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.
What is the risk for someone living in a city/suburb?
