Chris has left Nuk Tessli - for now, anyway. Here's what she's been through this past day.
"I tried to send this to you this morning but couldn't get my Nimpo computer to work - am now down at the Precipice staying with Rosemary Neads so am sending this from her computer. Before I forget, there is an article about me in the Province today. (July 29th)
Yesterday started very smoky (again) and the clients I had who were due to fly out that morning couldn't go. By around two pm a fresh little breeze started from the southwest and we began to make out the landforms beyond the edges of the lake so I called the floatplane company and the tourists flew out. That left me and two wwoofers the only people in a huge area - everyone else had been evacuated or burned.
Rapidly, the mountains became clearer and clearer and we revelled in the white snow, blue, sparkling lake, blue sky, things we had not seen much of for quite a while. We enjoyed it for a couple of hours, then suddenly the light went out. Behind us, a huge wall of black smoke had erupted. It had towered above us and the leading edge was beginning to curl over the cabin. The most alarming was the vivid orange colour at the bottom of the smoke wall - in other words the flames must either have been huge or a great deal closer than we had been told. The whole of the north ridge was haloed in orange. The water on the lake in that direction was a dull orange brown, the trees a sickly dull green. White ash started to fall.
I called out on the radiophone - Terry at Nimpo was the coordinator for all the radiophone people. He also periodically flew around the fire to check progress. I asked him if he could tell me what was happening but the smoke was too thick from the Nimpo side. It looked so horrifying I decided to bale out. Within half an hour, Stewart's plane was in. We were standing on the dock, ready, because we had already packed for emergency evacuation (the boxes had been littering the floor for days - some half unpacked as we needed things from them). We had done the dishes and tossed out perishables - should the place be spared I didn't want bears attracted to it.
It was very clear towards Monarch and I expected the plane to come that way but it came right through the smoke. The pilot said the fire was still a good distance away and the wind was blowing it away from me, so I was still very safe, but the flames they passed must have been 3oo' high.
So we took off and were soon enveloped by the dark smoke above Avalanche Lake. After a while we could dimly see flickers of red. Then suddenly we rounded the end of the ridge: Baby Charlotte (where the Atnarko runs out of Charlotte Lake) was totally ringed by fire and there were several other smaller flareups. Black smoke obscured most of Charlotte Lake, but under the heavy black lid we glimpsed the shining Coast Range as at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
Suddenly we were flung into the air like ping pong ball. The turbulence was actually fairly minimal up 'til then, but we must have hit the heat coming off the fire. It was over in moments, thank goodness, and soon we were pulling out of the smoke and into a benign and sunny afternoon as we landed on Nimpo Lake. It all seemed so bright and calm and ordinary, as if we were on a different planet.
The southwest wind has persisted today, and in fact that is good for me - although pretty serious for the inhabitants of Charlotte Lake. Even Nimpo and Anahim have been put on evacuation alert - this morning the smoke was fogging up the area, but the Precipice is unbelievably clear. It is now nearly 6.00pm and we will watch the news then go to the rim of the Precipice to look at the fire clouds.
I'll let you know what's happening.
Chris"
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