Lillooet Evacuated

It's been a bit since I've posted but with good reason.  All my hometown of Lillooet was evacuated this past Sunday.  Wow what a lot of excitement, and not the good kind.  The fire that started July 22 on Mt. McLean has really gotten out of control.  About 3000 people were swiftly evacuated and Dallas and family made it to my house in their trailer.  They are camped at my backdoor and probably won't be allowed back into town until Wednesday or Thursday.  They are lucky because a lot of people are sleeping in their cars at the end of the bridge going into town.  127 residents refused to leave and are taking their chances in town.

Here's a picture that Dallas managed to snap as they were heading out of town.

Last night Sydney, my brother Frank, and I drove in as far as we were allowed and I snapped some pics.  The fire is extremely hot and can be seen here candling along the top of the trees.



This is what it looked like when we hit town.  The location of the picture above is at the lower right when the fire really took off.  When we drove up we could see the Bell chopper, although I didn't notice but he was supposedly dropping a mixture of gas and diesel alongside the bottom of the fire creating what they call a back burn.  A back burn is when they create a controlled fire at the bottom in hopes that it goes back up the hill meeting the large uncontrolled fire to eliminate fuels.  They've done this twice and both times they have said it was successful.



Along with the Mt. McLean (Lillooet) fire I've been dealing with the Della Creek fire across and down a bit from us.




Hubby is operating our skidder on this fire and with the size of the fire I worry about him.



This is what the moon looks like here at night.


And this is what the sun looks like when it's setting.


I'm really starting to dislike the colours red and orange and would love to see some blue rain and green foliage around here again :)
My heart and prayers go out to all the displaced people of Lillooet and all the men and woman who are helping to battle the fires.  I understand that firefighters from Australia and New Zealand are headed to BC and I couldn't be more grateful because right now we need all the help we can get.

For a lot more pictures of the fires drop by my flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansasa/