West coast fires

[Huston55]

We split time btwn Marin (North SF Bay) and Redwood City (South SF Bay), and the air is terrible in both locations and everywhere between. Yesterday was truly apocalyptic though, with an orange dark sky all day; I literally did not see the sun all day, and there’s ash coating everything. These pics are downtown SF @ 1030am, and Orville.

 

[Pellice]

Huston, this is a horrible situation. Are the states mobilized completely to deal with this now?

 

[mountainsoft]

I just learned my cousin's vacation home at Detroit Lake in Oregon burned to the ground. Her family spent a lot of time out there, so I'm sure it will be a big loss to them. Thankfully it's not their main home.

My niece near Medford, Oregon had to evacuate her apartment due to the Almeda fire, but just heard she was able to go back home. Close call.

My sister-in-law also lives outside of Medford, Oregon. They're on the "get ready" warning, but so far their home is still safe.

My wife has a cousin up north near one of the Washington fires, but it sounds like their home is still OK at the moment.

We had blue skies yesterday, but the smoke has moved back in today. At least the strong winds have died down.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

The smoke has arrived to the Pasadena area. I cancelled my 3 mile run. Went walking in Target instead.

 

[harllee]

I am on the East coast but I have been watching the news and reading about these awful fires. I personally have never had a fire experience but I know it must be an awful thing to live through. I just want to tell all of you Forum members who live in the areas affected how sorry I am and that I am praying for all of you.

Is there anything any of us can do to help?

 

[Brat]

The Red Cross and the Mid-valley UnitedWay has a special accounts for donations to assist fire victims. There is also a GoFundMe account but those accounts are not a-countable, so to speak.

Most of the residents who have been burned out have modest means.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/lo...ires/283-1ffd3c38-e4b7-45a6-b66f-7d418491d88c

 

[harllee]

The Red Cross and the Mid-valley UnitedWay has a special accounts for donations to assist fire victims. There is also a GoFundMe account but those accounts are not a-countable, so to speak.

Most of the residents who have been burned out have modest means.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/lo...ires/283-1ffd3c38-e4b7-45a6-b66f-7d418491d88c

Thank you. I will make a donation.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

When we were evacuated, the most pressing need was a decent place to stay - all nearby hotels, Airbnb etc... are booked out almost immediately. We ended up camping in the woods the first night.
The problem is not knowing how long to reserve. If the house is lost, you need long term housing fast, and that supply is even more constrained.
Again, by luck a friend was out of state and offered her place for two weeks, as it turned out, the exact time we needed. Two years later, good housing is still in short supply.
BTW, our renter insurance was very good about covering all costs including up to two years rent if needed.

 

[harllee]

Does FEMA or other agencies help with housing like they do for hurricanes--maybe some temporary trailers?

 

[MuirWannabe]

Yesterday they closed every national forest in California. 16 of them. Today, they’ve closed every national forest in Oregon, I think. There might be one still open for now. Basically California and Oregon are closed for use.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Here is today’s satellite image. I believe winds are shifting more northeast tomorrow. So that smoke over the ocean will be back on land. And up in Washington probably some.

 

[cathy63]

Does FEMA or other agencies help with housing like they do for hurricanes--maybe some temporary trailers?

Yes, FEMA helps fire evacuees find housing once the proper disaster declarations are issued, but they can't do much until the fires are contained.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Does FEMA or other agencies help with housing like they do for hurricanes--maybe some temporary trailers?

Yes, but the process is not very efficient - they need to secure a suitable site with power, sewage etc.... months, not days.
They were most helpful with hazardous debris removal and site restoration.

Here, there was a use waiver where RV's could be used as a temporary residence once the lots were cleared.

 

[RobbieB]

The satellite is pretty good, the air here is back to brown again. Yesterday it looked like Hell. Seriously. I was waiting for flying bat winged horned demons to descend from the sky.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Yea, I’m no weather forecaster. But if I lived in Washington, I’d be getting all my shopping done to pick up any essentials today. Be ready to hunker down tomorrow. And hope my home air filter is good.

 

[calmloki]

This is a really nice set of images from last year vs. after the fire. Pull the arrows on the images from side to side. These are of Talent and Phoenix on I-5 south of Medford Oregon. Once again, proof that God hates trailers, although some nice conventional homes were also destroyed.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/us/satellite-images-oregon-wildfire-trnd/index.html

 

[Freedom56]

Our sky is overcast with smoke. But on a positive note, the light is diffused and pretty nice for photography/videography.

 

[Keim]

Our sky is overcast with smoke. But on a positive note, the light is diffused and pretty nice for photography/videography.

I like that optimistic attitude!

 

[bbbamI]

Received an email from a friend of ours that lives in Jacksonville, OR.

Hi there. Thanks for checking on us. It is a difficult place here in the Rogue Valley at present. My wife and I, and our community of Jacksonville are untouched at present, and not under threat. But there have been many many houses and businesses lost. And most sadly, a large number of pretty large and well established mobile home parks where lots of seniors and lower income folks live have been destroyed in the small towns of Phoenix and Talent.

For at least one day there were extreme high level winds that blew relentlessly for an entire day which made the fires extremely ferocious.

Seems some better today, but the sky looks like there is extreme fog, its strange colors and the smoke smell is very powerful. Everyone encouraged to stay inside.

 

[Freedom56]

I like that optimistic attitude!

Just making the best of an otherwise horrible situation.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Article that I found interesting about possible issues behind the California fires. I don’t pretend to know how true these thoughts are. And I don’t want to trigger any disagreements to cause thread tangents. Take it or leave it. Just sharing cause the article seemed well written.


https://www.propublica.org/article/...tm0KQZXa91rNWxsytAlyjUUJcTY86Y2VABgs_qVoCB7BQ

 

[tulak]

The satellite is pretty good, the air here is back to brown again. Yesterday it looked like Hell. Seriously. I was waiting for flying bat winged horned demons to descend from the sky.

I was wondering what this looked like. I didn’t know I get a chance to see if for myself this weekend. At least there’s no orange glow. And no demons yet either, but at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised!

 

[harllee]

Friend lives in Portland inside the city limits near Nike, he says the air is awful. He is keeping a bag packed in the car, he figures he will have to evacuate soon.

 

[calmloki]

Air quality here in Independence is 547 today and has been in that area for several days now. A bit of rain might be nice...

 

[Brat]

I am in Portland, living in the west hills near Washington Park. I have a view to the east that is 2 blocks distance, about 500 feet.