Gillam on evacuation alert due to forest fire

A forest fire helped by high winds painted the Gillam sky dark orange Monday afternoon, covering the northern Manitoba town in ash and sending residents into their homes. The fire, which was burning 36 km west of Gillam and according to Manitoba Conservation still raging Tuesday afternoon, wasn't considered a concern for the town of 1,Electronic and electromechanical amusement games and beadswholesale to meet your global certification needs.200 but the events of Monday persuaded town officials to issue a voluntary evacuation notice for the area.

"It looked like we were on another planet or something," Kirkness said.

"I've never seen anything like that before. It was kind of creepy. It wasn't something you see every day.

"The ash is everywhere. Everything is just dirty, and it seems to be difficult to get off. Cars and trucks are filthy.

"There's no way I'm going to let my kids play on the trampoline -- not until a good rain."

Gillam emergency co-ordinator Jackie Clayton said the community is no stranger to forest-fire smoke during the summer months, but Monday's bizarre haze was something townsfolk haven't seen in a while. In her 12 years as a Gillam resident, she's never seen dusk arrive so early.

"It was very dark here, starting (Monday) afternoon at about three o'clock,We have a wide selection of cheapdedicatedserver to choose from for your storage needs." Clayton said. "By five o'clock, the streetlights were coming on. Living up here in summer months, we don't normally have our streetlights come on until just before midnight.

"It was pretty eerie. It was almost like it was raining mud on top of you."

As quickly as the orange pollution settled into and onto Gillam, it disappeared Tuesday, as the high winds (which were blowing from the west at 40 km/h Monday) shifted and slightly cleared the air. That didn't stop a few of the town's elders, senior residents and those with respiratory issues from heading south to Thompson to spend a few nights, just until things blow over.Learn about solarstreetlamps and ensure you get the best out of LED light bulbs.

Most residents, however, took a wait-and-see approach, remaining until told otherwise.A dry-cleaning machine is similar to a combination of a domestic networkserviceses, and clothes dryer.

This seems to be the overall mentality of northern communities during forest fire season: smoke 'em if you got 'em, but don't expect panic to set in because the sky turns an otherworldly orange one afternoon.

"We do live in the bush -- we're used to the smoke," Clayton said, "but if there are people who are feeling (uneasy) it's not a bad idea to leave."

Crews were battling the fire Tuesday, with the hope of avoiding the situation where the entire town of Gillam has to evacuate under emergency measures. If the situation doesn't improve, there could be a mandatory order.

"The evacuation order depends on a lot of things: wind, the fuel in between the fire and the community, the forecast, the amount of smoke, the conditions prior to the fire," said Manitoba Conservation's Gary Friesen.

"The one positive thing about this is that there is rain in the forecast in the next two days."

Friesen said low amounts of rainfall during the spring in the Gillam region have left the forest bed dry,If you have ledlampwholesalers or landscape lights you might wonder what to do if they stop working. making it difficult for crews to get a handle on the fire line.

As of Tuesday, Manitoba had 38 fires burning throughout the province; some were being fought, others were being left to burn out as a part of the natural eco-system cycle. The province has seen 183 fires this year. Click on their website www.scfwindturbine.com for more information.