BURNED 355,000 HECTARES. AND STILL GOING STRONG. 985 MILLION DOLLARS HAS BEEN LOST IN OIL PRODUCTION SO FAR. AND 663 BLACK SANDS OIL WORK CAMP SHELTERS WERE DESTROYED.
UPDATE-MAY 17,2016-12:03AM
THE FORT MCMURRAY WILD FIRE IS STILL OUT OF CONTROL. DESTROYING 286,000 HECTARES OF LAND SO FAR. AND THE WILDFIRE IS ONLY 10 KILOMETERS FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN BORDER NOW. THE WARM AND DRY TEMPERATURES ARE BACK. AND NOTLEY SAYS SHE HOPES BY THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND-THIS WEEKEND. THE TEMPERATURES WILL GET COOLER AND RAINY. TO SLOW THIS OUT OF CONTROL WILD FIRE. AND A FRESH EVACUATION HAS BEEN CALLED AGAIN FOR THE OIL SANDS TO THE NORTH OF FORT MCMURRAY AGAIN. AND WITH THE FIRE OUT OF CONTROL AND THE HEAVY SMOKE. NOBODY WILL BE GOING HOME TO FORT MCMURRAY FOR AWHILE YET NOTLEY SAYS.
12 work camps north of Fort McMurray evacuated due to growing wildfire-[The Canadian Press]-May 16, 2016-YAHOONEWS
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - About 4,000 workers from camps north of Fort McMurray are being ordered to evacuate because of an approaching wildfire.The Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo calls it a "controlled precautionary evacuation" of 12 camps up to 26 kilometres north of the northern Alberta city.The rural municipality says the fire is moving 30 to 40 metres per minute and is expected to burn six kilometres in two hours."This controlled, precautionary evacuation is an example why it is note safe to be in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo at this time," the municipality said late Monday afternoon in a news release.Workers are being told to head south on Highway 63, but companies running some of the camps said their workers were going north.Syncrude Canada tweeted that buses are transporting workers to a safe location as part of its emergency plan.Sneh Seetal, a spokesman for Suncor Energy, called it a "precautionary measure.""The facilities are not at risk," she said. "However, we felt it was important to take these steps in the interest of putting people first."Eric Kraus, a spokesman for Clean Harbours, which runs the Ruth Lake camp, also called the move "precautionary.""The fire we believe is about 35 kilometres away," he said. "There is a significant amount of smoke."The entire population of Fort McMurray, more than 80,000 residents, are now entering their third week away from home. Many of the work camps were used to house evacuated residents who fled north when fire broke through into the city the afternoon of May 3.About 2,400 structures were destroyed in Fort McMurray, but essential infrastructure, including the hospital, water treatment plant and the airport, remain intact.Crews continued to battle hot spots on the edge of the city Monday while the first still raged out of control deeper in the forest. Hot, dry conditions were not helping firefighters.Earlier Monday, officials warned the air quality in the Fort McMurray area was dangerously poor.Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the air quality health index is normally one to 10, with 10 being the worst, but the reading this morning was at 38.Notley said the conditions were hampering efforts to get residents back to their homes."Alberta Health Services has recommended that members of the public who had been previously arranging to return to the area under various requests not return until those conditions improve," Notley said. "This is something that could potentially delay recovery work and a return to the community."Karen Grimsrud, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said they expect the air quality readings to remain in the extreme range for the next couple of days.She said workers in the area should be wearing respirators.
THE FORT MCMURRAY WILD FIRE IS STILL OUT OF CONTROL. DESTROYING 286,000 HECTARES OF LAND SO FAR. AND THE WILDFIRE IS ONLY 10 KILOMETERS FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN BORDER NOW. THE WARM AND DRY TEMPERATURES ARE BACK. AND NOTLEY SAYS SHE HOPES BY THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND-THIS WEEKEND. THE TEMPERATURES WILL GET COOLER AND RAINY. TO SLOW THIS OUT OF CONTROL WILD FIRE. AND A FRESH EVACUATION HAS BEEN CALLED AGAIN FOR THE OIL SANDS TO THE NORTH OF FORT MCMURRAY AGAIN. AND WITH THE FIRE OUT OF CONTROL AND THE HEAVY SMOKE. NOBODY WILL BE GOING HOME TO FORT MCMURRAY FOR AWHILE YET NOTLEY SAYS.
12 work camps north of Fort McMurray evacuated due to growing wildfire-[The Canadian Press]-May 16, 2016-YAHOONEWS
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - About 4,000 workers from camps north of Fort McMurray are being ordered to evacuate because of an approaching wildfire.The Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo calls it a "controlled precautionary evacuation" of 12 camps up to 26 kilometres north of the northern Alberta city.The rural municipality says the fire is moving 30 to 40 metres per minute and is expected to burn six kilometres in two hours."This controlled, precautionary evacuation is an example why it is note safe to be in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo at this time," the municipality said late Monday afternoon in a news release.Workers are being told to head south on Highway 63, but companies running some of the camps said their workers were going north.Syncrude Canada tweeted that buses are transporting workers to a safe location as part of its emergency plan.Sneh Seetal, a spokesman for Suncor Energy, called it a "precautionary measure.""The facilities are not at risk," she said. "However, we felt it was important to take these steps in the interest of putting people first."Eric Kraus, a spokesman for Clean Harbours, which runs the Ruth Lake camp, also called the move "precautionary.""The fire we believe is about 35 kilometres away," he said. "There is a significant amount of smoke."The entire population of Fort McMurray, more than 80,000 residents, are now entering their third week away from home. Many of the work camps were used to house evacuated residents who fled north when fire broke through into the city the afternoon of May 3.About 2,400 structures were destroyed in Fort McMurray, but essential infrastructure, including the hospital, water treatment plant and the airport, remain intact.Crews continued to battle hot spots on the edge of the city Monday while the first still raged out of control deeper in the forest. Hot, dry conditions were not helping firefighters.Earlier Monday, officials warned the air quality in the Fort McMurray area was dangerously poor.Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the air quality health index is normally one to 10, with 10 being the worst, but the reading this morning was at 38.Notley said the conditions were hampering efforts to get residents back to their homes."Alberta Health Services has recommended that members of the public who had been previously arranging to return to the area under various requests not return until those conditions improve," Notley said. "This is something that could potentially delay recovery work and a return to the community."Karen Grimsrud, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said they expect the air quality readings to remain in the extreme range for the next couple of days.She said workers in the area should be wearing respirators.
Thousands of Fort McMurray evacuees take part in telephone town halls-[The Canadian Press]-Rob Drinkwater, The Canadian Press-May 15, 2016-yahoonews
EDMONTON - On Monday evening, thousands of Fort McMurray evacuees will receive a phone call.The voice they'll hear will invite them to participate in a massive telephone town hall, where for an hour-and-a-half they'll get to hear the latest information and ask questions about the wildfire that forced them from their homes, as well as the condition of their neighbourhoods, financial assistance and predictions for when they'll be allowed to return to their city.The Alberta government says over 15,000 took part in the first town hall session that was held last Monday night and the numbers have continued to remain high as more were held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."We set up these telephone town halls in order to provide you with as much information as we can in an unfiltered way," Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said at the beginning of the first session a week ago.There are other ways the province is helping evacuees to get a sense of what they'll be coming home to.The Alberta government has released an app with maps that are intended to provide a high-level satellite overview of the status of the city following the devastating fires, and daily updates are posted on the web.In announcing the app, Larivee said that having been through a devastating fire and evacuation herself five years ago in Slave Lake, she knows how stressful it can be to wait for updates on which homes have been lost.The town hall sessions have the feel of a news conference, but instead of reporters asking the questions, it's the residents of Fort McMurray.To get the invitation call for the town halls, evacuees must have registered their phone numbers with the Red Cross, but they can also participate by phoning in themselves or listening in online.One caller on Thursday night said her home was very close to the fire line and worried that if it had water damage, it might cause more problems if officials turn the electricity back on.Another caller said he'd heard reports on social media that there had been looting in Fort McMurray."I'm just curious about what steps you're taking to secure everyone's homes?" the caller, identified as Grant, asked.There was even a poll during the town hall asking whether people had been to one of the province's debit card distribution centres yet, and participants were able to respond on their phone keypads.John Archer, a government spokesman, said the town halls were put together because even though there were numerous daily news conference and government updates, it didn't seem to be enough."There would continue to be comments from the evacuees: 'We just want more information. We want more information. We wish we had more information,'" Archer said.Archer said there may be more telephone town halls as the week continues.The question that's on every evacuees' mind was submitted online by woman identified as Grace during Thursday's town hall.She wondered if evacuees will get to go home this month."No promises on that one," Larivee answered. "We will let you know as soon as possible."
Crews work to fireproof Whistler before catastrophe hits-[CBC]-May 16, 2016-yahoonews
No one in Whistler wants to be another Fort McMurray. The heavily forested resort community in British Columbia is considered at high risk for forest fires, and so with images of the northern Alberta devastation fresh, Bruce Blackwell is leading a push to fireproof the community."Fort McMurray is not unique," said Blackwell, a fire ecology consultant who's been hired by the municipality to plan the defence against a catastrophic wildfire.His crews are at work this week in the Brio neighbourhood on the slopes of Whistler mountain, just a few minutes from the village centre."What we're really trying to do is create a buffer," he said as a contracting team cut down trees and thinned out the overgrown brush."If we have this break right up against homes, we've got protection from a fire coming down the mountain."Worryingly similarTo Whistler Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, the parallels with Fort McMurray are worrying."We've got some similarities. There's only one road in and out to Whistler. We are an important economic engine to the province — if something like that happened here, it would be devastating."Since 2004, the resort municipality has been going from neighbourhood to neighbourhood tackling fire mitigation work."It used to be hard to convince taxpayers that fire-smarting made sense," said Wilhelm-Morden."But we don't have that problem these days."The area has had some close calls. In 2009, a spectacular fire on the top of Blackcomb Mountain fortunately burned away from the resort.And last year, a huge fire 50 kilometers away in the nearby Elaho valley shrouded Whistler in smoke, but didn't cause any damage.-B.C. Liberals under fire-The roughly $500,000 being spent in Whistler this spring comes from the municipality as well as a B.C. government fund that supports fire mitigation work.But critics say the amount of money on offer from the province — roughly $8 million a year — amounts to a tiny drop in the firefighting bucket compared to what's needed."After a decade of neglect, just 10 per cent of that work [fire mitigation] that was considered high risk has been done," NDP MLA Harry Bains told the B.C. legislature this week, as he challenged Premier Christy Clark's Liberal government to ante up more cash.Those who study forest fires argue even as they've grown in frequency and intensity, governments have yet to fully grasp the full economic consequences of the damage they cause.-Treat fires like earthquakes-"We need to start to look at wildfires as floods, tornados or earthquakes," said Robert Gray, who like Blackwell is a fire ecology consultant."We need to put them in the same natural disaster category and fund mitigation in the same way. We don't do that now."Two years ago, Gray said, the B.C. provincial and federal governments combined to spend $75 million on flood mitigation, but he claims only $5 million was spent on fire mitigation.-Costs vastly underestimated- A 2015 report Gray co-authored analyzes the cost of several U.S. fires from the past decade. It concluded after adding in the costs of suppression as well as the indirect costs of lost business and other long term implications, the true cost of forest fires can be up to 30 times official estimates."We're going to see more expensive fires and it's going to have a trickle-down effect on the economy," said Gray."We're all going to start feeling the pain if we don't get ahead of this problem."Whistler is one of the more pro-active B.C. communities for fire prevention. Still, even with the work being done around the Brio neighbourhood this spring, mitigation is a laborious process.The primary tree-falling machine broke down just before CBC News visited and contractors said it could take a day to fix it.Those delays matter. Just one neighbourhood per year can be tackled in the short time between when the snow melts and when it becomes too hot and dangerous to be doing the thinning.And at this rate, it will be at least another 20 to 30 years before all the Whistler neighbourhoods are fireproofed — and by then it's more than likely the community's fire defences will already have been put to the test.
Evacuation, alerts for northeastern B.C. wildfires as winds kick up-[The Canadian Press]-May 16, 2016-yahoonews
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. - Strong winds, high temperatures and no sign of rain could mean another difficult week for crews battling wildfires in northeastern British Columbia.Fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek says the Fort St. John area remains the hardest hit region, with 41 of the province's 62 active wildfires.Environment Canada is calling for temperatures of up to 26 C today while Skrepnek says firefighters are bracing for strong, sustained winds of 40 to 60 km/h over the next few days.He says those conditions led to significant growth on the Beatton Airport Road and Siphon Creek wildfires over the weekend.An evacuation order was issued Sunday for 130 homes near the 150-square-kilometre Beatton fire, while the Siphon Creek blaze northeast of Fort St. John is now estimated at 616-square kilometres.About one-quarter of that fire is on the Alberta side of the provincial boundary.Environment Canada is calling for rain and temperatures between 7 C and 14 C on Thursday and Friday, but the sun is expected to be back by next weekend. (CHNL)
Out of control' wildfire forces mandatory evacuations in MD of Greenview-[CBC]-May 15, 2016-yahoonews
An out of control wildfire burning about 10 kilometres north of Fox Creek, Alta. has forced mandatory evacuations in the municipal district of Greenview.The evacuation areas are south of the hamlet of Little Smoky, south of the Iosegun River and all of Township 65 on both sides of Highway 43.A state of local emergency has also been declared for those areas. Evacuees are asked to report to the Paradise Inn in Valleyview.Barry Shellian with Agriculture and Forestry said the fire is roughly nine km southeast of the nearest community and is moving north."The fire is demonstrating extreme wildfire behaviour and it's growing rapidly," said Shellian. The fire is currently 800 hectares, far larger than the 60-hectare fire that was being fought only hours ago. There are currently 15 airtankers, 38 firefighters, eighteen pieces of heavy equipment and eight helicopters fighting the fire.Shellian said the heavy equipment on scene will be working throughout the night around the flanks of the fire to build a perimeter.Firefighters and the heavy equipment will be focusing on the southwest portion of the fire overnight.A second out of control wildfire started in the area at 9:17 p.m. Sunday.The one-hectare fire is seven kilometres west of highway 32 and no structures or communities are currently being threatened. Both fires are expected to grow overnight and on Monday.Near Fox Creek Fox Creek Mayor Jim Ahn said having a fire so near the town is "very discomforting.""It's very worrisome. They are doing what they can to keep the fire under control but I realize it is out of control."The fire was also encroaching on the Trilogy energy plant north of the community. But Shellian said it is now moving away from that facility as well.He said the fire is being bolstered by dry conditions and the wind. Fox Creek and Little Smoky are about 250 km northwest of Edmonton.'It's very dry in the forests'-Shellian said the reason the fire was able to grow over ten times in just a few hours is because we are seeing record levels of "fire indices"numbers that measure burning conditions."The other thing is the snow cover went fast," said Shellian."What the snow does is provide insulation for the vegetation underneath so when the snow goes all the vegetation has an opportunity to lose moisture and it all became very dry."Shellian said because of these reasons the ground is more dry than usual at this time of year and therefore this fire, and others, have been able to spread quickly. "It's very dry in the forests and there is going to be some real challenges managing the wildfires this summer."
EDMONTON - On Monday evening, thousands of Fort McMurray evacuees will receive a phone call.The voice they'll hear will invite them to participate in a massive telephone town hall, where for an hour-and-a-half they'll get to hear the latest information and ask questions about the wildfire that forced them from their homes, as well as the condition of their neighbourhoods, financial assistance and predictions for when they'll be allowed to return to their city.The Alberta government says over 15,000 took part in the first town hall session that was held last Monday night and the numbers have continued to remain high as more were held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."We set up these telephone town halls in order to provide you with as much information as we can in an unfiltered way," Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said at the beginning of the first session a week ago.There are other ways the province is helping evacuees to get a sense of what they'll be coming home to.The Alberta government has released an app with maps that are intended to provide a high-level satellite overview of the status of the city following the devastating fires, and daily updates are posted on the web.In announcing the app, Larivee said that having been through a devastating fire and evacuation herself five years ago in Slave Lake, she knows how stressful it can be to wait for updates on which homes have been lost.The town hall sessions have the feel of a news conference, but instead of reporters asking the questions, it's the residents of Fort McMurray.To get the invitation call for the town halls, evacuees must have registered their phone numbers with the Red Cross, but they can also participate by phoning in themselves or listening in online.One caller on Thursday night said her home was very close to the fire line and worried that if it had water damage, it might cause more problems if officials turn the electricity back on.Another caller said he'd heard reports on social media that there had been looting in Fort McMurray."I'm just curious about what steps you're taking to secure everyone's homes?" the caller, identified as Grant, asked.There was even a poll during the town hall asking whether people had been to one of the province's debit card distribution centres yet, and participants were able to respond on their phone keypads.John Archer, a government spokesman, said the town halls were put together because even though there were numerous daily news conference and government updates, it didn't seem to be enough."There would continue to be comments from the evacuees: 'We just want more information. We want more information. We wish we had more information,'" Archer said.Archer said there may be more telephone town halls as the week continues.The question that's on every evacuees' mind was submitted online by woman identified as Grace during Thursday's town hall.She wondered if evacuees will get to go home this month."No promises on that one," Larivee answered. "We will let you know as soon as possible."
Crews work to fireproof Whistler before catastrophe hits-[CBC]-May 16, 2016-yahoonews
No one in Whistler wants to be another Fort McMurray. The heavily forested resort community in British Columbia is considered at high risk for forest fires, and so with images of the northern Alberta devastation fresh, Bruce Blackwell is leading a push to fireproof the community."Fort McMurray is not unique," said Blackwell, a fire ecology consultant who's been hired by the municipality to plan the defence against a catastrophic wildfire.His crews are at work this week in the Brio neighbourhood on the slopes of Whistler mountain, just a few minutes from the village centre."What we're really trying to do is create a buffer," he said as a contracting team cut down trees and thinned out the overgrown brush."If we have this break right up against homes, we've got protection from a fire coming down the mountain."Worryingly similarTo Whistler Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, the parallels with Fort McMurray are worrying."We've got some similarities. There's only one road in and out to Whistler. We are an important economic engine to the province — if something like that happened here, it would be devastating."Since 2004, the resort municipality has been going from neighbourhood to neighbourhood tackling fire mitigation work."It used to be hard to convince taxpayers that fire-smarting made sense," said Wilhelm-Morden."But we don't have that problem these days."The area has had some close calls. In 2009, a spectacular fire on the top of Blackcomb Mountain fortunately burned away from the resort.And last year, a huge fire 50 kilometers away in the nearby Elaho valley shrouded Whistler in smoke, but didn't cause any damage.-B.C. Liberals under fire-The roughly $500,000 being spent in Whistler this spring comes from the municipality as well as a B.C. government fund that supports fire mitigation work.But critics say the amount of money on offer from the province — roughly $8 million a year — amounts to a tiny drop in the firefighting bucket compared to what's needed."After a decade of neglect, just 10 per cent of that work [fire mitigation] that was considered high risk has been done," NDP MLA Harry Bains told the B.C. legislature this week, as he challenged Premier Christy Clark's Liberal government to ante up more cash.Those who study forest fires argue even as they've grown in frequency and intensity, governments have yet to fully grasp the full economic consequences of the damage they cause.-Treat fires like earthquakes-"We need to start to look at wildfires as floods, tornados or earthquakes," said Robert Gray, who like Blackwell is a fire ecology consultant."We need to put them in the same natural disaster category and fund mitigation in the same way. We don't do that now."Two years ago, Gray said, the B.C. provincial and federal governments combined to spend $75 million on flood mitigation, but he claims only $5 million was spent on fire mitigation.-Costs vastly underestimated- A 2015 report Gray co-authored analyzes the cost of several U.S. fires from the past decade. It concluded after adding in the costs of suppression as well as the indirect costs of lost business and other long term implications, the true cost of forest fires can be up to 30 times official estimates."We're going to see more expensive fires and it's going to have a trickle-down effect on the economy," said Gray."We're all going to start feeling the pain if we don't get ahead of this problem."Whistler is one of the more pro-active B.C. communities for fire prevention. Still, even with the work being done around the Brio neighbourhood this spring, mitigation is a laborious process.The primary tree-falling machine broke down just before CBC News visited and contractors said it could take a day to fix it.Those delays matter. Just one neighbourhood per year can be tackled in the short time between when the snow melts and when it becomes too hot and dangerous to be doing the thinning.And at this rate, it will be at least another 20 to 30 years before all the Whistler neighbourhoods are fireproofed — and by then it's more than likely the community's fire defences will already have been put to the test.
Evacuation, alerts for northeastern B.C. wildfires as winds kick up-[The Canadian Press]-May 16, 2016-yahoonews
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. - Strong winds, high temperatures and no sign of rain could mean another difficult week for crews battling wildfires in northeastern British Columbia.Fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek says the Fort St. John area remains the hardest hit region, with 41 of the province's 62 active wildfires.Environment Canada is calling for temperatures of up to 26 C today while Skrepnek says firefighters are bracing for strong, sustained winds of 40 to 60 km/h over the next few days.He says those conditions led to significant growth on the Beatton Airport Road and Siphon Creek wildfires over the weekend.An evacuation order was issued Sunday for 130 homes near the 150-square-kilometre Beatton fire, while the Siphon Creek blaze northeast of Fort St. John is now estimated at 616-square kilometres.About one-quarter of that fire is on the Alberta side of the provincial boundary.Environment Canada is calling for rain and temperatures between 7 C and 14 C on Thursday and Friday, but the sun is expected to be back by next weekend. (CHNL)
Out of control' wildfire forces mandatory evacuations in MD of Greenview-[CBC]-May 15, 2016-yahoonews
An out of control wildfire burning about 10 kilometres north of Fox Creek, Alta. has forced mandatory evacuations in the municipal district of Greenview.The evacuation areas are south of the hamlet of Little Smoky, south of the Iosegun River and all of Township 65 on both sides of Highway 43.A state of local emergency has also been declared for those areas. Evacuees are asked to report to the Paradise Inn in Valleyview.Barry Shellian with Agriculture and Forestry said the fire is roughly nine km southeast of the nearest community and is moving north."The fire is demonstrating extreme wildfire behaviour and it's growing rapidly," said Shellian. The fire is currently 800 hectares, far larger than the 60-hectare fire that was being fought only hours ago. There are currently 15 airtankers, 38 firefighters, eighteen pieces of heavy equipment and eight helicopters fighting the fire.Shellian said the heavy equipment on scene will be working throughout the night around the flanks of the fire to build a perimeter.Firefighters and the heavy equipment will be focusing on the southwest portion of the fire overnight.A second out of control wildfire started in the area at 9:17 p.m. Sunday.The one-hectare fire is seven kilometres west of highway 32 and no structures or communities are currently being threatened. Both fires are expected to grow overnight and on Monday.Near Fox Creek Fox Creek Mayor Jim Ahn said having a fire so near the town is "very discomforting.""It's very worrisome. They are doing what they can to keep the fire under control but I realize it is out of control."The fire was also encroaching on the Trilogy energy plant north of the community. But Shellian said it is now moving away from that facility as well.He said the fire is being bolstered by dry conditions and the wind. Fox Creek and Little Smoky are about 250 km northwest of Edmonton.'It's very dry in the forests'-Shellian said the reason the fire was able to grow over ten times in just a few hours is because we are seeing record levels of "fire indices"numbers that measure burning conditions."The other thing is the snow cover went fast," said Shellian."What the snow does is provide insulation for the vegetation underneath so when the snow goes all the vegetation has an opportunity to lose moisture and it all became very dry."Shellian said because of these reasons the ground is more dry than usual at this time of year and therefore this fire, and others, have been able to spread quickly. "It's very dry in the forests and there is going to be some real challenges managing the wildfires this summer."
