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bearmtnmartin
bearmtnmartin GRM+ Memberand Dork
5/5/16 12:03 a.m.

Sorry but I am sick to death of oil patch hypocrisy.

Fueled by Caffeine
Fueled by Caffeine MegaDork
5/5/16 12:05 a.m.

Sad event for all involved. Let's hope all the firefighters are safe and the folks in the town get out OK. Things can be replaced.

Jay
Jay UltraDork
5/5/16 1:19 a.m.
bearmtnmartin wrote:
Jay wrote: Even my seething hatred of the place & the oil industry up there can't make this any less sad. I feel profoundly sorry for the people who lost their homes & their livelihoods and I hope they can rebuild and get established elsewhere.
What the duck are you doing on grassroots motorsports with a seething hatred if the oil and gas industry? Get your moccasins on, jump in your birch bark canoe and take a short paddle off a long waterfall.

It is possible to enjoy cars and hate the utter short-sightedness and sheer damn-the-consequences profiteering that goes on in that industry. The tar sands extraction site is a wasteland and an environmental catastrophe we'll be paying for over the next HUNDRED years at least.

FYI I'm a research geophysicist, I currently live in western canada, and said industry pays 75% of the salaries in my field. I see the E36 M3 they're up to first hand. I won't work for them.

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro PowerDork
5/5/16 2:04 a.m.

I live in Western Canada too Jay and now is not the time or place.

Jay
Jay UltraDork
5/5/16 2:13 a.m.

As I said, my sympathy lies with the people up there who have been forced out of their homes. It's a horrible tragedy and a bad situation for everyone involved. But I'm not going to take being told to "get your moccasins on, jump in your birch bark canoe and take a short paddle off a long waterfall" and not respond. I have friends and colleagues who are up there too.

foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
5/5/16 4:46 a.m.
alfadriver wrote: Of one of those pictures, no way I would drive through that. Wait for a while for the O2 to come back. A guy I did not like at all tried to drive through something like that. Almost killed him. Burned up his lungs pretty good.

While I understand, without seeing what's behind the taker of that picture, what's ahead might be a better choice.

Sometimes, there are just no good options left.

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
5/5/16 7:36 a.m.

Living out in Montana as a kid, that was the one thing we feared: fire.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
5/5/16 7:51 a.m.
foxtrapper wrote:
alfadriver wrote: Of one of those pictures, no way I would drive through that. Wait for a while for the O2 to come back. A guy I did not like at all tried to drive through something like that. Almost killed him. Burned up his lungs pretty good.
While I understand, without seeing what's behind the taker of that picture, what's ahead might be a better choice. Sometimes, there are just no good options left.

Still, my question was about the last picture, where all 4 lanes were totally packed with cars going in opposite directions. So half the people are evacuating out, and half are going back in??? Makes no sense.

It's not as if the all lanes going out idea is new- I remember hearing about it when we talked nuclear war prep back in the 70's. How that was forgotten is interesting.

MrJoshua
MrJoshua UltimaDork
5/5/16 8:08 a.m.

Alfa, It might be a perimeter road that goes parallel to the town. East or West are both good if the towns to the North, etc.

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro PowerDork
5/5/16 10:55 a.m.

They're now evacuating communities to the south as well.

92dxman
92dxman SuperDork
5/5/16 11:03 a.m.

I'm not familiar with this part of Canada. Is oil the only big industry up there?

Turboeric
Turboeric GRM+ Memberand Reader
5/5/16 11:12 a.m.

Yes - other than the oil sands operations, it's pretty much the middle of nowhere. On a map, look up north of Edmonton.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/5/16 11:27 a.m.

I'm not sure about Ft. McMurray, but northern Alberta also sees forestry.

I think there are more Newfoundlanders up there than there are in Newfoundland.

DeadSkunk
DeadSkunk UltraDork
5/5/16 4:05 p.m.

The smoke cloud is so big that it's now generating it's own lightning strikes. Not helpful in the tinder dry bush.Interesting stat on the size of the fire. It's currently at 85,000 hectares. 5 years ago there was a fire in the area that devoured 700,000 hectares and burned for months.

NOHOME
NOHOME PowerDork
5/5/16 5:12 p.m.
bearmtnmartin wrote:
Jay wrote: Even my seething hatred of the place & the oil industry up there can't make this any less sad. I feel profoundly sorry for the people who lost their homes & their livelihoods and I hope they can rebuild and get established elsewhere.
What the duck are you doing on grassroots motorsports with a seething hatred if the oil and gas industry? Get your moccasins on, jump in your birch bark canoe and take a short paddle off a long waterfall.

Just saying....

Jay
Jay UltraDork
5/5/16 6:11 p.m.

Edit: never mind, not going to egg on the trolls. Feel free to keep putting opinions into your strawman version of me so that you can yell at them if really makes you happy. No need to post them in this thread though.

WOW Really Paul?
WOW Really Paul? MegaDork
5/6/16 2:33 a.m.
DeadSkunk wrote: The smoke cloud is so big that it's now generating it's own lightning strikes. Not helpful in the tinder dry bush.Interesting stat on the size of the fire. It's currently at 85,000 hectares. 5 years ago there was a fire in the area that devoured 700,000 hectares and burned for months.

I remember that one, it screwed with our weather & air quality down here in the states......Blame Canada

eastpark
eastpark Reader
5/6/16 7:25 a.m.
alfadriver wrote: Still, my question was about the last picture, where all 4 lanes were totally packed with cars going in opposite directions. So half the people are evacuating out, and half are going back in??? Makes no sense.

They were evacuating people to both the south and north of the city. Now they are making plans to get the folks who went north, evacuated to the south.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
5/6/16 7:32 a.m.
eastpark wrote:
alfadriver wrote: Still, my question was about the last picture, where all 4 lanes were totally packed with cars going in opposite directions. So half the people are evacuating out, and half are going back in??? Makes no sense.
They were evacuating people to both the south and north of the city. Now they are making plans to get the folks who went north, evacuated to the south.

That makes sense, on a large scale.

But on one road, you would think everyone would be going the same direction- if you are on the south end, everyone goes south, on the north end, everyone goes north. Which means all 4 lanes going the same direction. Or at least two lanes packed with people and the other two lanes totally empty.

I'm confused by the parking lot going both directions at that single point. They should all be going the same direction.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
5/6/16 7:37 a.m.
MrJoshua wrote: Alfa, It might be a perimeter road that goes parallel to the town. East or West are both good if the towns to the North, etc.

Looking on a map, there isn't one of those- one going north, one going south. At least of a 4 lane road. Up my Tar Island, maybe. But the fire maps show that all of the fires have been south of Ft. McMurray- where there is just one road.

The scary part is looking at that map- as of yesterday afternoon, it's has completely burned south of the city- and is right on the city edge. Poor people....

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/6/16 7:41 a.m.
NOHOME wrote: Just saying....

Plastics are one of the few things oil should be used for IMO. Future generations may end up hating us for using their plastics for fuel.

Hopefully future protesters will use dugout canoes from now on.

WOW Really Paul?
WOW Really Paul? MegaDork
5/6/16 7:14 p.m.
alfadriver wrote:
MrJoshua wrote: Alfa, It might be a perimeter road that goes parallel to the town. East or West are both good if the towns to the North, etc.
Looking on a map, there isn't one of those- one going north, one going south. At least of a 4 lane road. Up my Tar Island, maybe. But the fire maps show that all of the fires have been south of Ft. McMurray- where there is just one road. The scary part is looking at that map- as of yesterday afternoon, it's has completely burned south of the city- and is right on the city edge. Poor people....

Here's a video Rob posted to the book of faces.....

Drive Through Hell

G_Body_Man
G_Body_Man Dork
5/6/16 9:25 p.m.
bearmtnmartin wrote:
Jay wrote: Even my seething hatred of the place & the oil industry up there can't make this any less sad. I feel profoundly sorry for the people who lost their homes & their livelihoods and I hope they can rebuild and get established elsewhere.
What the duck are you doing on grassroots motorsports with a seething hatred if the oil and gas industry? Get your moccasins on, jump in your birch bark canoe and take a short paddle off a long waterfall.

History has shown that the tar sands emit 12% more pollution during extraction than conventional drilling, have had leaky tailing ponds that have irreparably damaged water supplies, and have led to high concentrations of poisons found in area animals. Compared to drilling, the oil sands have been an environmental failure.

rob_lewis
rob_lewis SuperDork
5/6/16 9:48 p.m.
WOW Really Paul? wrote:
alfadriver wrote:
MrJoshua wrote: Alfa, It might be a perimeter road that goes parallel to the town. East or West are both good if the towns to the North, etc.
Looking on a map, there isn't one of those- one going north, one going south. At least of a 4 lane road. Up my Tar Island, maybe. But the fire maps show that all of the fires have been south of Ft. McMurray- where there is just one road. The scary part is looking at that map- as of yesterday afternoon, it's has completely burned south of the city- and is right on the city edge. Poor people....
Here's a video Rob posted to the book of faces..... Drive Through Hell

That is unbelievable. But I think I'd be driving across front yards to get away.

-Rob

Fueled by Caffeine
Fueled by Caffeine MegaDork
5/6/16 9:52 p.m.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

the protesters were also mostly dressed in petroleum based products as well.

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