Hoping our Oregon and California BJ peeps can check in and let us know how you’re doing. Colorado is doing better, right?
Woke up this morning and it’s pitch black out still. The sun is hidden behind all the smoke. One of the fires is moving down the hill near where I work. Not gonna lie, it’s pretty scary right now. You can see the smoke coming off the hill.#OregonFires#wildfires pic.twitter.com/BX0zI8Ep1L
— Garblah Gaming (@GarblahGaming) September 9, 2020
Stay safe, everyone.
Quaker in a basement
Colorado reporting in: Yes, we’re doing better this week. We had a couple of days of rain/snow and very cool weather, so the air is breathable again. Under the circumstances we’ll make an exception to our usual attitude and put out the welcome mat for fleeing Californians!
Doug R
Here in BC’s Okanagan we had dark smoky skies, couldn’t see the mountains on Tuesday. But as soon as we drove over the ridge to Princeton and Merritt, the skies were clear. The winds shifted so it’s looking good so far today.
Mike in Oly
I’m in Olympia, WA, at the bottom of the Salish Sea. We had smoke move in two days ago. Cleared out a bit yesterday but is back this morning. Not too bad, and nothing like the pics I am seeing out of CA, but the sky looks dirty and the light is pale orange. This is from fires on the east side of the Cascades. Had some smaller fires in the south of our county but they are under control now. Not sure how many homes were lost, but there were hundreds of folks evacuated. Might get rain next week. We could sure use it.
Roger Moore
Things are getting a bit dicey in my part of SoCal because of the Bobcat Fire. We have a thick layer of smoke, which you can now smell everywhere, even indoors, and the foothill communities from Pasadena (where I live) to Duarte (where I work) are under evacuation watches. Sierra Madre (the city next to my neighborhood) has advised everyone above a certain street to evacuate voluntarily now rather than wait for the rush. The winds have been in our favor so far- they’ve been pushing the fire away from the cities rather than toward them- but we’re very worried that could change at any time.
laura
Roadie brother the younger has property in Oroville and had just clear from between 150 and 200 feet around his pump house and cleared all the underbrush with a grader. The fire blew through and he’s hoping for the best. This morning he learned a neighbor stayed on her property too long and did not survive. It’s going to be a very grim number of days or weeks as the toll of the fire hurricanes are reported in the western states. Tuesday I had such a feeling of dread and foreboding and the sky looked like the fires were way closer than the nearest ones actually are. Nothing feels safe or right.
It’s still raining ash, it looks like a late November day and there’s nothing to be done but endure it as best as can be managed. We’re swapping out the air filter and may get one for the fan.
CaseyL
Seattle: enough smoke for us to have a health warning, but nothing otherwise.
Eastern Washington was one of the places I thought about moving to, post-retirement, if I could put up with the Republicanism there (Eastern Washington is as Red as Western Washington is Blue. Maybe more so, as there are pockets of GOPers even in the western part of the state!).
I had already pretty much decided against that, even before that part of the state began to spontaneously combust. That whole area has always been at risk for wildfires in summer; of course GCC has made it so much worse; and water supply is going to be a big issue.
Still, it’s sad to see. Say what you will about Eastern Washington politically and environmentally, the desert landscapes are gorgeous.
Linnaeus
Heads-up, western Washingtonians, because it looks like a lot more smoke is coming our way:
https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/2020/09/smoke-alert.html
Kent
Here in the Portland metro area it’s hazy today but nowhere near as smokey as it was Monday.
The winds have died down which is the biggest blessing. On Monday we had an actual epic summer windstorm of the sort I don’t ever remember seeing this time of year. Usually they happen more in the winter or early spring. I live backed up against a forested greenbelt and there were numerous large trees snapped off from the wind. During the winter when the soil is wet the entire tree usually tips over in a windstorm, roots, and all. This time of year the ground is so dry and rock hard that the trees are just snapping off 10ft up the base. Something I haven’t seen before. There is a street expansion project a couple blocks from my house where they had just landscaped a new widened street with about 5 blocks of new trees in a center median. About 50% of them were knocked down from Monday’s windstorm even though they were staked out. They will have to go back through and re-plant all of them.
It was these unusual winds that caused these fires to explode so much this week. If they continue to die down, hopefully that will help the fire effort because there is no rain in sight.
grumbles
I live in San Francisco. The sun isn’t dripping blood today, so that’s an improvement. Although it still isn’t back to normal.
A friend lost her house in Oregon last night, they’re safe, but I don’t know much more.
I’m really not down with this end of the world thing. Maybe we should have given it a bit more thought?
MisterForkbeard
Checking in from the North Bay, CA. The air is still overcast and slightly orange, but it’s not like it was yesterday. We’ve moved from “Apocalyptic Hellscape” to “Dystopian Nightmare(s)”.
This is a good fire map, updated regularly: https://firemap.sdsc.edu/?fbclid=IwAR0IzCO7A-bu6dzXlgJGdG7qtzrkg4qWc7QzaljS-oq9FdAeYpBU1gltrNo
Turn on the filters in the upper right. Specifically: Fires, then Active Perimeters.
HumboldtBlue
The smoke level has gone from apocalyptic orange to very unhealthy yellow-brown.
Air quality alerts have been issued and thousands of residents in southern and eastern Humboldt remiain under threat of evacuation or have been ordered to leave.
LarryB
Yesterday in Berkeley, it was darker at 9:30 than at dawn. The street lights on my block didn’t turn off until 10:30. Today, the fog is only pink-ish instead of bloody red. I won’t know if I get COVID because my taste buds are already wrecked. #endofdays.
Doug R
@laura: That viral picture from the NYT is actually the suspension bridge near Oroville, looks very flamey.
Kent
@CaseyL: Yeah. My wife and I looked at a possible job in the Wenatchee area which is gorgeous, before deciding to move to Camas instead. In part because we couldn’t see what our daughters would do there long-term and my wife wanted to live somewhere that we could create a multi-generational homestead so to speak, with opportunities for the kids and grandkids. Wenatchee didn’t feel like that sort of place.
WaterGirl
@laura: That’s so awful. I imagine it’s hard to comprehend just how fast the fire can move. And jump.
Aziz, light!
Here is the government smoke map that shows what we are breathing up and down the West Coast. Conditions in the Portland metro area (except for the exurbs to the south) are unpleasant but not extreme. Even so, in my air-conditioned house, my eyes are stinging a bit. Since last night, the smoke has moved northward over the entire city and into southern Washington.
LarryB
I had a flash back to the Oakland firestorm. That’s what it looked like as I was driving back from SF to try to salvage stuff in case my house burned (it didn’t: they stopped the fire one block east).
Barbara
I wish I could give the west the buckets of rain we have gotten throughout the last six weeks. We are currently under a flood watch (not me personally, my house isn’t situated where it could get flooded) with lots of warnings to people in low lying areas. Wishing for a break in the weather, and the best for everyone in California and the Pacific Northwest. Stay safe you guys.
kindness
I only had a light layer of ash on my car this morning. Still can’t see the sky. I think the one that is affecting where I live (Central Valley CA) are the fires east of Fresno. It’s cooled off these last 2 days which helps.
HumboldtBlue
@laura:
Fuck.
CaseyL
@Kent: Economically, there just isn’t much happening out there, mostly agriculture and resource extraction. The Spokane area is better, being the largest city in the east and home to a major university, but… very, very GOP, outside the city proper. (Spokane Valley is RWNJ through and through.)
It’s funny to me to hear how Camas and Washougal are now bustling, growing cities. A friend grew up in Washougal back in the 60s-70s, when it was the rural boonies, and hated the place, couldn’t wait to leave. She’s a bit stunned by the change, but still never wants to go back.
Tim Wayne
These are photos from around my neighborhood:
https://twitter.com/redtimmy/status/1303832187276464128?s=20
(first two are mine, the other two were taken by neighbors).
Here’s one from this morning from my neighbor up the street. It’s incredible.
https://twitter.com/stevesilberman/status/1304093063178903555/photo/1
Mike J
Tuesday night: https://twitter.com/emmeyekayeee/status/1303824821201981440
Mike in Oly
@Linnaeus: Oh wow. That looks like it will be nasty when it rolls in here.
ColoradoGuy
Colorado was rough on Saturday and Sunday, 100F, AQI 150 to 200, blood-red sun, orange sky, and minor ash fall, but the cold weather swept in on Tuesday and gave us rain and a bit of snow. One of my friends in Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast, had to evacuate last night, and my daughter in Bonney Lake, Seattle, didn’t have to evacuate but there was some destruction in her neighborhood. Wishing all of us the best possible outcomes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
No orange glow today in the SF Bay Area, still it’s overcast. Temp is like 10′ down what the forecast so Nuclear Winter is a thing.
J. Squid
Inner NE Portland is… hella smoky. It was weird when the smoke rolled in with the winds on Monday night. Smelled like a cigar convention, not wood, and didn’t get too bad in this part of the city. I know the west hills got gritted like mad that night. Tuesday stayed mostly clear and smoke rolled in again yesterday, but high up, so not bad on the ground. Overnight it got horrible and it’s like trying to breathe in a camp fire. I have some friends in Clackamas, near the city border, who got evacuated for a while the other night. I’m on call to pick up friends near the Clackamas county line if they get told to leave. At least there’s been no falling ash, so far, and the humidity has been edging upwards as the winds have died down.
Mj_Oregon
South Willamette Valley here. We’re socked in with heavy ground level smoke today with an AQI of 432, the high end of hazardous for everybody. Not good for asthmatics like me.
Up to date info on the fires is difficult to find but our humidity has risen back to normal so the fire crews might be able to get a handle on some of the hotspots. Water or retardant drops are impossible still because of heavy smoke.
HumboldtBlue
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
It actually got cold here yesterday afternoon, enough that my t-shirt and shorts-wearing self quickly put on a sweatshirt and pants.
Oregon is simply ablaze and any resources are already far beyond being stretched and we haven’t heard a fucking word from DC.
Damned_at_Random
Maybe a dead thread, but here goes. We live just outside little town between Eugene and Crater Lake. We smelled smoke Monday evening, but found out it wasn’t local, the winds had shifted from the east. We lost power Tues at about 2:30 Am and are still without power – they wouldn’t send the bucket trucks out because the winds were too strong. The wind is down this AM and power has been restored in town, but not at our place. I’m writing this from the pizza place. Our well pump is down and we ran out of water this morning. If power isn’t back in the next few hrs, we will go to a motel (for the flush toilets and a hot shower). Air quality is beyond awful (I grew up in the Steel Valley before the Clean Air act, so I know crappy air). I heard our Congressman, Pete DeFazio, was evacuating his place in Springfield, but that may be a rumor. So far the fires are safely away from us. We’ll be cleaning out the fridge before stuff starts to stink, but aside from bad smells and rotting food, we are intact and thankful. And 2 days without TV news turns out to be sort of relaxing
?BillinGlendaleCA
Moon here in Glendale, first night of the Bobcat fire(Sunday). Last few days the smoke seemed to blowing south; but today, the wind has died down and the smoke is just sitting in the basin.
trollhattan
Thanks for asking. AQI is 109 in the Sacramento Valley and it’s quite dim from the smoke layer, so the heat is dialed back from what it would otherwise be. Point in any direction and there’s a fire, so whatever the weather brings we will have smoke.
The “Bear Fire” to our north is a cousin to the Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise two years ago, burning the area south of the Feather River that the Camp Fire didn’t consume. At least one town is destroyed, three are dead and several are missing.
That’s but one of dozens of active fires in the state.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, I noticed that, not to mention most of these fires are in US national forests. Again, why are we paying taxes to the Fed?
trollhattan
@Mj_Oregon:
432 is nuts, considering the scale tops at 500. Stay inside! [duh]
WaterGirl
@Damned_at_Random: If this is like previous Fire Check-in posts, I imagine this post will get comments throughout the afternoon and evening. In spite of all the additional threads that come after it.
HumboldtBlue
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
These are maps from two days ago.
MazeDancer
When I lived in Santa Fe, there was the occasional fire with some lightly, somewhat unhealthy, smokey sky. Nothing like this. Can’t imagine how horrible it is for you all.
Please stay safe.
WaterGirl
@Damned_at_Random: Doesn’t sound good, but so glad you are safe.
Tim Wayne
Drone footage of San Francisco yesterday.
https://twitter.com/Jason/status/1304081099153313793
Funny thing – the air was perfectly breathable yesterday. Today it’s not nearly as orange but there’s four times the particulates in the air. Alexa tells me the air is unhealthy @ 170.
A Ghost to Most
16 inches of snow fell on the Cameron Peak (CO) fire, just as it was making a run at RMNP.
Calouste
87% of the wildfires are caused by human action this year.
Combine that with COVID, and I’m pretty sure that “You’re not the boss of me/I won’t follow the rules” is the biggest killer in the US today, more than cancer. And I have more hopes for a cure for cancer than a cure for assholery.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Shit. So the places that were spared two years ago are gone now. That’s a gut punch. As is all of this.
I’m in the midwest, so if we get air quality ratings I’m not aware of it. Can I ask? What is a normal day with good air? And what is holy shit leave the area, even the air in your house isn’t even safe?
surfk9
Here in Lodi haven’t seen the sky in days. AQI is 97. The gloom is just depressing.
HumboldtBlue
@A Ghost to Most:
That’s good news.
There are eight fires currently burning in Humboldt and Del Norte (on the Cal-Ore border) counties.
Cheryl Rofer
Map of Oregon fires
zzyzx
Hasn’t been TOO bad in Seattle yet, but I’m glad that my race I was working on for 6 months ran this past weekend instead of the upcoming one.
With all of this smoke in the air, I’m getting some headaches and some scratchy throat action. Good thing that there isn’t a disease with similar symptoms now…
Gravie
Central Oregon High Desert (Bend, Oregon) – all is calm right here, although there’s a big fire about 50-60 miles northwest of us on the Warm Springs reservation. Everything depends on the wind. We had a bunch of smoke on Monday, clear skies since then.
RaflW
Just reading today’s update on the Williams Fork fire in Colorado (about 10 miles from where we have a place – I’m meeting my brother there in two weeks).
It is officially 10% contained, but they’re dropping to a low-level incident team today and expect the cool weather and recent moisture will mean that it just smolders for weeks. They will monitor for flareups, so it’s not over, but low risk. Phew.
The two big western slope fires seem to be contained. The 100,000 acre fire west of Ft. Collins is calm for now, but could potentially become active again in a week as things will dry out again.
What is happening in CA, OR and WA is horrifying. The whole west, from Montana to New Mexico all the way to the Pacific will probably be at elevated danger (+/- severity) for at least a lifetime. The climate emergency is ramping up. The fire suppression ideas of our Forest Service for a century before now will also take time to work through. The combo is particularly terrible.
I’m just sort of gobsmacked by the amount of work that has to be undertaken if (when!) we manage to shift this shitgibbon. But as Tom Nichols again argues in a new Atlantic piece today, the whole GOP is like Trump. They will fight tooth and nail, at every level, to resist the changes needed to have a decent quality of life in America, and on planet earth.
Defeating Trump in November is prelude, not the fat lady singing.
wmd
Back at home for about 10 days. All my chickens survived the fire. Lost some garden plants – cucumbers that needed to be watered.
Sky is grey today, not orange. Not as dark – yesterday seemed like the sun never came up.
RaflW
@WaterGirl: re: AQI. From the top of my head, under 50 is good. 51-100 is caution. 100-200 is bad for people, but most risk is elderly, very young, and ill people. 200+ is dangerous for all. 400 is the worst handful of days in some Chinese heavy industry or Indian cities.
eta: AQI takes in multiple factors. Smoke particulate are, I think, one of the nastier things. So an AQI on an LA smog day may be over 100 via ozone, but lower general population risk than a 109 of particulates lodging in lungs? Spitballing here, so any medical/science people may not approve my message.
WaterGirl
@Calouste: I truly don’t know how you live with yourself knowing that your own carelessness or stupidity caused this kid of destruction and loss of life.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Scary times indeed – my family and I are safe (except for the smoke), but heartbroken over the loss of life and so much more.
WaterGirl
I am hoping Kelly will check in. They had to evacuate earlier this week.
Yutsano
Eastern Washington here. I haven’t been outside yet but I’ll be running to the store here shortly. I can see the sun at least.
Damned_at_Random
@wmd: Sorry fro the cucumbers, but losing the chickens would be truly awful
Damned_at_Random
@WaterGirl:
Evacuating is awful enough without having to worry about whether there is a COVID flare where you are evacuating to.
HumboldtBlue
@RaflW:
I’ve brushed my teeth twice and I still have a nasty taste in my mouth from the high AQI
Scout211
AQI for us, here on the border of the Central Valley and the Sierra foothills, is 122 currently. It’s very uncomfortable but the smoke covering up the sun has lowered the temps, which good.
We were relieved to find out that the town of Leaburg, Oregon (where Mr. Scout211 grew up and where we spent many summers visiting family and friends) has been spared, so far. The Holiday Farm Fire is all around the town and likely will have destroyed some of the homes around the river. But the town and the Eugene Water Board power plant look to be safe so far. Anyone on a trip up the McKenzie highway knows the Leaburg store. My adult kids were so distraught that the store may be destroyed in the fire. They have so may fond memories of that town and that store. It looks like that so far, the store is still standing.
I heard on a newscast that the Goodpasture Bridge was saved, too, which is awesome.
Mr. Scout211 called an old friend from Leaburg last night and said that people who live in and around the McKenzie river area (now evacuated) are frustrated with how little they can learn from the media because the press are not allowed near the fire lines. Because of that, many rumors have started to swirl around social media about scary arsonists and people in trucks starting fires, etc.
The Governor had announced that the town of Vida was lost but then later the firefighters said they saved “much” of the town. It sounds frustrating on top of heartbreaking.
sxjames
I’m in the suburbs west of Portland. Smoke is not as heavy as yesterday, but still…very weird orange, muted light, & the sun is not visible. Fortunately the wind has died down, so the water bombers now have a chance to tackle the closest fires (Henry Hag Lake, and the one on the Washington County / Yamhill County line).
So far we are relatively safe, but I’ve been working long hours yesterday and today to finish a teardrop camper I’ve been (re)building. Got the hatch latches installed, now replacing weatherstripping & getting it watertight, etc. Knowing that you might have to suddenly evacuate does wonders for focusing the mind on the project…
Humdog
The way the red sky made the redwoods look neon orange was disconcerting. Oddly, the red orange skies of yesterday seemed appropriate given the hell scape we are living through. It is the sparkling beautiful clear blue skies that seem wrong. Me and mine are safe but we did sort out what we will grab and go and what we will leave behind. Making a plan made us feel less powerless.
ETA AQI is 327, but my eyes, mouth and aching head say it is more like 3000
trollhattan
@WaterGirl: @RaflW:
I can only speak to what’s measured in this area–it could be different in other regions. e.g., what the heck to they monitor in Houston with all the refineries and chemical plants, along with traffic? I’ll bet the air there is a bizarre chemical soup.
Two contaminants are monitored here: PM2.5 particulates and ozone. Ironically, ozone is the typical summer concern (NOX from exhaust interacts with sunlight to create O3) while particulates are a common wintertime issue, when inversions trap it at ground level. IIUC it’s primarily from diesel soot and fireplaces. Summertime PM2.5 looks to be a “new normal” resulting from fires.
Yay!
In winter they’ll (regional air quality management districts) declare no-burn days when the AQI is predicted to hit 100. They don’t tell diesel owners to not drive nor make 2-stroke gas yard equipment guys grab a rake. Someday, perhaps.
WaterGirl
@Damned_at_Random: That is so true. I can only imagine.
featheredsprite
Olympic Peninsula. Small fires pop up but can be controlled. Air is better than it was yesterday. Rain? What is that?
According to Google, Vancouver Island is much like the Peninsula.
Kent
@CaseyL:Bend doesn’t have a lot of economic reason to exist either. It was a small timber and farm town when I was a kid. But it has sure exploded in the past decades. I sort of keep expecting Wenatchee to become the WA version of Bend. It even has skiing right next door and just as nice scenery, if not nicer. And is closer to Seattle than Portland is to Bend. But that hasn’t quite happened yet.
Yeah, Washougal is still a little redneck and blue collar. But Camas has basically turned into the new Lake Oswego. The change has been amazing.
km
I’m in the SF Bay area and just have grey skies today instead of yesterday’s apocalyptic orange. But I’ve got a kid in Portland who was texting me earlier, he’s worried about the fires close to them. The “get ready” zone is closer to their college than I would have expected & I have no idea what would happen if they needed to leave. So I’ve got three maps of fires in Oregon open & refreshing compulsively.
JustRuss
Went to work this morning and was locked out of my building, turns out the whole university (Oregon State) is closed due to the air quality. I went home early yesterday and literally didn’t get the memo.
At least the smoke is keeping temperatures much lower than the forecast, high-90s with these conditions would be (more) miserable. The high winds we had for a couple days have stopped, that should help get the fires under control.
Kelly
We’re still staying with friends near Oregon City after fleeing the Beachie Creek/Santiam fire. The air was clear here until this morning. Really nasty now. I suspect this is smoke flowing down the Clackamas river from the Riverside fire (120,000 acres). Visibility less than a mile. The power came back on yesterday evening which is allowing us to run the AC so nice timing there. We got an email this morning from the power company that they are working on restoring power to our home. Seems encouraging. I don’t think they’d fix lines if the fire is raging.
kindness
@surfk9: I remember when Eight Mile Road was still cow pastures and you could tell when you left Stockton and were heading north. Now it’s all one big suburb.
Martin
4 of the 10 largest fires in CA history are currently burning right now.
trollhattan
@kindness:
Yeah, the north end of Stockton once ended roughly at March Lane. Spanos and Grupe et al pretty much ruined the joint.
surfk9
@kindness: North of Eight Mile Road is agricultural preserve filled with mostly orchards and vineyards. South is a big burb.
kindness
@trollhattan: Yup only go and buy the Chargers of all teams. Well Stockton still has better resturants than we do down here in Modesto.
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue: That is distressing. I had a similar experience 2 years ago when I broke my ankle – they had me taking the “therapeutic dose” of tylenol, which was the highest safe dose, and one day I woke up and my mouth tasted like I was sucking on a tylenol.
I figured that if I could taste it like that, it was so thoroughly throughout my system that it wasn’t good. So I immediately cut my dose in half.
I’m sorry that anyone has to live through these fires and the terrible air, and the uncertainty and the worry. With COVID on top.
jl
Only good thing about yesterday was that the air quality in SF was better because the smoke was confined to a narrow dense high layer. Hope winds blow the smoke away before it falls down.
WaterGirl
@Martin: That’s sobering. As if the orange sky wasn’t sobering enough.
Mother nature is smacking us upside the head in so many ways – she’s probably thinking we are the stupidest motherfuckers on earth not to have figured out yet that we have to fucking do things differently.
chopper
smoke in seattle isn’t as bad today but tomorrow’s gonna suck.
OR Soder
We’re in NW Clackamas County, OR. We’re in a level 1 area and AQI is 298. We’ve got go bags packed but not sure which way to go because it seems the fires are all around us. The house is smoky and the constant whir of the stove exhaust fan is getting on my nerves, but we’re ok. The forecast is for the poor air quality to last through Monday and there’s a chance of rain on Tuesday. I’m not going to complain because it could be so much worse but we are watching way too much news and the days seem incredibly long.
NotMax
FYI.
surfk9
@kindness: The restaurants must be crappy in Modesto, because there are very few good ones in Stockton.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Don’t say we never gave ya anything.
cain
Checking in from the west suburbs of Portland – Hillsboro – we have fires about 10-15 miles from us – two of them. There is an encroaching one that might put is in the ‘alert to evacuate’. But it is in the realm of possibility that we would have to evacuate the metro area if nothing because of smoke and everything else.
This combination of multiple fires is a historic new for our state. We’ve never had so many all at once.
I haven’t heard anything from FEMA or the feds in helping – you’d think with the orange menace he would be out there to help the rurals who are largely Trump supporters. But it doesn’t seem that way to me. So far, I think he’s denied any call for help thus far – but that would be very foolish – he will destroy our economy if he doesn’t come up and help.
Kent
@OR Soder: My parents must be close by to you in Canby. They are posting up some epic pictures of smoke and ash on our internal family photostream.
Over here across the river in Camas it is just overcast and slightly smoky but at least there is no wind which is a blessing. We had whole trees getting snapped off from the winds out of the gorge on Monday
The only fire on our side of the Columbia River is the Big Hollow fire that is maybe 40 miles north of us and moving directly west so threatening the towns along the reservoirs up there such as Cougar, not anything close to Vancouver or Camas.
Most of the Gifford Pinchot directly east of us is pretty logged off so I expect out of control fires are less likely.
cain
@OR Soder:
Lets hope we get that rain, pronto! We aren’t at that stage yet, but if we get level 3 then I will have all my important documents ready to go, but like you I’m not sure where I will go – I suppose we can go north and then head east or maybe try I-84 and head east that way towards salt lake city and find a hotel or something.
But if gets to me in Hillsboro, the logistics are going to be bad.
Make sure you fill gas.
cain
Anyone know how things are going in the Medford, OR area? I know it’s bad in Eugene and Salem.
Calouste
@cain: The shitgibbon doesn’t give a shit about his followers in Oregon. He’s never going to get Oregon’s electoral votes, so they can’t do anything for him. He probably doesn’t even care about his supporters in deep red states, because they can’t really do anything for him either.
HumboldtBlue
@cain:
Not good.
Fire to the northeast and one to the south-southeast. Google map.
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl: I really is unimaginable how fire the fires can move. During the big Santa Rose fire a few years ago—which was being drive by near-hurricane speed winds—embers were blowing a mile ahead of the main fire. They also found animals still standing after being burned to death because the fire surrounding them so quickly.
On a slightly happier note, the sky over the SF Peninsula is now only overcast and gloomy with a pinkish color. However, we still had ash fall overnight and the air quality is actually worse today. Yesterday the marine (fog) layer apparently kept the smoke above it. It’s also still much cooler than normal—nuclear winter is a thing.
The SCU and CZU nearest to me are close to fully contained, but there’s numerous other NoCal fires that are out of control, and not enough firefighters. A fire chief on the Creek Fire said they only had a third as much firefighters as they normally would have because there’s just nobody left. California is fighting the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th 10th and 17th largest fires since reliable records began in 1932.
And of course nary a peep from the administration about any of the Western fires.
Sister Golden Bear
Oh and there’s this: drone footage of San Francisco yesterday, set to the Blade Runner 2049 sound track. It would’ve fit seamlessly into the movie.
A Ghost to Most
Speaking of smoke and fire, those of you who subscribe to Daily Beast, check out Rick Wilson’s latest:
Ten Bears
Central Oregon… Phoenix, where my grandmother was born, is gone; Blue River, where my daughter was born, in nearly gone; Chiloquin, where I was conceived – born in Bend – is damned close to gone. Little towns I’ve living and worked in, hunted and fished, fought and fucked all up the High Cascade: Detroit, Idana, Mill City; Rainbow, McKenzie Bridge, gone. Blue Pool. Deer Lick. Gone. Too bad Bend is so well sheltered, because the best thing that could happen to it is burn from end to end.
For twenty years I’ve been running around with my hair on fire – in the classroom, over the radio, in the news and on the blogs and bulletin boards; down at the two-seat outhouse Deschutes Pub, and there’s a link in the blogroll at my house, Waiting to Burn, that’s been there since I opened the place up – trying to get people to pay attention to what is going on and the very real potential of just what is happening now. No body listened. I was mocked. Ridiculed, bullied, run out of town with my career trashed.
I’m a bit more restrained here than at my blog, and it’s been ten hours or so since I watched drive by videos of those places. I don’t know what else can be said, is what it is I guess.
SoupCatcher
Passing along some positive news.
We just received an email about one of the Girl Scout properties, Skylark Ranch, that is north of Santa Cruz. While the CZU lightning fire swept through the entire property, fire crews on scene saved most of the large structures: Dining Hall, Directors Cabin, Rangers House, Shower House, Office/Health/Art & Nature Center. Also, some structures in the various camper units survived.
HumboldtBlue
@SoupCatcher:
We sure as hell need some no matter how small.
Kelly
We’re moved to Level 2, Get Set on the outskirts of Oregon City as the Riverside fire has forced evacuation of Molalla.
Sister Golden Bear
@SoupCatcher: That’s great news!
Indirect news from Southern Oregon: A friend who was with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival reports that several of the long-time team member, who often live nearby, were among the hundreds who’ve lost their homes due to the fire just north of Ashland that’s now threatening Medford.
Scout211
@Kelly:
Oh no. Do you have a place to go for your possible second evacuation?
I hope you get to stay where you are. Maybe the change in winds will help? Stay safe. Keep us posted.
HumboldtBlue
It’s very difficult to concentrate, here’s a baby goat being reunited with mama and family.
WaterGirl
@Ten Bears: That’s a lot of loss.
They didn’t listen to the guy that was warning them in the FBI, and was basically run out of the FBI because they didn’t like what he was saying, who started as the head of security at the Twin Towers something like the day before 9/11. They didn’t listen, and he lost his life along with 3,000 others.
That haunts me, and I’m so sorry you were the canary in the coal mine and no one listened.
So much loss.
WaterGirl
@Kelly: I’m so glad you are checking in with us.
I don’t understand what you mean. Level 2 and Get Set?
I thought you had evacuated your place already and were staying with friends, who had no power, but at least a dwelling.
Are you all having to leave there?
Sister Golden Bear
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: In California all the national forests have been temporarily closed. Guess they’re catching up on raking… the fire debris.
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue:
:: tears ::
Scout211
@WaterGirl: See comment #67
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Thank you. I swear I read every comment – how did I miss that.
Kelly
@WaterGirl: Yes we evaced to friends. We don’t need to leave yet but we’re thinking of where to go next
Miss Bianca
@HumboldtBlue: In the midst of the horror, joy. Thanks! Hope you are safe – or safe-ish, at any rate.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
San Francisco here: skies are yellowish-gray today, not apocalyptic orange, and it’s much cooler than the weekend but the AQI is 337 in my neighborhood. There isn’t even any wind to move the smog around. I’m staying inside near the air purifier.
The brilliant irony for me is that I’m taking vacation this week. I can confidently say this is the worst vacation I’ve ever had, but I know this is the worst week of their lives for so many people in the fire areas.
Kelly
@WaterGirl: If we have to bail from here it’ll be our third jump. Our first bug out destination evaced as soon as we got there. Moved on to here which has been a nice couple days. Plan C
Kim Walker
It may be possible that the Echo Mountain fire missed my sister’s place. I keep checking the fireline maps for Otis, Oregon. She had to leave her goats, chickens, ducks, geese and cats, when they evacuated. It’s just been heartbreaking. I have not been able to tell if any firefighting has been going on in her neighborhood. There has been very little information beyond the fireline maps, which may not be up to date. I’m hopeful. Thank you to everyone for your kind words last night. My family means everything to me.
JaneE
Bishop and Victorville CA. Decent in Victorville this morning, not so good as yesterday, but you can see the mountains (and a couple of smoke plumes, Bobcat fire to the west and Yucaipa Oak Glen fire to the east). Bishop has gone from decent to crappy – unhealthful air quality – up about 100 points since we got home 2 hours ago. You can still see the outlines of the mountains, but the sky is brown again.
All the forests are closed, including private campgrounds in them.
Kelly
OK Plan C. We have one more couple of old friends on the west side of Portland that will take us in. Couple we’ve been staying with have family lined up.
WaterGirl
@Kelly: Yikes. Does it make sense to leave before they say you have to? So all the hotels (or whatever) aren’t already taken? Do you have the car gassed up and all the stuff you want to take in the car at all times, ready to go?
So stressful. I feel terrible for everyone who has to deal with all this loss and uncertainty when we were already in 6 months of loss and uncertainty because of COVID.
WaterGirl
@Kelly: Oh my god. Yikes. At least you are part of a “we”. I can only imagine how stressful it would be to be on your own and have to deal with this.
@Kelly: Taking people in during COVID makes everything more complicated. I wish I could think of something more constructive to say than yikes.
WaterGirl
@Kim Walker: Oh my gosh, that is heartbreaking, leaving everybody behind. What a terrible choice to have to make. I’m so sorry.
HumboldtBlue
@Kim Walker:
I have found a two-hour old update on the fires theatening Otis it also has a map so maybe this will help the info void.
TheOtherHank
I’m late to this party, but here in Pacifica (a few miles down the coast from SF) it’s been smoky all day, but not dark orange like yesterday. Though, the air quality was better yesterday than today. The Purpleair sensor on my neighbor’s house is reading 300+ right now. We’re a mile from the beach and usually have some of the best air quality in the Bay Area.
Origuy
@Doug R: Back in March, I posted an OTR from December in the Oroville area.
Here’s the picture I took of that bridge from almost the same spot. I’m pretty sure that the place I was orienteering, Big Bald Rock, has been burnt over.
Kent
I did not know you had a blog. Until following the URL on your name. Now I have something else to read.
I’m also a longtime Oregonian, grew up here. My great great grandfather pioneered a farm in Albany in the 1890s and I have family scattered all across the Northwest. This is really a horror show everywhere.
Miss Bianca
@Kim Walker: Oh, my God, that’s terrible. The fires are moving that fast? In my (limited) experience with wildfires here, there’s usually always a pre-evac notice for people to start moving their animals, but it sounds like these CA fires are blowing up too fast for that.
HumboldtBlue
@Miss Bianca:
I’m fine, just dealing with poor air quality while tens of thousands of neighbors to the south, east and north are in peril.
The goat was cute though.
JaySinWA
My sister in law just got the go order a few minutes ago from Molalla OR. https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/09/over-200-homes-buildings-damaged-or-destroyed-in-clackamas-county-wildfires-hundreds-more-threatened.html
HumboldtBlue
@JaySinWA:
Shit. Mollala is in a bad place.
Kent
@JaySinWA:
My parents live right down the road from Molalla in Canby. They are packing now to get out. Doesn’t seem like an actual fire risk in the complex where they live, but they are at level 2 evacuation order now and will possibly jump to level 3 soon, meaning they need to get out.
Up here in Camas we are safe for the moment from any fires as none are anywhere near. But the air is getting worse by the hour.
JaySinWA
@Kent: The bad air is moving to the Seattle area by tomorrow morning. We’ve had it fairly easy up to now. One moderately bad day, but the smoke storm coming looks bad. https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/
HumboldtBlue
I just took out our apartment building’s five trash and recycling cans and I could have chewed the air. The sun is but a small pink dot to the west and the ash is everywhere.
tommyspoon
Still under a Level 1 evacuation order. We are all packed up and ready to go. Please send good vibes!
WaterGirl
@tommyspoon: I promise, we are all sending good vibes to all of you.
I finally looked it up.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Yep.
I live and work in Covina and the last 2 days have been bad. Today was just in the not so great range. My car has a layer of ash all over it and it can be tough to see the lines in a parking lot because of all the ash. As I have no sense of smell I can’t tell you how bad the smoke is other than I’m not choking or hacking.
Kent
Anyone still here? This is the first time in years that I have been watching local TV news coverage. The local Portland stations are doing a fairly commendable job of covering these fires. Lots of video, on-scene reporters, and competent weather coverage. Much better than I’m finding anywhere on the internet.
Kim Walker
Thanks to Humboldt Blue for the info. My sister drove back from Corvallis to Willamina today and will try to get into Otis tomorrow. The latest info is that the wind is blowing back toward areas that already burned. It looks like the winds on Wednesday blew the forward edge of the fire east of their place and the fire looks to be holding a quarter mile north. So this is very good news along with the low temperature and high humidity. The dogs (all five) have been perfect angels as evacuees, so there’s that.
mvr
I don’t live in Oregon anymore but have been watching on the map. 35 years ago I Lived in PDX but worked in Oregon City and would go up the Clackamas after work to where the Riverside Fire is presently burning and taught myself to flyfish there. Didn’t catch much because I wasn’t very good, but it was a near nightly routine. I also rebuilt the engine of my VW squareback on an acreage near Mollala with help from someone I knew there. It is long enough ago that I imagine the friend who helped me is long gone. But I remember the area fondly.
I built a tiny cabin on the Wyoming side of the Colorado border near the Continental Divide and I’m keeping my eye on the fire maps for Northern Colorado. We’ve done our best to make the cabin fire safe and I left directions for how to run water from the creek if need be, posted by the outdoor faucet last I was up there when I turned the water off for the winter, just in case it would be needed. West of the Cameron Peak fire is the Middle Fork fire that is smaller and in the same mountain range as our cabin. That fire too was somewhat squelched by the snow. I think it is too far for it to get to our place, but with some of these fires moving 20 miles in a day I’m checking the map just the same.
HumboldtBlue
@Kim Walker:
Glad to be of some small help and I hope all works out for you and your family.
@Kent:
I agree.
Chris T.
Late to thread, but reporting from far northwest WA, just a bit south of Vancouver really: air here is good at the moment. Supposed to get worse tomorrow. Rain is in the forecast for next week, not sure how far south and east it might get, but one can hope it helps with the fires south and east of us.
OR Soder
@Kent:
We’re in Canby and at Level 2. I’ve packed the car and am ready to go. My husband wants to wait and see. (Aaaargh!) His health is not so good so I think we’ll head to Washington in search of clearer air.
Good luck to your parents and you on the other side of the river! I told my husband if push came to shove we can go get in the river.
Kent
@OR Soder: I think my parents are going to stick it out tonight. They live in the Hope Village Retirement community and are in their 80s but still 100% spry and mobile. But they have the Prius packed and ready to go if they need to drive up.
But if they get an evacuation order they will be out of there. The don’t really do traffic monitoring on their phone so I told them to drive over to I-5 and head north rather than try 99 through Oregon City which is the normal route, which is likely to be chaos and you will get stuck pinned to the river there with no alternate routes if traffic is a mess.
OR Soder
@Kent:
We live in walking distance of them. I think we are going to stick it out tonight too. I prefer to go, but husband wants us to wait. If we leave, we’re going up I5 towards Washington. All the motels in the safe zone area are already full.
WaterGirl
@Kim Walker: That is good news.
SFBayAreaGal
@TheOtherHank: If you’re still around I live on the other side of the hill. What part of Pacifica are you in?