Man’s house burned while he loaded air tankers with retardant

Puntzi Fire, structures burned
A photo of some of the structures that burned in the Puntzi Lake Fire in British Columbia.

While Geordie Ferguson was loading fire retardant into air tankers to fight the Puntzi Lake Fire 130 kilometers (81 miles) west of Williams Lake, British Columbia, he found out that his house burned in the fire. But he kept loading air tankers.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Mr. Ferguson.

Below are excerpts from an article at GlobalNews.ca:

As his house burned to the ground, Geordie Ferguson was doing what he always does: thinking about others.

“I had a job to do,” says the man who loaded 29 planes with fire retardant on the day he lost his home next to Puntzi Lake.

“I could not put myself first. I could not hold my head down and pout and cry. I had planes to load, I had more houses to save. I had a community depending on me to do my job, and I did it.”

Ferguson works as a loader technician for ICL Canada. For the last eight years, he’s lived in a home on the shores of Puntzi Lake, driving 15 minutes each day to his job at the Royal Canadian Air Force station on Puntzi Mountain.

In the summer, he services the many planes using the base to fight fires throughout the Chilcotin and Cariboo regions.

“We supply the manpower, pumps and retardants to forestry for loading the aircraft for fighting the forest fires. Those guys are my heroes. The guys in the aircraft, the ground crew, everyone involved [in fighting fires] is a stellar person,” said Ferguson.

He made a quick call to a friend, who confirmed that while his house was gone, his dog had escaped and was being taken care of.

Then Ferguson went back to work. He’s stayed there, working and sleeping at the base, ever since.

“I don’t want to go anywhere else. Once I learned my dog was safe, I was staying here. Anyone who was trying to get me out of here, win lose or draw, it’d be one hell of a fight. I am here, I’m going to load planes,” he says.

“All I wanted could do is make sure I could save other people’s houses and some lives in between, and be supportive of ground crew. Everything else is immaterial.”

Ferguson lost everything but his dog, wallet, iPhone, iPad and pickup truck.

“I had a lot of things, but I can get new things. None of that matters to me. None of that is important in life. It’s what I signed up to do, and the job that I have is a proud, prestigious job, and I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“I’m just a simple man, and everyone deserves more of a prop than I do. They hired me to load planes, and come hell or high water, I’m going to load planes,” he says.

“I was brought up old-school. There was no whining, or would ofs, or thinking about yourself. Think about others. And let’s get the job done, and we’ll work out all the other stuff later.”…

Structures destroyed in Puntzi Lake Fire in B.C.

Puntzi Lake Wildfire
Puntzi Lake Wildfire. Photo by British Columbia Wildfire Service.

Multiple structures have been destroyed in a 7,000-hectare (17,300-acre) wildfire at Puntzi Lake about 130 kilometers (81 miles) west of Williams Lake, British Columbia.

Puntzi Lake Wildfire structures destroyed
Structures destroyed on the Puntzi Lake Fire. Screen grab from video by Cariboo Regional District.

The Cariboo Regional District reported on July 10 that one resort, two permanent homes, one seasonal home and multiple outbuildings on a total of four properties were confirmed lost as a result of the Puntzi Lake fire. All affected property owners have been notified.

The video below shows the impacts to the structures near the shore of Puntzi Lake.

As of July 11 approximately 90 properties were affected by an Evacuation Order and 183 properties were in the Evacuation Alert area, according to the Cariboo Regional District.

Firefighting resources on scene July 11 from the BC Wildfire Service included two airtankers, four helicopters, 102 firefighters, 26 support personnel and 9 pieces of heavy equipment.

A single engine air tanker fighting the fire crashed in Puntzi Lake Friday afternoon, July 10. The Air Tractor 802-F Fire Boss amphibious air tanker was scooping water from the lake at about 2:15 p.m. when the Conair plane had some sort of difficulty and sank. The pilot was not injured, according to Bill Yearwood with Transportation Safety Board.

map Puntzi Lake Wildfire
Map of heat detected by a satellite on the Puntzi Lake Fire,  4 a.m. MT, July 11.
Puntzi Lake Wildfire
Puntzi Lake Wildfire July 9, 2015. Photo by British Columbia Wildfire Service.

Time-lapse of a fire in Canada

This is an interesting video of a wildfire in Canada. Contrary to the description with the video that we referenced earlier, it was shot in Nelson, British Columbia. (Thanks Fis and Keith.)

In the second half of the video the fire appears to be influenced by a down-slope breeze.

 

Contract faller killed on British Columbia fire

The British Columbia Wildfire Service released this information late Sunday night, July 5, 2015:

We sign off with heavy hearts tonight. We were saddened to learn that a contract tree faller working with us on the Old Sechelt Mine fire suffered a fatal injury while felling a danger tree earlier today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends, family and co-workers.

This is a tragic reminder of the dangerous work being done by personnel across the province to respond to wildfires.

Our sincere condolences go out to the family, friends, and co-workers.

The Old Sechelt Mine Fire has burned 80 hectares (198 acres) since it was discovered July 2 two km northwest of Sechelt.

UPDATE at 7:30 p.m. MT, July 6, 2015: Kelowna Now reports that the coroner has identified the faller as John Joe Phare, age 60, from Roberts Creek.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Mike.

Cisco Road Fire south of Lytton, B.C.

(UPDATE at 10:27 a.m. PT, June 12, 2015)

Cisco Road Fire
Cisco Road Fire, June 11, 2015. Photo by B.C. Wildfire Management Branch.

The British Columbia Wildfire Management Branch says the Cisco Road Fire south of Lytton, B.C. has been mapped at 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres). The size will increase as the fire crews conduct strategic burning operations.

Cisco Road Fire
Cisco Road Fire, June 11, 2015. Photo by B.C. Wildfire Management Branch.

Firefighters will be watching for high winds today — predicted to be southerly for most of Friday morning, with the chance of a shift to northerly later in the afternoon. Crews did experience a trace amount of precipitation on some areas of the fire Friday morning.

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Cisco Road Fire
Cisco Road Fire south of Lytton, BC at 3:22 pm PT June 11, 2015.

(UPDATE at 5:29 p.m. PT, June 11, 2015)

The British Columbia Wildfire Management Branch said at 2:58 PT that the new wildfire, now named Cisco Road Fire, west of the Fraser River south of Lytton (map) has burned about 600 hectares (1,482 acres) and is zero percent contained:

This fire is displaying aggressive fire behaviour (Rank 5) and is located in difficult terrain [Rank 5 fire behaviour is a crown fire that has the potential for short-range spotting] . Winds 40 gusting 60 km/hr [25 mph gusting to 37 mph] from the south are continuing to challenge suppression efforts. There are currently 22 firefighters on site, with 20 more en route. Three helicopters are providing bucking support for ground crews.

An Evacuation Alert and Order have been issued by the Lytton First Nations Band for nearby First Nations communities.

I wonder about the future of the live cam that is getting these great photos? If the wind shifts to come out of the north, it will probably be toast, unless it can be evacuated, or unless it has sufficient clearance around it. I think the cam is looking north, and that jives with the south wind described above..

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(Originally published at 2:32 p.m. PT, June 11, 2015)

Lytton wildfire
An image grabbed from a live web cam of a fire south of Lytton, B.C. at 3:22 p.m. MT, June 11, 2015.

A new wildfire south of Lytton, B.C. has gotten a running start up a steep slope, as you can see in the photo that was captured by a live camera operated by Lyttonnet. Not much information is available yet, but CBC News reported at 1:57 p.m. PT that it was 150 hectares (370 acres) on the west side of the Fraser River. The B.C. Wildfire Management Branch says the fire was reported around noon and is threatening structures near Lytton, roughly 100 kilometers north of Hope.

Here is another photo grabbed from the live camera earlier in the day:
Lytton BC fire

Wildfire smoke forecast for Canada

wildfire Smoke forecast Canada June 1
Wildfire smoke forecast for Canada on June 1.

smoke legend

The British Columbia government has a very interesting website that provides a forecast for wildfire smoke. The image above is for Monday, June 1, and the one below is for Wednesday, June 3.

wildfire Smoke forecast Canada June 3
Wildfire smoke forecast for Canada on June 3.

To see the most current smoke reports on Wildfire Today, visit the articles tagged “smoke” at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/