How "over the top" is this year's #wildfire season across #Canada? The 13.7 million hectares burned (thus far) is seven times the 1980-22 median and is 56 percent higher than the previous highest seasonal total (1989)! That's WAAAY over the top. Data from Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. #Summer2023#CanadaWildfire
Yes, Canada is still on fire. Even though summer has gone by and the traditional wildfire season is over, hundreds of forest fires continue burning, most of them out of control.
This is intensely sad to me, not to mention frightening, and it’s a blatantly ominous sign that we are in the midst of a climate emergency.
this past year alone, my family has faced evacuation twice in the #canadian north due to #wildfire. during the current evac, thousands of northerners have zero communication with their families, emergency personnel or access to wildfire data.
this is entirely due to the collapse of NorthwesTel's fibre network infrastructure and zero secondary systems for comms. the sub/arctic is infamous for its fragile, ancient comms architecture.
i want to change that, and i'd like help thinking out loud about potential citizen-owned/operated technologies for long-distance emergency comms.
#hamradio and #packetradio enthusiasts - could you please recommend some research resources on the following:
legal/frequency considerations for non-voice/packet transmission specific to #Canada
recommended hardware & software for 1000km+ transmission, tcp/ip
examples of amateur radio clubs that have undertaken this kind of role before
if possible, please respond with links to documentation, research and/or policy papers.
my entire family has worked wildfire management since the teletype days, and i hopefully can effect some actual useful change for northerners here.
Summer is almost upon us, and Canada is already on fire, so I guess it's time to share this again: my guide to the dangers of smoke, why you really don't want to breathe it, and how to get your air purifier situation set up before the smoke comes.
🔥USA East Coast friends: if the #Wildfire smoke is thick in your area, build a Corsi-Rosenthal box filter. These are inexpensive to build and very effective, and they filter and exchange the air in your house very efficiently. We use them extensively here in the western US when the fire smoke is bad. See this resource for how to build one:
NBC has done a remarkably good job describing Hawai'i's historical losses--and history of resistance and colonialism--as a wildfire burns the historic capital of Lahaina, Maui.
As #Kelowna went under #wildfire evacuation orders yesterday prior to last night's maelstrom, Tracy Gray - federal CPC MP for Kelowna-Lake Country - was posting about "Trudeau's carbon tax" in apparent ignorance of the fact her Kelowna constituents don't pay it because #BC has had its own carbon tax since 2008 and are not a part of the Federal Carbon Pricing system. #cdnpoli
“The news coverage of the smoke palls swirling out of Canada across the East Coast has centered on the substantial threat to people suffering from asthma, heart disease & other ailments exacerbated by smoke inhalation.
Good article:
Canada left battered by 'never before seen' wildfire season
"And in the boreal forest, due to the thickness of the humus on the ground, fires can continue to burn for months.
Massive wildfire threatens town of Villa Carlos Paz in Argentina.
Pillars of flames and smoke are encroaching from the surrounding hills.
960 firefighters, 8 firefighting planes and 2 helicopters are fighting the wildfires.
The wildfire was accidentally ignited in a campfire.
Fossil-fueled global warming, extreme heat and drought are all contributing to wildfires in S. America. It's not summer yet.
I wish I could tell you this was a cool vintage film simulation or a #Lightroom preset but this is the way #NewYorkCity looks tonight because of the smoke from the #CanadianWildfires. Walking outside for more than a few minutes makes your eyes start to tear and the smell of smoke burns your throat.
Currently if King County WA needs to produce an evacuation map they only do so as a PDF. County emergency management (EM) staff says it would be very expensive to have county GIS staff produce an interactive evacuation map.
I volunteered to write data conversion code (geojson > kmz) so King County WA could use Google maps as an interactive evacuation map.
EM staff says policy prohibits them from using outside help that is not officially approved. So I contacted county procurement asking how I can get approved as a volunteer consultant. See pic for their reply. #PNW#EmergencyManagement#Wildfire 🙄 🤦♂️