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*** CALIFORNIA FIGHTS FIRES BLIND ***
Click here to see forest fires through the smoke with advanced temperature measurement.
The Kelowna British Columbia
(Okanagan Mountain Park) Fire
On August 16, 2003, local media was reporting a lightning strike across from Peachland, B.C. They province came in, dealt with it and left. Resources were tight as the fire season throughout the province was 10 times more severe than budgeted for. Our fire budget was 50 million, we spent 500 million on direct costs. The indirect costs would be in the billions.
Media reported on the second day, Forestry was having trouble with visibility because of smoke, that made it difficult to fight the fire with prohibited sight. I called the radio station and offered our assistance. We had just finished extensive research with technology that allows people to see temperature beyond our visible spectrum. Traditional infrared technology was being used behind the fire for hot spots, our application had capabilities of tracking the direction of the fire, through the smoke.
Forestry responded through the media outlet, that they thanked us for the assistance, they were handling it. I sent images to them showing visibility through the smoke from miles away. The first file is of the start of the fire and our offer of assistance.
We had contacted MLA John Weisbeck, informed him of capabilities we had to help the province by giving second sight to fire professionals. He is my area's provincial representative and I have never heard from him to date.
Contacted The Forest Ministry and told them we could help beyond what is being done today. No response as of yet.
The file below is shortly after midnight, early in the morning, this is the visual of what is going on as the fire works its way to Kelowna. Terrain is rough, they are complaining of smoke interfering with fighting the fire. I hope they are employing thermography but I doubt it or they would be providing data to the media. I contacted the government again, they have pulled people out of retirement, they are having a laugh at our claims of sight and tracking. This fire isn't going to be stopped, it is going to reach Kelowna. They can't see it during the day and can't fight it at night.
Directly below is the images from several miles away while the fire is water bombed. A fire beside a lake and we can't put it out. The bombers do not have the sight that we do, imagine 30 thousand to give them this sight and they fly blind. The bomber sequence is displayed here, it would be great for eduction, research and more to have this video from aircraft showing accuracy as well as affect.
I have harrassed every government department to offer help, no response. I have spoken to the Operations Officer at the City of Kelowna Fire Department, they say sight is a problem but haven't asked for help and we have offered it for nothing, this is going to hit my city. We are smoked in, there is literally zero visability of the hills where this fire is coming, we have watched it to here and it is along lakeshore.
View the file below and the sequence before we waved a police car down and offered him some of the same visual you will see here. People walking around waiting for evacuation and no one can see anything.
Below is the progression of the fire as it approaches Kelowna. The lake is on one side, this fire is coming around to impact Kettle Valley. Watch the clock sequence.
This is the view from my balcony, the fire officials refused to see these images because they are busy, I hope they know what they are doing, the city is paralized with fear.
I have been watching the fire and it more visible at the far end, I have set up on the beach to research the fire, I pray the no response is because they are busy. Below is the sequence from the beach and what happened when the wind picked up. It was shocking to watch it live, see embers fly ahead of the fire, land on roofs or trees, these images are of Crawford Estates burning.
The Premier and his entire group were down on the beach doing a media interview, they were amazed to look through our technology and see the fire through the smoke. They collected more of the entourage from the parking lot to see what we were doing. Our firefighters were doing this blind, the only call I got was from Marshall Jones, a local reporter. He asked if he could use our images of the interface fire and he ran an article with the images and recorded dispatches between fire officials. Kelowna Fire Department asked if anyone could see what was coming at them and Forestry in the air reported nothing, the smoke prohibited sight. This day, we evacuated 30,000 people and still fought the fire blind at costs of millions a day.
The fire raged for weeks after the interface, it destroyed trestles worth 30 million, destroyed forest and raged out of control, many of god's creations in our care were killed because they couldn't run fast enough.
Our objectives of giving professionals second sight is for all reasons. Worldwide, it is reported an estimated 2.7 to 3 million premature deaths due to woodsmoke. WHO reported respiratory illnesses being the largest killer of infants in 1997.
www.2003firestorm.gov.bc.ca/firestormreport/default.htm is the website for a public inquiry that was called to look into the handling of the fire season. We presented some of these visible images, news releases speaking of smoke inhibiting fighting the fire, we showed contributors of forest fire intensity because of a building design flaw. Upon release of the report, we were told we were edited out of the public inquiry because they lost the audio feed during my presentation. I was told the images were not used because it was an audio only public inquiry.
The political process can represent itself, this information is required for professionals fighting fires. They would be able to follow the gradients and predict direction with accuracy. The visual feed could be supplied to fire officials to follow the path of the fire and any changes. There are fires out of control, underground or otherwise that could be seen with a simple application and very accurate. Our jobs are to help and the infrared industry teaches limited applications, why would you only look at the back end of a fire? The whole forest fire is a hotspot.
The Kelowna British Columbia