FOG BLOG WILDFIRE LOG: WILDFIRES CONSUME UP AND DOWN N.A. COAST, SMOKY HAZE CROSSES THE COUNTRY~

B.C. declares provincial state of emergency due to wildfires...British Columbia is once again under a provincial state of emergency.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth declared a state of emergency on Tuesday afternoon in response to ongoing wildfires burning across the province.

It will take effect at midnight, Tuesday, July 20.

The forecast in parts of the province calls for shifts in winds and weather, raising concerns that property evacuations could rise to a level not yet seen this fire season, the government said. The province previously declared states of emergencies linked to fires in 2003, 2017 and 2018.

On July 1, 2021, B.C. concluded a 16-month state of emergency, by far the longest in the province’s history, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A state of emergency provides the province the ability to acquire land use or personal property to prevent or alleviate the effects of the emergency.

It also gives the government powers to control or prohibit travel to or from any area in B.C. and allows for the removal of trees, structures, or crops.

The province also has the authority to enter into any building or land without a warrant..NOW THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE UPDATE.....Multiple wildfires burning in Northern California grew in size Monday amid red flag weather conditions, but activity was most dramatic on the Dixie Fire, which began generating its own weather.

Camera feeds near Butte and Plumas counties captured a gigantic pyrocumulus cloud, or “fire cloud,” developing over the Dixie Fire.

Those are the same types of clouds associated with volcanic eruptions.

The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office in a tweet Monday called it a “colossal pyrocu” and said the Dixie Fire was “generating its own lightning.” Fire and weather experts say the massive Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which has erupted to well over 300,000 acres, is also creating its own weather.