Fire Season - What is your plan?

[UnionMillsNW]

Howdy Folks,

As I write I'm looking out over several large plumes of smoke coming up East of Salem. This is fire season and it can get pretty dicey out there. This is a good time to have the family discussion about what to do when you have to leave in a hurry.

What if you have 5 minutes to leave?
What about 30 minutes?
How about an hour?

What do you grab?

For those with homes don't forget to check your defensible space.
Be safe!

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[No_Regerts]

5 minutes? Just my family and our go-box of essential documents. Try to remember to grab the chainsaw and a tow chain. Turn the sprinklers on the way out.

30 minutes? Same as before, but I'd hope to beat traffic.

An hour? Same as before but I might grab some non-replaceable sentimental items.

 

[slimmer13]

5 min, us, documents/external hard drives, dogs, a pistol and some cash.

30, above, plus a bag for each of us, laptop, some guns.

60, above plus hook up the trailer with the quad/gen set and maybe some camping gear.

 

[The Heretic]

Pray for rain?

It is trying to sprinkle up here tonight, maybe showers tomorrow morning.

Beyond that, the same thing I do most every year; make a firebreak around the house, mostly by mowing the tall grass. Spent most of the past week doing just that, for the second time this year.



The nice thing about that is that where I mowed earlier in the year, the grass is much greener than where I didn't mow. Obviously, green grass is wetter and more resistant to burning than dry grass. The deer seem to prefer it too.

 

[The Heretic]

The sprinkler sounds like a good idea.

I got up on the roof several times in the past month and knocked a bunch of moss and conifer needles off. I also pressure washed much of the shop roof which had no moss, but a bunch of needles.

 

[The Heretic]

There is fire retardant that you can buy to spray your house with as a last resort.

Also, there is fire retardant you can add to paint. I've been planning on repainting my decks this summer. Not sure if I will get around to it though. I certainly need to replace some of the decking on the big deck.

 

[UnionMillsNW]

The sprinkler sounds like a good idea.

I got up on the roof several times in the past month and knocked a bunch of moss and conifer needles off. I also pressure washed much of the shop roof which had no moss, but a bunch of needles.

A good way to get rid of moss is fill a pump sprayer with white vinegar and let them have a few spritzes on a dry day. It will kill the moss at the root and a broom can handle the rest.

 

[The Heretic]

A good way to get rid of moss is fill a pump sprayer with white vinegar and let them have a few spritzes on a dry day. It will kill the moss at the root and a broom can handle the rest.

I sprayed it all with some moss killing liquid. It isn't so much that the moss is alive, it is that there were huge clumps of it that I needed to brush off the roof. I got the south side good, but the north side has a lot more and the stiff broom I have really isn't doing the job, even though the moss is dead. I got the worst of it off though - the big clumps.

Not my favorite thing to do; I don't like heights at all.

 

[P7M13]

Howdy Folks,

As I write I'm looking out over several large plumes of smoke coming up East of Salem. This is fire season and it can get pretty dicey out there. This is a good time to have the family discussion about what to do when you have to leave in a hurry.

What if you have 5 minutes to leave?
What about 30 minutes?
How about an hour?

What do you grab?

For those with homes don't forget to check your defensible space.
Be safe! View attachment 738279

That looks like the seed grass fires every August. Might even be Derfler farms, etc.
Kentucky Blue goes to seed when scorched.

 

[The Heretic]

 

[The Heretic]

It is raining here. Not hard, but maybe enough.

It has been awful dry. I hope we get enough rain to green things up. A lot of my plants are wilting.

Edited: It seemed to have rained enough to get everything wet. Humidity is 99% too. So that is good and it should cool things down too. Cloudy/overcast, but that is thin and will probably burn off as the day progresses.

 

[The Heretic]

My plan is to avoid anything that would cause this:



Creek Fire - Fresno County, CA

 

[The Heretic]

Fires, drought, riots, crime, taxes, onerous gun laws, over-crowding, high real estate prices and rents, rolling blackouts.

Yup, California is a "paradise".

 

[JRuby]

It will be interesting to see how this impacts deer season

 

[The Heretic]

High Wind Warnings run from the coast all the way into the Cascades, from Monday evening into early Tuesday afternoon. Much of the Willamette Valley will experience 15-30 mph east winds later today, with widespread gusts in the metro area from 40-55 mph. Those gusts could be even stronger in the West Hills and areas east of PDX.

The wind, which could knock down tree limbs and power lines, combined with low humidity and dry fuel conditions has Red Flag Warnings for critical fire danger in place across much of Oregon and Washington, running from today through Wednesday.

Many counties have burn bans in effect.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Theres a wildfire going on near Mt Jefferson, so we are seeing and smelling the smoke from that in the central valley here.

 

[Pete F]

I was just outside, St Helens, looking for the last cat to get indoors. I was using my Stanley 500 lumen spotlight and could see light ash raining down. Not a good sign.

Anyone burning outdoors should be shot, but thanks for the reminder @The Heretic

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

its pretty smokey here

 

[Rem700..300]

Real bad in Albany, Weyerhauser is shutting down all lease and permit areas at Midnight according to the email I recieved.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

157 air quality index here. "unhealthy"