Tuesday - July 23, 2024 - A warning for travellers

🌤 High 24C

Good morning!

On Sunday evening, a wildfire broke out near Williams Lake (sparked, seemingly, by a tree on a power line). The area was tinder-dry and the flames quickly leapt into town and burned through at least one industrial business. But that’s where it was stopped, thankfully. The fire illustrates something that is underappreciated in BC: fires that start immediately next to towns and communities are not those that tend to do the most damage. (Lytton sadly excepted.)

The most damaging fires tend to be massive infernos that overwhelm resources and the ability of humans to quell it with the water on hand.

Small fires are immediately threatening, but their location means that no expense is spared to squelch them, and their size—and the proximity of local fire crews—mean those efforts are usually effective. But a social media friend and sometimes-firefighter pointed out a vastly unappreciated piece of municipal equipment: the simple fire hydrant. Water bombers are amazing and undoubtedly useful, but fire hydrants allow a single fire truck to hit a threatening blaze with far more water over a longer time frame. It’s a miraculous and unsung piece of technology that, fortunately, few of us will ever need. But when we need them, they’ll be waiting.

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

The water that connects us

The land remembers. The water remembers.

Water has been cycled through generations, and combined with the tears of Carrielynn Victor’s ancestors. It nourished the medicinal plants she harvested from forests in Chilliwack. When water broke through the Sumas dike in 2021, Victor saw it remember and retrace its traditional path to the Fraser River.

“This water is me and this water is you and it connects us,” Victor said.

On National Indigenous People’s Day, Victor sat down with Chawathil podcaster Aaron Pete to talk about nature, art, history, and Indigenous connection. Victor, a Stó:lō artist, conservationist, storyteller, and medicine practitioner, shared her experiences with incorporating nature into art, discussed her passion for plants, and explored the importance of intergenerational connection.

• Today, we are sharing an excerpt of that conversation, focusing on Indigenous medicine, Sumas Lake, and the concept of Tomiyeqw—the idea that decisions we make today should consider our future progeny.

Related

Need to Know

🚑 A Mission woman was killed after she tried to help an injured raccoon and was struck by two cars [Mission Record]

🚂 ‘It’s driving people batty,’ Chilliwack’s mayor said of the train whistles blaring at all hours of the day and night [Chilliwack Progress]

🚧 Langley Township council approved the widening of 86 Avenue in Willoughby [Langley Advance Times]

👉 The Canadian and BC governments aren’t investing enough money on fire prevention, an evacuated Venables Valley resident says [The Weather Network/YouTube]

🚔 Police have released an image for a man who robbed a Mission bank wearing a motorcycle helmet and brandishing a gun [CTV]

🛹 The users of an Abbotsford skate park are petitioning to get it resurfaced after 20 years [Abbotsford News]

⛴ A missing Chilliwack man was last seen on a small boat in the Fraser River [Chilliwack Progress]

👨‍🎓 BC student groups have applauded stricter rules for universities recruiting international students [Vancouver Sun]

👉 A police watchdog have cleared Chilliwack Mounties in the death of a man who was being arrested [Chilliwack Progress]

🚨 South Asian business owners say they have been living in fear after being subjected to extortion attempts which have continued for more than a year [CBC]

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SPONSORED BY FORT LANGLEY JAZZ & ARTS FESTIVAL

Jazz Fest offers new music workshop series

Enhance your music skills and learn from top jazz professionals at an exciting series of music workshops at the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival on July 27-28!

These one-hour workshops cater to all levels, with each session focusing on a different instrument, including drums, piano, bass, voice, and big band jazz history. $10 fee per workshop. Pre-registration encouraged!

The Agenda

Drivers warned to prepare for more highway closures

With one link between the Lower Mainland and the BC Interior already closed, the provincial government is warning travellers to prepare for other highways to shut down with limited notice.

The Shetland Creek Wildfire between Spences Bridge and Ashcroft has forced the closure of Highway 1 for more than a day. Drivers can make their way around the fire by taking the Coquihalla between Kamloops and Hope. The route is one of three that have been closed by wildfire over the past week—the others are Highway 26 near Barkerville and Highway 6 in the Kootenays.

A relatively tame fire season has exploded in the last week after weeks of hot, dry conditions were followed by storms with more lightning than rain.

In addition to the Highway 1 closure, a section of Highway 3 at the eastern end of Manning Park is under evacuation alert due to the Calcite Creek wildfire. The fire was 911 hectares as of Monday afternoon and about seven kilometres southeast of Highway 3.

With more lightning storms hitting the interior mountains, more fires are expected to follow.

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