DS

hi there,
a few friends of ours are planning on driving from calgary to vancouver via kamloops, kelowna etc after visiting banff and jasper. how is the forest fire situation out in BC? I feel terrible for the communities near crowsnest pass.. is tourism in those areas being impacted? are people/tourists being advised to stay away if it's unsafe? just wondering so i can pass on some info to our friends..
As a side note, a haze has descended over the city of Calgary.. i'm guessing from the smoke.

praying for rain,
DS.

2jacks

Thanks for your thoughts. The fire in the Crowsnest is hitting the community very hard. The motels are full with the firefighters but other than that, people just drive through and you can't blame them. Some stop near Bellevue or in Blairmore to view the flames. The smoke is generally thick in the mornings, getting better in the afternoon. On Sunday night, we could see Turtle Mountain burning from our deck.

The good news is that it has been generally cool during the night and mornings with higher humidity, we had some rain on Sunday, not much but enough to get the humidity up. Winds have been low. So there is hope that they will get it under control.

ltt

before driving checkout transport canada to see what highways are closed. also allow some flexibility in time. depending which direction the smoke is blowing there are sometimes hours of delays.

skip5700

Where are the fires in relation to Banff and Lake Louise? Are the fires affecting those areas now?

Cruiseryyc

The Crowsnest Pass is south east of Banff and Lake Louise so that fire shouldn't be affecting Banff/LL too much. However there are fires burning north of Banff in the Jasper area and west in British Columbia - so there will be smoke from these fires in the area. Plus there is a fire ban in almost all of Alberta and BC at the moment so no campfires are allowed and if you smoke, please DO NOT throw your butts out the window of your cars - thats how the large fire in BC got started. (DS - I'm not suggesting you're a smoker just giving some information for others out there)

2jacks

Yes, although it should be obvious, some smokers are causing these fires. It may seem to be condescending to say do not throw your smokes but because several fires have been caused by smokes thrown out of windows, perhaps not. I don't care if you smoke or not, just be careful. It is a tinder dry year.

Banff and Jasper should be ok. Last I heard, the fire in Jasper was under control.