View from Vernon, July 22,2009

This smoky image of the Fintry fire was taken on July 22,2009, about five days after the fire began, from our rooftop patio at Sun Valley Mall, in downtown Vernon. Last year was quite hot and dry, but the water reserves were in far better shape. This year is quite different, the highland reserves are 50% below normal this year, and the backcountry is dangerously dry already. 

Fire Season Begins...2009

Around seven in the evening of July 18,  I stepped out on my balcony to capture these images of the very beginnings of both the Westbank/Rosedale and Fintry/Terrace Mtn.fires. The Terrace Mtn. fire was largely ignored for almost a week while the Rosedale fire was being brought under control. The end result? A very dangerous three week firestorm, rivaling the Kelowna/Okanagan Mtn. firestorm of 2003.  The point? 2009 was a hot dry year, and we've had a very mild, dry winter, spring is early and we haven't had a lot of precipitation. This year, the BC government, in its infinite wisdom, slashed 400 million from the firefighting budget , coincidentially, the amount that they spent fighting these fires in 2009.