Wild Fires

There have been so many wildfires in BC and Montana that the smoke in the air has been horrible for weeks and weeks.  Things got a 'little' more complicated than just smoke, when the BC fire crossed the border in to Alberta and Waterton suddenly became at high risk.  They put in a lot of preventative measures to prepare for the worst.  Then, they had a voluntary evacuation put in place and before long it was a mandatory evacuation.  We have all held our breath and prayed that something would happen to save our Park.  When I woke up this morning, I was saddened to see pictures of Bears Hump in flames.

Even worse than that, was when I read my parents Facebook status saying that the mandatory evacuation zone had been enlarged last night to everyone past the Hillspring turnoff.  That means my Uncle Barry's farm and so many of our friends were told they had to leave their homes.  My parents were up helping Sister Neville get out and said that it's something they never want to experience again.  Mom and Dad gathered up their 'important' things from the sea can up on the farm and then got things from their house and went to the hangar for the night.  They don't have any power at home and they are only 2 km's from the mandatory evacuation zone.

All morning I wondered if I needed to be gathering things up.  Lennard kept calling and giving me updates and before lunch they were able to see that the winds had changed direction.  For now, we are safe... but there are so many others that aren't.  Garner's have lost their house and everything in it. Many others are being evacuated as I write this.  It has been a time of discovering what our priorities are and what is truly important.  I've looked around our house and realized how much 'stuff' we have and that as long as the four of us are safe that is what really matters.  We need moisture so badly.  We have a regional fast happening this Sunday for rain.  I've spent way too much time on Facebook and news sites looking for updates to the situation today.  It's been difficult seeing Emma and Ben cry and worry about the fires.  It's been a long day.

Ash on our sidewalk

The ash on our driveway.  No wonder it's so hard to breathe.

This was what the skies looked like this morning.