Lethbridge Fires

11 Replies to “Lethbridge Fires”

1. In hindsight, making fun of the wind in the headline post was perhaps premature.

2. I wasn’t making fun of the wind. I was making fun of the choice of photo to illustrate the story.

3. Scary stuff for sure.We lived thru that here in SE Man few wks back..horrible wind that just wouldn’t quit,a red glow in the sky far too close.Prayers going out west tonite,be safe.

4. Heard on the radio today that downtown Calgary was closed off due to breaking windows and flying debris. Gusts up to 130km.

5. Ha. Maybe I should have looked at the fixed headline post before this.

6. It was a beautiful morning here today. Then the wind came in with such a vengeance, it turned to absolute misery. We noticed a large smoke plume coming from south of the Milk River Ridge (the fire near Del Bonita apparently) Then we saw the huge plume from the Westside of the city. It literally blackened the sky as the smoke was carried to the Northeast. We still don’t know the extent of the damage or the size of the fires, but it sure doesn’t look good.
   Thanks to the SDA family for the shout out

7. I am currently between Lethbridge and Warner. Just had a look, no fires in sight, but the wind has been fierce all day, and is still strong, although abating somewhat after sunset.

8. All the best to the folks in and around the Bridge.

9. Is it usual to have fires like this so late in the year? Hope it wasn’t arson.

10. Back in the day….when the mountain men and such luminaries as Lewis and Clark were probing west( at the end of the Little Ice Age)….the GREAT PLAINS/High Plains were called THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT.
    Much of the HIGH PLAINS are still classed as semi-arid….meaning without precipitation the foliage(grass) will be dry and a potential fire-hazard.
    The tree hugging aboriginal pacifists exploited this tactically to attack the wagon trains. There is quite a body of literature about this…although, in fact many of the authors had never left St. Louis but their books were unjustifiably trusted as Guide-books….
    The risk of devastating grass fires was/is a feature of the Eurasian steppes as well.
    It has been specualated the Marco polo, never got beyond the Levant, but had merely chronicled the tales of nomadic merchants who in turn were just passing on the tales/gossip that they had heard.
    If Marco Polo had really gone to China…why is it that he never mentioned tea and the culture surrounding it….a phenomina without a european counterpart….?

11. Ellie, I haven’t heard an official cause of the fires yet, but with these winds, all it takes is a tree knocking down a live power line, and the spark catching in tinder-dry fall conditions. Arson is low on my list.