Air Quality Alert

A pall of smoke from
a regional forest fire
hangs in our valley

~ carliewired

A forest fire is raging in the Lytton, British Columbia area. Cause of the fire has not been fully determined. It is thought to be human caused as there has not been any thunderstorm activity in the area. The Canadian National Railway is grinding its rail lines there and is suspected to be the cause. The winds are high and have fanned this fire up to over 1,300 hectares by 8 PM this evening. It has 22 fire fighters onsite already with 40 more on their way. Three helicopters are supporting the ground crews with water buckets. This location is about 2 hours away from us by road. However the prevailing winds are bringing us the smoke which has begun to fill up our valley this afternoon. 

I took these photos from our lookout on Columbia Street just before 5 PM this evening. The fellow with the camera is a visitor who was hoping to have his photos on the weather channel locally. 

We wonder what the summer season will bring for forest fires. This is not the first for this year.