2025 Canadian Wildfires

[Gamma1214]

...criminalize the mere presence of humans in cities.

I had that same thought as I picked up family at the airport last week. Comparing the traffic today to the traffic at the height of the covid lockdowns, we came to the conclusion that Pittsburgh would be an awesome city if it weren't for all those (other) pesky humans on the roads.

 

[gumpus]

Here is the boreal forest map
View attachment 148290

And here is the latest fire map
View attachment 148291

You can see that almost all fires are in the boreal forest. Why are some areas hit harder than others? Weather patterns mostly. In Ontario, the MNR claims that 50 percent of forest fires are due to lightening, and the other 50 due to human causes. I think that is an inaccurate assessment, my belief is that most forest fires are weather generated. In many of the areas that burn, there is no human activity. The racist bumpkin headed nincompoops in the local area will claim that the local Indigenous are setting the fires, so they can get evacuated, etc, but that is just the ravings of unhappy one toothed cousin kissers.

In dry years, we have lots of fires. In wet years we have very few. In my immediate vicinity, there are very few fires burning. We have had a steady diet of large rainfalls all summer. Rivers are uncharacteristically high for the season. Bugs are bad.

In Nova Scotia, the government has just declared any activity in the bush to be forbidden. $25,000 fine for those caught, even if they are just hiking. It is very dry and hot out there right now.

In summary - climate is the biggest indicator of forest fire frequency, despite causes. Dry summers will see lots of fires, wet summers not many. According to general climate surveys, our climate is generally getting dryer and hotter, hence more fires. Of course, locally there will be trends that don't match the overall, and people will latch on to that to justify their belief that nothing ever changes in life, and that the only way to live is like it's the 1950's.

Do they talk about the psychological impact up there? I think we had a period of several weeks where it felt like you were looking at the world through a screen door (or two). The smoke and light also changed throughout the day so the amount of light wasn't related to the time of day. It felt like a weird kind of torture.

More recently we're happy to deal with a little eye and throat irritation for winds from the north that blow the heat and humidity away.

 

[memaquay]

Do they talk about the psychological impact up there?

I don't want to sound like one of those tuff guys, but even on the smoky-est of days, everyone just carrys on like it's not smoky. Local joggers keep jogging, us paddlers keep paddling, I've been out in the freighter fishing on the lake when visibility is quite low. It's a very common occurrence up here, I guess we are used to it. Of course about 50 percent of the people up here smoke darts, which are probably way worse for you than forest fire smoke.

 

[Alan Gage]

I don't want to sound like one of those tuff guys, but even on the smoky-est of days, everyone just carrys on like it's not smoky. Local joggers keep jogging, us paddlers keep paddling, I've been out in the freighter fishing on the lake when visibility is quite low. It's a very common occurrence up here, I guess we are used to it. Of course about 50 percent of the people up here smoke darts, which are probably way worse for you than forest fire smoke.

Have you ever heard any of the joggers mention it affecting their speed/endurance? We get some smoke at times and I've never thought twice about it but I hear old people complain sometimes that they can't work outside when it's smokey.

I figured it was just mental but a couple weeks ago when running my paddle tests I was surprised on the 2nd night when my speeds were just as fast or faster in what should have been a slower boat. It also felt like I was putting more force into the strokes to keep my heart rate at 120. Then I remembered that the night of the first tests it had been smokey and I wondered if that had anything to do with it. Or maybe I just hadn't had enough broccoli that day?

Alan

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Have you ever heard any of the joggers mention it affecting their speed/endurance?

It seems obvious to me that smokey air would adversely affect the lungs and breathing, as well as irritating the eyes and nose. Forest fire smoke is also carcinogenic, perhaps worse than smog. And smog in city air—Los Angeles being an early poster child—is one of the primary reasons we have air pollution controls on vehicles and now the EV movement.

 

[ppine]

If people are still jogging, then your air quality is not that bad.

In the West we get smoke from local fires, and regional fires. When it is bad, the numbers go well past 400 or more on the particulate gauge.
Then I don't even walk outside. I avoid going outside at all. We turn on air filers in the house and run the AC.

This year has been great. We have had some wet winters.

 

[memaquay]

Our summer weather is at best 7 to 8 weeks, we don't let anything get in the way, smoke, bugs, meth heads, mining pollution.....all are taken in stride. People from down south, like our pharmacist, wear masks when it's real smokey, the rest of us carry on, and one rarely hears complaints.