Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Then again, being both is the best of all possible worlds.
For the second time in the past nine months, Whistler Blackcomb (WB), the community of Whistler and those standing behind them — namely, in the most recent instance, the dedicated firefighters working for the B.C. Ministry of Forests, WB and the Resort Municipality of Whistler — have been good. Extremely so, and under trying circumstances. Virtually every WB and RMOW official The Question has talked to this week about the Crystal Ridge and Ruby Bowl fires has commented in glowing terms on some aspect or another of the response to the blaze — that the all-out, initial attack on the Crystal Ridge fire was impressive, professional and well-coordinated; that the firefighters themselves demonstrated courage and determination in attacking the fires; and that the seamless manner with which MOF, RMOW and WB staffers worked together was exemplary. They deserve our most sincere thanks, even as they (we hope) work to mop up the Blackcomb fires and, we can only presume, move on to help other communities facing an even more critical need for assistance.
What’s more, WB’s staff has been extremely good — in following protocols and procedures aimed at safeguarding the public, including the careful monitoring of weather systems and conditions on the mountains. Their decision to clear some 375 guests and staff from the two mountains less than two hours before lightning started the Crystal Ridge fire seems, in hindsight, little shy of clairvoyant. They deserve thanks as well.
During what we hope is the post-mortem period, though, it would be easy to forget that to a large degree we’re all subject to the whims of Mother Nature’s awesome power and that, in the case of the Crystal Ridge blaze, one inopportune shift in the wind might have resulted in a potentially more disastrous scenario. Had the zephyrs been blowing in the opposite direction — not away from built-up areas, as they did blow, but toward them — firefighters might have been facing a far more difficult task.
While the two situations are obviously different in most ways, there are similarities here with last December’s Excalibur Gondola collapse. By all accounts, in both situations the response of emergency crews was worthy of praise and admiration. But in the case of the Excalibur incident, it was also extremely fortunate that when the “ice-jacked” tower snapped off, none off the cabins suspended from those cables came crashing to the ground. Only one actually hit bottom, springing back into the air, and some of its occupants were injured, but none seriously. Pretty fortunate, eh?
During this devastating fire season, Whistlerites have been spared the lion’s share of the anxiety and grief that has befallen other communities, among them those in the upper Pemberton Meadows, a handful of whom have been evacuated and more who have been under evacuation alert since Friday (July 31). They, too, have shown extraordinary poise in working together and supporting one another during the emergency. They, too, owe a debt of gratitude to the dedicated firefighters — some of them from out of province — working on the front lines.
All have been extremely good to date. We can only hope and pray that a bit of luck will soon come their way as well.
