Opal Wildfire Update #10

May 30, 2010

A mist is hanging over sections of the burnt area.  The ground, still hot or burning, vapourizes the rain and snow as it falls.  With this moisture the hot spots are becoming smaller and fewer.  The firefighters from SRD are getting closer to completing their job of putting this fire out.

This fire may soon be out but the memory of it will last for a long time.  Stories of the fire are making the rounds and it's plain that the Opal fire will soon become the stuff of legend.  One of the best stories that I've heard about the fire comes from a quote that appears in a local paper.  It has the owner of Mill Creek Aggregate saying," The fire went right over top of the office and then kept on going."  I was a bit skeptical about the accuracy of this claim so I thought I would go out and see for myself.  Seeing is believing.  The office is still there untouched while everything around it is burned black.  Not only did the fire jump the office but it went right over a roadway that runs in front of the office.  That's a wild story about a wild fire.

Plans to help prevent this type of thing from happening in the future are already under way.  Rainbow Equitation Society (provincial stewards of the six Natural Areas in our zone) are finalizing a management plan that they are hoping to present to Thorhild County Council and SRD in the near future.  Among many other things it will suggest that where it is necessary, trails be widened to accommodate firefighting equipment, that access points be marked and controlled, that extensive trail grooming and elimination of trash buildup and deadfall be pursued and where possible and where required controlled burns be considered.

These and other actions will go a long way to protecting the community and the Natural Areas from the threat of wildfire not to mention reducing the costs involved in fighting these wildfires.

My Dad used to have a saying about closing the barn door after the horses had already left.  This fire has been a tragedy on a lot of different levels.  What is done is done.  I am now looking forward to following the recovery of the Opal Natural Area and grazing leases as well as working with the people that live on the site's boundaries.

Most of the folks that I have talked to are in agreement that a great job was done by the following:

-Thorhild County in managing this emergency.  Ditto to Sturgeon and Westlock counties as well as SRD.   

-the community organizations that pitched in with meals and other services

-the folks that helped to evacuate people, pets and livestock and provided places for them to stay

- and of course the firefighters in the air and on the ground

Wow! Great Job!  Good on You!!

Emergency people on-site soon after the fire started (photo courtesy Sonia Kozlow)

Water bomber banking for pick-up run at Halfmoon Lake. (Photo  courtesy of Vera DeSmet)

From the RES site, a water bomber dropping down into Halfmoon Lake. (Photo courtesy of Vera DeSmet)

Picking up water 2 at a time -- one loaded & leaving, one loading. (Photo courtesy of Sherry Menard)

I'm told these planes are based out of BC.  They're single props and haul

about 800 gal of water in the pontoons.  They're on the surface of the lake

for only seconds before they're loaded and gone making a round trip

every 15 minutes.  (Photo courtesy of Sherry Menard)

Burned out area immediately across the road from Mill Creek

office.  (Photo courtesy of Richard DeSmet)

I couldn't resist this last one.  It was sent to me by Alison Dinwoody.  I think it's just great.

Richard