Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

michaels

I wonder if half the problem in Canada is that the area is very new, having gone from virtually nothing in the last couple of decades so:
1) No local experience of big fires
2) No experience of El Nino plus having a town there
3) The oil sands development may have added to the natural risk
4) No evacuation, fire fighting etc plans

chris_m

GDB2222 wrote: »

They have all those truly huge machines for mining the oil sands, but presumably they are unsuitable for carving fire breaks through the forests.

If they are the ones I'm thinking of, it'll probably take till Christmas to get them to where the breaks are needed. They do self-propel but darned slowly.

Anyway, as per Gen's posts, with the intensity of the fires now the firebreaks would probably need to be in excess of ¼ mile wide if they aren't to be bypassed by windblown embers..

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

They have all those truly huge machines for mining the oil sands, but presumably they are unsuitable for carving fire breaks through the forests.

Fire breaks slow a fire but don't stop it.

Embers can easily leap a mile to start spot fires and in perfect conditions more than 2 miles.

A fire break will give you a place where you can try to take some of the heat out of things and a safe(r) spot from where to fight the fire but unless you are going to completely denude a 2 mile strip through virgin woodland then you are highly unlikely to stop the fire until the rains come or the wind changes direction to push the fire back to where it came from where there is no more fuel.

It is really hard to explain how much energy there is in one of these things. Imagine a few hundred good sized Guy Fawkes bonfires burning in front of you and you're probably a couple of orders of magnitude before you get close to a major bushfire. I don't think there's ever been one in the UK in our lifetimes, not even the fires in 1976 in the New Forrest.

silvercar

chris_m wrote: »

For the benefit of BBC readers, how many football pitches, London buses or Nelson's Columns laid down would that be?
:rotfl:

On the radio just before they compared it to the size of London- that's the whole of London, not just one bus.

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

In your world ... does everybody have one of those?

The only time I've met surveyors in my life has been when I sold my house and one came round for 15 minutes

Point well made.

I know 2 people that are surveyors, one a friend and one further removed. Both would no doubt say they were the wrong type of surveyors.

Loanranger

In Saskatechewan, in the middle of Canada, about 23 miles north of the border with the US and a massive wheat growing area, the temps in mid January are between minus 20 celcius to minus 27 C.
They have heaps of snow. Really big heaps! I have seen the auroria borealis there in early September. Definitely not a warm country in winter. Hot in summer, though.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/mankato-mn/56001/january-weather/329422

Pyxis

Structural Surveyors:

If you click on this link to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, then click on the search box, you'll get a pop-up where you can pick what sort of specialist surveyor you want, and then find some relevant firms near you.

http://www.ricsfirms.com

oldandhappy

just do not understand..my Daughter she has suffered migraines forover it seems say 20 odd years now but during her chemo almost a year she never had a migraine...finished before xmas gone..suddenly she has two this week...it is horrid aint it..only found out because I phoned her just now

just chatting now...she had an ivf babe(husband suffered testicle cancer 2 times but she is theres..great result) now 13 and she has been a real perfect one and yet now at high school she is going through being bullied and I know how sensitive she is so would not be able to handle that so a few months ago she cut herself...devastated we where all of us but she is ok now as in right now...she is in the sea cadets and that is so good for her...can highly say outside hobbies are a savour to youngsters..no good just on the pc is it.... and hope she can change schools to be honest.....regards from Dianne

GDB2222

oldandhappy wrote: »

just do not understand..my Daughter she has suffered migraines forover it seems say 20 odd years now but during her chemo almost a year she never had a migraine...finished before xmas gone..suddenly she has two this week...it is horrid aint it..only found out because I phoned her just now

Just a wild outside chance, but:

One side effect of chemo is that it can cause severe headaches. There's a possibility that, anticipating this or other side effects, the doctors gave her something alongside the chemo which stopped the migraines.

It would be worth her finding out exactly what she got and seeing whether any of it might explain the migraine-free period. Possibly something as simple as additional vitamins or minerals. Maybe that's worn off now, but she could get some more?

oldandhappy

\I am so open to ideas thanks for
your thoughts GDB2222 ..migraines are still a puzzle..many facts that cause them