Fort McMurray on Fire

[CoAspen]

These people need our prayers and help, God does love them, unconditionally.

[LifeHiscost]

3 minutes ago, CoAspen said:

These people need our prayers and help, God does love them, unconditionally.

His love is unconditional. His ability to share it is based on whether we choose His care as revealed by our attention to the foundation of that Love.

…2from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods." Solomon held fast to these in love. 3He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. 4For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.… 1 Kings 11

God is Love!~Jesus saves!

 

[CoAspen]

[CoAspen]

[Green Cochoa]

2 hours ago, CoAspen said:

I'm fleeing down the road through flames and smoke....hope we make...can't see much...our home is gone and everything else....so please rub it in, tell me what a sinner I am, God is punishing me. I don't want your God.

 

"For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth."  You are, of course, free to reject His love.  Nevertheless, He says:  "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous, therefore, and repent."

[hch]

Gone are the days where we might think that  a million acres burned, but only a few dwellings. The drought in Southern California is not limited to one region. This massive fire at Fort Mc Murray is but one tragedy of many more to come.

It calls us to look to God who is our refuge and help. Though all of our earthly goods may go up in the flames as we are seeing here, if we escape with our lives; there is hope! Hope that the love of God is calling us through the disaster to put our priorities in order.

Some will see in calamites a lesson that they would never see in a day at the park. And some will get so caught up in the moment that they will loose focus on those things that are of eternal importance.

[Stan]

The Syrian refugees have been amazing. We are grateful for the contribution they are making to Canada. 

[Robert]

On 5/4/2016 at 5:41 AM, Stan said:

Can you imagine....

Been there, done that....I feel for these people.  

This is a picture of my home during the fire.

Our home was hit by lighting just when we pulled up to the garage (and I'm not exaggerating).  

 

 

[Stan]

wow    what an experience...  thanks for sharing @Robert

[JoeMo]

This is truly a national emergency for Canada.  A threat not only to forests and towns, but to one of the largest oil reserves on the planet.

<<Praying for rain or snow.>>

[LifeHiscost]

8 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

Meanwhile, why some sit in their chairs theoligizing aboit this, Syrian refugees in Calgary are giving their last $5 to help collect personal hygeine products for people from Fort Mac and 5 little girls, in Didsbury, yesterday, alone, raised $550 selling ice tea from their front porch for Fort Mac  I think I see where the real truth is.  One of the Syrian refugees were quoted as saying "we know better than Canadians what its like to lose a whole city and to lose everything. 

Thank you so much for providing this information, Wanderer. After 50 years of learning from Jesus, what He still asks of me, I'm still learning to love my neighbor as myself.

Before I was old enough or knowledgeable enough to know of Gods' love, He was opening to me His care. One major circumstance was playing with matches outside of someones' home, in the dry grass, which eventually led to burning down the home and all that was in it. I believe my brother and I and another playmate were somewhere around 3-5 years of age. And that was back in the days when insurance wasn't a normal part of the average citizen's experience.

God is Love!~Jesus saves! 

[phkrause]

Just saw another news report on this fire!! Wow, unreal, what a massive thing it has become!! Heavenly Father, I pray there are not many more lost lives!!

[Green Cochoa]

2 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

 

Wanderer,

What is our message?  Is it not the Third Angel's message?  What is that message?

Quote

14:9    And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,  
 14:10    The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:  
 14:11    And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.  
 14:12    Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.  

 

Before the "third" message can be received, of course, there must needs have been a first and a second.  What did those messages proclaim?

All three messages have a dominant theme: "the hour of His judgment is come."  Why does God allow disasters?  If these do not awaken us, and if we frown on any mention of the fact that God might be responsible for doing such a thing as to awaken people, will not God simply strengthen the message until people are either heeding Him or becoming lesson books for others?  I note with encouragement that apparently no lives were lost to the flames.  

I have not heard anything in the news thus far which indicates a cause for the fire, much less a reason for such a widespread destruction of the city.

 

[Green Cochoa]

I have little confidence in the Canadian firefighters.  For them it is a job, a duty, and a chore.  If homeowners, with a better motivation and a will to save their property, had simply doused their roofs and walls with water, I should think many homes more might have been saved.  But "mandatory evacuations" are the only solution in the minds of many in government.  It is true that such may save lives, but it is also true that "civilians" could help much if they were allowed--and perhaps the fire would be stopped more quickly.

With any fire like this, the more it is dampened early on, the less likely it is to get out of hand--as this one has obviously done already.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

18 minutes ago, Green Cochoa said:

I have little confidence in the Canadian firefighters.  For them it is a job, a duty, and a chore.  If homeowners, with a better motivation and a will to save their property, had simply doused their roofs and walls with water, I should think many homes more might have been saved.  But "mandatory evacuations" are the only solution in the minds of many in government.  It is true that such may save lives, but it is also true that "civilians" could help much if they were allowed--and perhaps the fire would be stopped more quickly.

With any fire like this, the more it is dampened early on, the less likely it is to get out of hand--as this one has obviously done already.

I think that's doing a major disservice to firefighters, as well as to the people who've already lost their homes.  Sunday morning quarterbacking is easy to do, but helps no one, and, in this case, is sorta like twisting the knife in a wound that's already open and sore.  

Firefighters are some of the bravest individuals to be had.  It's not just a "job," just a "duty," and just a "chore."  They work their hearts out.

The winds that have whipped over Alberta lately have hampered the firefighting immensely.  It's not as if anything can be done about the winds...

[Green Cochoa]

Who's doing the "Monday morning quarterbacking?"  How many of you have fought alongside the firefighters in Canada?

[hch]

3 hours ago, Green Cochoa said:

What is our message?  Is it not the Third Angel's message?  What is that message?

The three angels' messages are resting in peace on another thread. The tragedy at Fort M is but another in the unending series of disasters sweeping the world.

When Haiti was rocked by the earthquake, I know people who sacrificed (mortgaged their homes to help). Then there was Nepal. And there is the ongoing crisis in Syria, Iraq, and the region that is fueling a global refugee migration. Each disaster is incredible to the distant onlooker and personal to the victims. So on the one hand there are the immediate suffers and on the other hand there are those who have still not recovered from their epic event. How do we help them all and not neglect the others?

One of our church elders was once a UN refugee camp administrator. He struggled to get food rations into the camp and water. But it was inadequate for the multitudes. He was at his wits end when he came home from a hard day of trying to help only to find a starving baby abandoned on his door step.

What's worse: victims' rage or survivors' guilt?

[Aliensanctuary]

Fighting an inferno with a garden hose...I hope that's never me. A tiny garden hose would be no match for walls of fire and burning embers raining down from the sky. That would be a cheap way to get cremated, though.

Maybe a house with a metal roof and metal siding might survive if it's not too close to other burning structures. 

We had a rather large raging forest fire around us back in '92. With all of the tree planting afterwards, it's really no longer noticeable. It was a moonscape for a number of years.

[Stan]

#albertastrong

[JoeMo]

GreenC,

As you are from Asia (I'm guessing wet, tropical southern Asia), it may be difficult for you to conceive of how volatile a dried out old growth pine forest can be; and how hot and unpredictable a large wildfire can be.  We had a wildfire in Colorado Springs a couple years ago that destroyed $100 Million worth of real estate in a little over an hour.  Sprinkle your roof - haha!  A good recipe for a slow painful suicide!  My stuff ain't worth my life!

 

<<Still praying for rain or snow!>>

[Green Cochoa]

Well, now that I appear to have sparked a virtual firestorm here, perhaps there are some lessons folks might learn from it.  First, never assume you know more about another netizen whom you have never met than they might know about themselves.

2 hours ago, Aliensanctuary said:

Fighting an inferno with a garden hose...I hope that's never me. A tiny garden hose would be no match for walls of fire and burning embers raining down from the sky. That would be a cheap way to get cremated, though.

Cities are not forests.  Streets, driveways, sidewalks, and lawns do not create walls of fire.  A hose is no match for an established fire, perhaps, but it is certainly a match for those "burning embers," especially when one has a head start on them.  Of course, I am also speaking from experience, experience perhaps born of reckless bravery others here would not consider.  Nevertheless, neither of the homes defended with a simple garden hose was lost--one to a brush fire, the other to a forest fire, both with plenty of smoke and embers….and wind!  I know there are many blowhards out on the internet these days, and lot of armchair opinions that one must take with heavy doses of salt.  My opinion comes of more experience than the average netizen.  Notice I do not count myself an expert, but I have firsthand experience to back my comments.  In the case of the forest fire, the home successfully defended against the embers had cedar shake roofing.  Asphalt shingles, the more common variety nowadays, would be easier to defend.  Class A asphalt shingles can withstand a fire burning through the wooden structural components for up to two hours.  Wood shake roofs, on the other hand, were blamed for helping spread the devastating Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado.

42 minutes ago, JoeMo said:

As you are from Asia (I'm guessing wet, tropical southern Asia), it may be difficult for you to conceive of how volatile a dried out old growth pine forest can be; and how hot and unpredictable a large wildfire can be.  We had a wildfire in Colorado Springs a couple years ago that destroyed $100 Million worth of real estate in a little over an hour.  Sprinkle your roof - haha!  A good recipe for a slow painful suicide!  My stuff ain't worth my life!

Yes, I'm in Asia now, but I have not always been here.  I fought forest fire alongside Canadian firefighters a few years ago, and again, have spoken here on the basis of my first-hand experience.  I'm no expert…but many here have jumped to some ignorant assumptions about what I might or might not know and have accused me of ignorance.  "Judge not that ye be not judged" comes to mind.  It's a good lesson for all of us, myself included.  We should be more careful of the assumptions we make of those whom we have never met.

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Green Coch, I'm really sorry that you and others you worked with in fighting fires felt that it was "only a job."  That's not how my relatives view their work.  I never met a firefighter before who seemed to have your opinion of his work.  Kinda sad...

[Green Cochoa]

6 minutes ago, rudywoofs (Pam) said:

Green Coch, I'm really sorry that you and others you worked with in fighting fires felt that it was "only a job."  That's not how my relatives view their work.  I never met a firefighter before who seemed to have your opinion of his work.  Kinda sad...

I've met both those who worked only for the money and those who truly worked unselfishly to save lives and property that didn't even belong to them.  It depends on who you happen to meet.  I will say, however, that those I happened to meet in Canada were largely of the former variety--if they were paid.  Those who came to help without pay were of the latter type.  I was among that latter group--an unpaid volunteer.  Other volunteers I worked with would have said nearly the same thing about the "professional" firefighters.  Of course, maybe Canada has cleaned things up and there are no more problems like we witnessed?  The McMurray blaze doesn't indicate much in terms of their effectiveness at controlling the fire.

It's basically back to fundamental human nature: mercenaries are less effective soldiers than those defending their homeland.  Put the homeowners in defense of their homes, and you'd see much greater tenacity.

[CoAspen]

Some people seem to revel in negativity and fault finding, even when it is a crisis in the lives of others....rather sad.

[CoAspen]

The antidote to fault finding......http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/whitby-boy-s-lemonade-stand-raises-more-than-1-000-for-fort-mcmurray-evacuees-1.2892623