West Coast Fires

[kenny thomas]

Dave, they have decided now that the logging may have helped the spotted owl. Doesn't matter once the sawmills are closed.
In history the buffalo grazed and trampled the grass. The cattle could do the same. But of course not allowed many places.
One of my crew is now on the Lionhead Fire east of Salem. Isn't that the wet side of the state?

 

[Dave]

Dave, they have decided now that the logging may have helped the spotted owl. Doesn't matter once the sawmills are closed.
In history the buffalo grazed and trampled the grass. The cattle could do the same. But of course not allowed many places.
One of my crew is now on the Lionhead Fire east of Salem. Isn't that the wet side of the state?

The wet side hasn't been very wet this year. It has been a long dry hot summer. But being the wet side the fuel load is huge. Combine fuel load with humidity in the single digits and high winds...... Well you have fought fire enough to understand what happens next.

 

[76 Bar]

Just got word the guy I bought my small farm from in 2016 just lost the house he relocated to in the "Santiam Fire" north west of Corvalis OR. :frowns:

 

[76 Bar]

Dave, they have decided now that the logging may have helped the spotted owl.

Talk about a day late & a dollar short. I watched the timber industry in Humboldt Co CA become decimated due to a misguided and erroneous environmental agenda. It was especially galling to witness private timber land owners who cared deeply about about sustainability for generations to come lose their way of life and income. Insult to injury was the former's insistence to introduce the barred owl who considered the spotted owl a tasty treat.

 

[76 Bar]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckd...a2w4TCCGXhbaYihRDVMtt_IKk2lNfkUo#73a30cbc5e30
Apologies for the cumbersome link...didn't know how to do the tiny url thing.
The article is a year and half old but nonetheless timely.

 

[Katpau]

The internet has been off and on lately, so I have not been on here. I assume the fires are affecting the cell towers. The smoke is so bad that I'm wearing an N95 mask in the house. This morning we could not see the barn that is maybe 300 feet from the house. It is a little better now, but visibility is still less than a 1/4 mile. It's like living 24 hours a day for the last 6 days downwind from a campfire. It is likely to stay like this for a long time. There is nowhere to go and get away from it since it is like this from San Francisco to Canada. Numerous forests and rangelands in that stretch with fires of 100,000 acres plus. In Oregon alone about a million acres have already burned. So many little towns and a few bigger ones are completely gone. The resources that are needed to successfully fight these fires are in short supply. All we can do is pray for early winter rains.

 

[kenny thomas]

The internet has been off and on lately, so I have not been on here. I assume the fires are affecting the cell towers. The smoke is so bad that I'm wearing an N95 mask in the house. This morning we could not see the barn that is maybe 300 feet from the house. It is a little better now, but visibility is still less than a 1/4 mile. It's like living 24 hours a day for the last 6 days downwind from a campfire. It is likely to stay like this for a long time. There is nowhere to go and get away from it since it is like this from San Francisco to Canada. Numerous forests and rangelands in that stretch with fires of 100,000 acres plus. In Oregon alone about a million acres have already burned. So many little towns and a few bigger ones are completely gone. The resources that are needed to successfully fight these fires are in short supply. All we can do is pray for early winter rains.

I'm afraid you are correct that the rains will be what puts the fires out.

 

[Dave]

I was talking to a couple ranchers who are part of our rangeland protection asso. They said we better pray we don't have a fire here because if we do it is just us to fight it. All of the other resources are either over on the west side or down in California. All we could do is try to get cows out of the way and maybe protect any homes in its path.

 

[Katpau]

Dave, that is for the most part what is happening here. There is really no stopping it, so we are defending structures as much as possible, but hundreds of homes already lost I suspect. They are having a meeting for property owners today to pass on the bad news. It is closed to the public and media. Private contractors including ranchers and timber operators are working on containment lines and doing an incredible job.

The smoke here is so bad, it is painful. My eyes and chest hurt. Our air quality is at 530.9 right now. They usually only measure to 500. Here is a chart to give you an idea what that means. We will likely lose more people from the smoke than the fire itself. I am not sure what the long term effects are for the cattle. If you click on the image you will see it says "Hazardous 301 to 500 Health warnings emergency conditions. The entire population is most likely affected."

 

[TCRanch]

Katpau, sending prayers.

 

[Katpau]

Thank you. We saw where you can build an air cleaner out of a box fan and an air filter. Went to town and found air filters almost wiped off the shelves at Home Depot and Lowes, but bought a couple small ones to tape together and put on the fan. Here is what it looks like after running about 10 minutes. The black circle is smoke pulled from the air. It helps but I don't think $40 in filters will last a 1/2 day.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Praying that all of y'all on the West Coast get some rain very very soon. Wish there was a way I could help. Terrible situation.

 

[Nesikep]

Thank you. We saw where you can build an air cleaner out of a box fan and an air filter. Went to town and found air filters almost wiped off the shelves at Home Depot and Lowes, but bought a couple small ones to tape together and put on the fan. Here is what it looks like after running about 10 minutes. The black circle is smoke pulled from the air. It helps but I don't think $40 in filters will last a 1/2 day.

We've had really bad air around here, we got a splash of rain last night that helped a bit.. This smoke is different from all the smoke we've had in previous years.. we can smell the stench of burning plastics, etc in it..


What's interesting is that there's a pretty clear line at the border.. we only have 2 major fires in BC and conditions were certainly ripe for them, a long, cool, wet spring until july makes grass grow, then hot throughout august,.. Up until the smoke covered everything we were in the high 90's here

 

[Nesikep]

Just found this site that includes most of the US as well.. interesting maps https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/

 

[kenny thomas]

One started from fireworks at a baby announcement.

Just heard a news report that because a firefighter died in this fire that the people responsible have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and 29 other charges.