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Those watching the sky in the evening may have noticed a unique sunset as smoke from wildfires in Western Canada wafted above parts of southern Ontario. Satellite imaging showed a plume of smoke from Western Canada move slowly southwards over the Golden Horseshoe area Wednesday evening, Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng said. …“As long as there’s smoke between your eyes and the sun, you could see the red sun,” Cheng said. Cheng added the smoke did not reach ground level as it passed high above southern Ontario, meaning it did not affect the air quality in the GTA. …Cheng said that at this time, there is no information to suggest any B.C. wildfires would affect air quality in southern Ontario in the coming days. But Cheng said the same pollutants that gave Ontario vibrant sunsets was affecting air quality in Western Canada.
After two years hiatus due to the pandemic, this free conference is back with forestry-related safety topics focussing around this year’s theme – Lead the Way | Resiliency, Opportunity, Engagement. This full-day, in-person conference includes refreshments and lunch for conference attendees and features a variety of speakers as well as a trade show with targeted safety products and services. This year’s keynotes speakers include former NHL goaltender, Corey Hirsch, leadership expert Hall of Fame speaker, Michelle Ray and “Brain-guy” Terry Small, master teacher and Canada’s leading learning skills specialist. Saturday, October 29th, at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre in Nanaimo, BC
A West Kootenay logging business has been hit with a $6,500+ fine from WorkSafeBC after an employee was seriously injured at a job site earlier this year, just outside of Fruitvale. WorkSafeBC inspected the harvesting operation of Hlookoff Logging Ltd., located in Park Siding, in response to the March 2022 report of an injured worker. According to the WorkSafeBC report, a tree had been felled directly across a skyline (a stationary line), which caused it to jump at its other end, striking and seriously injuring a worker. WorkSafeBC says it determined that Hlookoff Logging Ltd. “routinely used uncertified workers and untrained fallers and did not adequately inspect their work.” Furthermore, WorkSafeBC reports, “The firm failed to ensure that workers who fall trees were certified and qualified to do so.
Amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (OHSR) are coming into effect on Aug. 22, 2022, that will strengthen worker protections on the right to refuse unsafe work. A worker’s right to refuse unsafe work is an integral element in ensuring work is carried out safely. All workers in B.C. have the right to refuse work where there is reasonable cause to believe it would create an undue hazard to their health or safety. Prior to the amendment, the regulation did not explicitly prohibit the reassignment of refused work, or require the disclosure that another worker had refused the task due to health or safety concerns. …Under the new rules, employers are required to notify workers in writing of any unresolved work refusal due to safety concerns. It also requires employers to tell the subsequent worker the specific reasons the first worker felt the task was unsafe.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Vermont – Fire crews in Williamstown say a smoke alarm warned a homeowner about a bag of wood pellets that almost spontaneously combusted. The Williamstown Fire Department was called to a home on Falls Bridge Road for a chirping carbon monoxide detector. After struggling to find the source of the odorless gas, they noticed a stack of wood pellet bags was heating up. Like wet stacked hay, the bagged wood pellets in the bags began to oxidize and heated up to 125 degrees. So officials are reminding people to store them safely and check their smoke alarms. “The best thing if you do store them inside is to make sure you have a working smoke detector or CO detector to give that quick awareness that something isn’t right,” Williamstown Fire Chief William Graham said.
If you are handling or processing combustible dusts, you will have heard of National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) 652: Standard on Fundamentals of Combustible Dusts. …By now you should have completed the mandated DHA (Dust Hazards Analysis) and acted on the findings, but what if your powder is non-standard? Does it have a broad particle size distribution? Maybe it is a mixture of other powders or you’re handling multiple powders such that testing becomes factorially uneconomic? And what if your industry has its own NFPA combustible dust standards? There are some five industry and/or commodity-specific dust explosion standards; which one should you use when there is contradiction? This FREE WEBINAR presentation sets out a path to gaining a proper understanding of your dust explosion risks, even when the risks presented by your powders are more complicated or difficult to ascertain than usual. Date: October 13, 2022
The deadly heat wave scorching much of the US will continue Sunday, when the Northeast and mid-South regions are likely to be suffocated by temperatures feeling as hot as 105 degrees. More than 90 million people across the country are under various heat alerts for dangerously high temperatures. Sunday is expected to bring the hottest temperatures to the Northeast. …The extreme conditions — which experts note are becoming more common around the globe due to climate change — have led local officials to issue heat emergencies to allow for resources to aid in confronting the heat millions have been enduring. Officials are also imploring people to practice extreme caution when spending time outdoors, stay hydrated and check on vulnerable communities and neighbors. In the US, excessive heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths.
A wildland firefighter died while battling a wildfire in southern Oregon on Thursday, the second firefighter to lose their life on an active blaze this month in Oregon. No details about the death were released other than that the incident took place on a fire in Josephine County, where both state and federal firefighters are battling multiple lightning-ignited fires from a thunderstorm that hit the area earlier this week. The individual’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, officials said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies are with the family, friends and fellow firefighters during this time,” a statement from the Oregon Department of Forestry and Bureau of Land Management said. “The cause is under investigation and more details will be released as they are confirmed.”
The evolution, emergence and spread of novel pathogens has been widely discussed even before the first case of COVID-19 was reported in 2019. A team of researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received a $2.75 million grant to identify disease mitigation strategies that will minimize the risk of amphibian pathogens spreading from captive pet populations to wild populations and negatively impacting biodiversity. The project, “Socioeconomic and Epidemiological Drivers of Pathogen Dynamics in Wildlife Trade Networks,” is being funded by the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program… The goal of the study is to identify how socio-economic decisions and pathogen dynamics impact each other in a wildlife trade network. …Many infectious outbreaks, like that of monkeypox, chronic wasting disease and COVID-19, have been linked to wildlife trade. These outbreaks cost economies trillions of dollars, cripple biodiversity and result in substantial loss of human life.
As wildfires begin to be something of a year-round hazard for hotspots around the world, the spotlight on safety in aerial firefighting operations is increasing in intensity. Understanding wildfire behavior is a key element to safe operation, and to best understand wildfire behavior, you need to know how various weather conditions impact wildfires. Specific wildfire weather elements are provided by government meteorological services. Helicopter pilots working a wildfire will check these wildfire weather forecasts, as well as following their own individual routine for getting weather information prior to takeoff. …Significant fires require a multifaceted response directed from a command center, typically located close to the fire site. In an almost military-type operation, both land crews and aerial support will be engaged in the control effort. …Aerial operations (or air ops) will have their own briefing, with special emphasis on the weather conditions that will affect aircraft assignments.
Hot, dry air moving westward from east of the Cascades along with a strong high pressure ridge will combine to keep Portland’s high temperatures searing through much of the week. While daytime highs likely won’t set any records, Portland will see some of the hottest temperatures so far this year, and a fairly long string of them as temps near 100 are likely Monday through at least Thursday. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning from noon Monday through 9 p.m. Thursday. Temperatures from 98-103 are possible. …Multnomah County and the City of Portland have issued emergency declarations ahead of this long stretch of high temperatures and are planning to open overnight cooling shelters as soon as Tuesday, in addition to providing other cooling options.