West Coast Fires

[76 Bar]

The west coast is being hammered by devastating fires. I'm not currently threatened but the copious ash outside and in the house/structures coupled with record breaking temps & maximum visibility of 300' is very unpleasant. Just read that the entire county (directly south of me) where Katpau resides is on high alert with potential up grades for various mandatory evacuation orders. Hoping she might see this post & check in but guessing she has her hands full.

 

[Dave]

I have always said they don't get near the fires on the west side of the Cascades but there is a huge fuel load. Strong east winds with very very low humidity is a recipe for disaster. Major evacuations just east of Salem. There is also a couple fires in eastern Washington. The saw mill in Omak went to the ground today. That fire stretches 60 / 70 miles to the south. It jumped the Columbia River twice. One west of Spokane 30 miles or so burnt a small farm town with 80% of the buildings gone. The whole west coast is on fire.

 

[kenny thomas]

I have crewmen working for the contractors on fires in California and Oregon. Ky sent a crew yesterday but it went to Montana.
With the virus going on we are having a problem getting crews but especially crew bosses.

 

[Katpau]

One of the fires was on a ranch only a few miles west, but on the other side of the river. I called a friend whose ranch was adjacent and who works with DFPA (Douglas Fire Protection) He told me they had that one under control at about 400 acres, but the big one just east of there was completely out of control and expanding by 1000's of acres every few hours. All they can do is keep it away from homes. Fortunately there are very few homes in the Umpqua Natl Forest. I know the young man that manages the large ranch were the 1st fire started. I'm hoping he had nothing to do with the start. He is a decent hard working young man. I think it started at night, so I don't think it was due to equipment. The other fires I was told, started from electric lines going down in the fierce wind storms that came through last night.

 

[kenny thomas]

One started from fireworks at a baby announcement.

 

[Katpau]

One started from fireworks at a baby announcement.

That one was down in California. Most close to here were from power lines that went down in a windstorm. They knew this wind storm was coming and warned us of the possibility of fires yesterday. I expected them to shut off our power to prevent fires, but that didn't happen. We haven't had any rain here since mid June and the temperatures have hovered close to 100 for weeks. Things will likely get worse before they get better.

 

[kenny thomas]

I hope you come through it ok. Starting to snow in parts of the Rocky's so maybe the crews will move your way

 

[wbvs58]

Hoping you get some rain to help with the situation and all are safe and property safe. This time last year we had fires western edge of our local town that took out a few houses, things were very dangerous. Tomorrow I am picking up a permit to light some stacks of timber, gee things change.

Ken

 

[CG1]

The fires are causing it to be very very smokey up here in BC. I think the fires are about 200 miles away. But the air is thick with smoke and smells like campfire. Our year this year on wildfires have been light but its supposed to be a hot day today and hot the rest of the week. Hope the rain the weekend in the forecast is right.

 

[76 Bar]

One started from fireworks at a baby announcement.

Saw that. I'm speechless. Brings new meaning to "you can't fix stupid" :frowns:
From the bottom of my heart thank you Kenny for your service. I've suffered the consequences of losing everything in a house fire and have the utmost respect for fire fighters.

 

[kenny thomas]

One started from fireworks at a baby announcement.

Saw that. I'm speechless. Brings new meaning to "you can't fix stupid" :frowns:
From the bottom of my heart thank you Kenny for your service. I've suffered the consequences of losing everything in a house fire and have the utmost respect for fire fighters.

Thank you. It's just what I do. 2 more months will make it 47 years.
I lost both my parents and all their stuff in a house fire so I kinda know what you are dealing with.

 

[TCRanch]

I've seen some pictures and it's heartbreaking. Even Colorado is battling wildfires. KS & OK got hit hard a couple years ago. Praying for your safety! Mother Nature can be cruel but flat out stupidity as one of the causes makes it even more devastating.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

3 houses burned within 5 miles of me yesterday morning, all caused by electrical wires. Sad for the family's.

 

[kenny thomas]

3 houses burned within 5 miles of me yesterday morning, all caused by electrical wires. Sad for the family's.

Looking at the reports it's getting worse daily.

 

[Dave]

In 2014 the Carlton complex burnt over 400,000+ acres to the south and west of Omak. The next year 500,000+ acres to north burnt. I don't remember the exact numbers but added together it was over a million acres. The Carlton fire burnt 17% of the housing in the county. The last couple days the Cold Springs fire burnt everything to the south and east. All three of these fires burnt right up to edge of the towns of Okanagan and Omak. Yesterday the saw mill on the east edge of town burnt. The fire ran a good 30 miles south and jumped the Columbia River. The river there is about half a mile wide. How do you build a fire break bigger than half a mile of water? For administrative purposes they are calling the fire south of the river the Pearl Hill fire. Between Cold Springs and Pearl Hill they have burnt almost 340,000 acres. There is not much left to burn in the area around Omak.
The Northwest Interangency Coordination Center map list 28 major fires in Washington and Oregon. The majority are not contained. They have no idea on containment or the property loss. The big one east of Salem Oregon has several small towns surrounded or in its path. Over here in Eastern Oregon we presently have no fires going. But everyone is holding their breath.

 

[Dave]

In 2014 the Carlton complex burnt over 400,000+ acres to the south and west of Omak. The next year 500,000+ acres to north burnt. I don't remember the exact numbers but added together it was over a million acres. The Carlton fire burnt 17% of the housing in the county. The last couple days the Cold Springs fire burnt everything to the south and east. All three of these fires burnt right up to edge of the towns of Okanagan and Omak. Yesterday the saw mill on the east edge of town burnt. The fire ran a good 30 miles south and jumped the Columbia River. The river there is about half a mile wide. How do you build a fire break bigger than half a mile of water? For administrative purposes they are calling the fire south of the river the Pearl Hill fire. Between Cold Springs and Pearl Hill they have burnt almost 340,000 acres. There is not much left to burn in the area around Omak.
The Northwest Interangency Coordination Center map list 28 major fires in Washington and Oregon. The majority are not contained. They have no idea on containment or the property loss. The big one east of Salem Oregon has several small towns surrounded or in its path. Over here in Eastern Oregon we presently have no fires going. But everyone is holding their breath.

 

[kenny thomas]

When fires get that big mother nature is the only thing that will totally stop it. Either the wind quits, it rains, or it snows.
The crews usually catch the fires after they calm down.

 

[sstterry]

 

[jltrent]

Controlled burns would have prevented a lot of those or made them a lot smaller area fires. Probably against the law in California to do those.

 

[Dave]

Controlled burns would have prevented a lot of those or made them a lot smaller area fires. Probably against the law in California to do those.

People do some controlled burns. But that is only on private ground. The government doesn't do controlled burns anymore. When you are surrounded by government ground it gets a little touchy. The Hammonds down south of Burns accidentally burnt 139 acres of BLM sage brush. They got sentenced to 5 years in prison as domestic terrorists. This county alone has over a million acres of federal land (Forest circus and BLM).
There is a saying out here which the Greenies don't like. Log it, Graze it, or watch it burn. California doesn't allow much logging and they are not fond of grazing. The spotted owl put a lot of loggers and saw mills out of business in Washington and Oregon.
There is a lot of questioning starting to go on about these fires. Are they caused by arson? There hasn't been any lightning. The wind did blow but that has happened before. Things are dry but it is not the first time that has happened. So just how are all these fires starting? Combine that with the fact that they have caught a couple people starting fires.