Fire Season - What is your plan?

[P7M13]

Beaverton at 7pm, looking over Commonwealth Lake. Visibility might be 1000 feet.
Winds from the North, a few trees blown down that I saw.

Saw a bunch of hunters with fires in the Tillamook this weekend. Forest Service had done a good job of putting NO FIRES (spray paint and signs) over every camp site fire pit I saw. Sheriff (2) seemed busy along Cedar Creek OHV area campsites.
Based on the winds, this one seems to be smoke from Yakima area fires coming down the gorge.

 

[The Heretic]

Turned very windy about any hour before sunset. Very smoky too.

Lost power once. Went outside - large limbs fallen, one knocked the solar panel for my motion detector lights down.

Still blowing pretty good.

 

[gmerkt]

Funny this thread should come along. Just a little while ago, I was outside and it definitely smelled of forest fire. We've had wind all day. It could've blown in from elsewhere as there's nothing on the news or local community website about it.

I spend the better part of a year, parti-time of course, cleaning up brush, leaves and various tree debris from my property. With the idea of semi-suburban forest fires that can come through. As has happened in California in recent years. I've got a metal roof on my home and my storage building, recently had both professionally cleaned. This year, I had my home painted so the wood at least has a new covering on it, not cracklin' dry exposed. I don't have any brushy plants near the house building but plenty of mature trees, which I've kept skirted so the limbs are up high.

Five minutes, I'd only take small but high value items that are uninsurable. Maybe take the time to grab a few guns but those are all insured. Banking documents and passports. I have so many old family papers that would have to wait for the 30 minute warning. With the 30 minutes, I could partially load and take two cars.

I'd like to take my two cats. They are indoor animals, easy enough to round up. I only have one carrier/cage. Makes me think I should get a second one, two cats in one carrier gets crowded.

The one hour plan would give me plenty of time to take what I'd like. Within the past couple of years, I've sold off close to 50 guns, don't have all that many left to worry over. Sold a big chunk of my reloading stuff and factory ammo. In so doing, I've discovered a new level of comfort. The less crap you have, the less there is to worry over. Something to think about as you get nearer the end of your string.

 

[gmerkt]

I just looked online again, saw the big winds that we got on the wetside today brought all the smoke from fires in eastern WA over to us. Freak windstorn was one phrase I read. We usually don't get many big winds this time of year.

Our place is in a mostly forested area, so we stay cooler than some other places around here. But on really warm days by the early evening, the house has soaked up some of the ambient heat. At night, sometimes Mrs. Merkt opens a window and turns on a box fan that's there. Which she started to do tonight but I stopped her. I told her, "The only clean air is inside the house. You turn that fan on, it will fill the house with smoke from outside." We have a heat pump, so I overrode the regular temperature programming and turned on the AC.

It'll be interesting to go outside tomorrow morning and see how hazy it is. Unless my eyes were playing tricks, I think I could see some smoke in the air in the darkness tonight.

 

[Ura-Ki]

The moon @12:30 am!
Pretty freaky as it comes in and out of view through the blowing smoke, and it's a glowing red!
And you can really see how much smoke we have here in Salem, that's not a glare from the street lamp, that's the smoke!

 

[Free_Patriot]

We have a MAJOR wildfire burning six miles from home as I write at midnight on Monday night.

A few words from a firefighter who served in what we referred to as the wildland fire capital of the planet, Shasta County, CA. I'm now back in my native Washington State and today (Monday) was a massive fire event day in Eastern Washington.

In Shasta County you could be assured that at some point in time virtually every part of the county would burn at one time or another, or several times over. Redding, CA, in Shasta County, virtually hand-grenaded a couple of years ago after we'd left the state.

One thing you learn is to separate yourself from any emotional attachment to any of your belongings. The things you can't replace which are of value to you are those that you should have ready for the five minute evac. Photos, videos, laptops, important documents (including in your electronic devices), tools, family heirlooms, or personal treasures. In our first evac, before I signed onto the fire department, we had advance notice, and a prized mule deer buck mount was among my pickup truck full of 'things'. At some point the most important things simply never left a couple of boxes stored within easy access. We didn't even hang them back onto the walls.

Can you survive on the road out, your escape route, if stalled in traffic or by a fallen tree? Do you have a secondary escape route, should the fire block your planned route, even if you have to escape by foot? Think about that.

When you've seen as many people lose everything as I've seen as a firefighter, it puts things in context. I remember hearing about a high school kid who put his English book in the center of his living room floor prior to evac. Their home was literally across the street from the high school. Sure enough their home was leveled and yes, the hated English book burned...

Compile a list. Try to prioritize in order of importance. USE THE LIST. Your deer mount may be high on the list but due to size you may have to skip over it. You may have some things you just can't haul due to space but you may be able to say, put them on a sidewalk where there's less chance of it burning.

Two important words: DEFENSIBLE SPACE. If we have to roll a structure protection team onto your street we may have two engines to protect seven homes. We quickly assess which homes we have the best chance of saving, as well as whether they'll help us survive should we be trapped without an escape route. Swimming pools are a plus, both as a water source for our engines as well as somewhere to escape if we're overrun by flames.

Cut your dry grass down, move firewood and other flammable's away from your home, leave at least 30' of space between your home and trees or heavy vegetation. Turn sprinklers on in certain scenarios, keeping in mind that if we have to draw water from hydrants and the entire housing tract is running sprinklers then we may not have water for our engines. Also remember that if you're on a well and you lose power then you'll have no water to protect your home, should you stay to do so. Have a generator handy.

Do I recommend you stay? Depends. I've seen major fire events where the majority of homes that survived, which were few, were those which a homeowner still had water to defend the home after sending the family away, or after the fire crews had moved on to the next street to stay ahead of the flames. Too often the flames kick back up and destroy a home AFTER the crews have already saved it.

But also we've had fatalities when fires simply overran any hope of survival. If nothing else, find a giant parking lot and get to the far end of the lot from the approaching flames, adjusting your position as the flames move around you. The heat is excessive and you may die regardless. Saving your home isn't worth losing your life over. Fires can move DAMNED FAST. NEVER underestimate the ability of a raging wildfire to trap you in place.

Today (Monday) we had a large wind event after a month of near drought in Eastern Washington. Massive fires everywhere, ripping across the sage, wheat, and grasslands. One small town, Malden, near Spokane, was overwhelmed with flames before most anyone even knew the fire was approaching. The Post Office, City Hall, and the fire station all burned to the ground, and perhaps 70% of the town. The fire crews were off fighting a fire in another town several miles away, Colfax, which had a large fire as well.

That was the five minute warning crowd, and two minutes for many. If you can't grab your pets or livestock, set them free.

As I'm writing this there's a 20,000+ acre fire burning near our town which started just before noon in 40+ MPH winds. The planes couldn't fly to attack the flames so the fire ran at will. The fire is six miles away and slowly approaching now that the winds have died down and switched direction. I don't think we're threatened. An 80k acre fire is burning less than an hour from us, with our main highway closed in both directions due to separate fires. Our vacation home up north is blocked off due to another fire, with power out to much of the region. I'm listening to fire dispatch as I type.

And most of this has happened IN A SINGLE DAY. I saw the weather report last night which was calling for high winds today and told my other half that things could get tough today, as they did. I had no idea. We'll find out in the morning which other towns were leveled as well.

So walk around your home and garage and barn and the rest and figure out what it is that you'd really hate to live without or can't replace. Maybe move some of it to somewhere safer during fire season. We used to say we had two seasons up in Shasta County. Rainy season and fire season. I got really tired of fires and smoke.

In scouting the fires today and speaking with locals about it as our skies filled with massive columns of smoke, I was honestly stunned at how little fire sense those in my town really had. Guess what? In 40 MPH winds a fire can travel 40 miles in an hour! The fact that it's 20 miles upwind of you with a column of smoke overhead is no reason to relax. That fire can be overwhelming your town in under an hour. OMG... If the smoke's blowing the opposite direction, less cause for alarm. But pay attention to that smoke! And the wind direction! Winds change...

Hope this helps. Now start making that list while hoping you'll never need it. Make a plan for moving things such as your prized Harley, boat, RV, or hot rod into safe open spaces, even the middle of a lawn, should you have no other choice.

Plan ahead. It CAN happen to you.

 

[arakboss]

5 mins notice run the opposite way of the fire.

15 mins notice. Set the dvr to record my favorite programs then run the opposite way of the fire.

1hr notice. What are you all worried about we still have 55 minutes to go.

 

[EHJ]

Timberline looking south to Mt. Jefferson before the wind.

 

[P7M13]

I think now's a good time to dust off my Tony Robbins' firewalking skill.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Taken at 7:30ish AM, in Albany, Oregon . Certainly fits "fire and brimstone" oft preached. Ashfall and a lot of airborne particles, a great reason to use masks and probably dust goggles too. Large and small ash particles everywhere. 9/08/2020

 

[Free_Patriot]

Our local fire is now pushing 80k acres (125 sq. miles).

FYI if you're downwind of a fire, i.e. ash is falling around you, keep in mind that it's not uncommon for a fire to drop BURNING cinders more than a mile out in front of it. Often it's dry grass, firewood, landscape bark, or similar that will kick off a firestorm in the middle of a residential area because the cinders land in dry matter and go unnoticed until it's too late. Keep your eyes peeled, and if possible, cover or remove any such flammables from around your home. If you're patrolling your area and see ANY smoke, don't hesitate to investigate and extinguish it if at all possible. Wood shake roofs and cedar/wood fences can be a particular problem.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Our local fire is now pushing 80k acres (125 sq. miles).

FYI if you're downwind of a fire, i.e. ash is falling around you, keep in mind that it's not uncommon for a fire to drop BURNING cinders more than a mile out in front of it. Often it's dry grass, firewood, landscape bark, or similar that will kick off a firestorm in the middle of a residential area because the cinders land in dry matter and go unnoticed until it's too late. Keep your eyes peeled, and if possible, cover or remove any such flammables from around your home. If you're patrolling your area and see ANY smoke, don't hesitate to investigate and extinguish it if at all possible. Wood shake roofs and cedar/wood fences can be a particular problem.

Great advice!
Another thing to pass on, make sure ALL roof vents are secure and functioning! You wouldn't believe the number of homes I have seen lost because the home owner never checked the vents and embers got into the attic space and torched the home! If your area is defensible, and your getting ash dropping on you in larger chunks, now is the time to wet everything down, even the green stuff! If you do get a burn, get behind it ( up wind) and work at the heal of it side to side, and then work your way around it, NEVER get in front of it!!!

Former Hotshot!

 

[CamoDeafie]

Any info on if the CL415 water bombers or the SuperTankers are being used atound the fires?

 

[Ura-Ki]

Any info on if the CL415 water bombers or the SuperTankers are being used atound the fires?

Nothing here, still just rotor wing!
I did hear both Colorado Fire and Canada are sending what ever they have, most going to Cali, but plenty here!
Haven't seen much in the way of fixed wing, other then the Piper Age Wagon conversions doing a turn and burn for fuel!
Columbia Heli, has 5 big Chinooks working east of here, but there getting fueled remotely, so not seeing them here!

 

[CamoDeafie]

It would be nice if we could get a Beriev BE-200 Altair to work the West Coast fires using the Pacific Ocean water... or at least fire suppressant stuff.

 

[Mike_M57]

Took this earlier today. It's the southern end of the Cold Springs/Pearl Hill fire that started in Omak. Taken from about 1.5 miles away, but it burned to within 1/2 mile of where I took the pic the night before.

 

[Free_Patriot]

Our air-attack has been spread too thin so local crop dusters have been commissioned for fire duty. I definitely miss the helicopters and other resources we had when fighting fires in Shasta County! Even the abundance of dozer crews would be nice...

 

[The Heretic]

Just went outside.

Wind here (Chehalem mountain ridge just north of Newberg) is strong, coming out of the northeast.

Along the ridge (about 400' above me) there is a wall of smoke several thousand feet high - probably blocked by the wind from the NE, coming up the mountain. I believe this is from the fires to the southeast. I imagine that everything south of the ridge is blanketed in this smoke.

 

[Ura-Ki]

It's full dark here now, were on level 1 evac notice at Mcnary field, just northwest of Turner, west of Aumsville!
Winds still tracking right down on top of us, highway 22! Tons of heavy ash!

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

yeah thats crazy man. i just left work. work is 4 miles away to the south and its WAAAYYY darker there than it is here at the north end of keizer.