Journal: News & Comment

Overtaken

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The smell is no longer that of burnt leaves. Now the whole Greater Vancouver area smells like a campfire. The smoke is everywhere in my neighbourhood.

We're about 10 km from the fire in Burns Bog itself. Helicopters and planes are flying overhead, but they're hard to see through the smoke. Even a brisk walk makes my chest hurt a bit, and I'm not asthmatic or anything. There is ash on our car and in our yard.

While the fire is no danger to our house (there are three separate river channels between us), I know a bit of what it was like to live in Kelowna and other areas during the Okanagan fires a couple of summers ago. It is otherworldly and disturbing.

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