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This is a recap of our recent experience during the wildfires currently burning in Southern Oregon. There's much involved and I want to give an honest and accurate recounting of events, so this will probably wander a bit.
The fires actually started on July 15th due to lightning strikes and things progressed from there.
The fire we were threatened by was the Taylor Creek Fire and it's still burning, although it's being managed at this point. There were so many fires that it was included in the Garner Complex fire to more efficiently fight it and the other fires that are in the area.
However it grew so large that it was broken out into its own fire again to manage it better. As of last Tuesday, 8/13/18 the Klondike Fire & Taylor Creek Fire are over 100,000 acres.
This place is my BOL/retreat so I'm not just leaving on a whim. I've always said that the only way I'm leaving here will be because of a natural disaster or feet first.
Well, I got to test my theory and had no choice but to bug out.
We were blessed to stay with friends at their ranch and that was a good thing because there wasn't a motel room within miles. We would have been forced to camp somewhere if we could find a spot plus the fact that the smoke was horrendous. It's still bad, but not quite as bad as it was.
A lesson learned on the subject; when the budget allows we're going to buy a small travel trailer and stock it with the basics to have on standby. I bought a new truck last year to have the capability to tow, so now it's time to figure out that part and do what's next indicated.
Although we had bugout bags and we keep some things pre-loaded in the truck, we still had to grab, pack and go. The basics were already covered; the important papers and the most important stuff are always ready to go, but there was still some fumbling around before our exit.
It's also expensive! We spent a bunch of money and I can't honestly tell you where most of it went.
One of the worst issues of the entire event was the lack of timely information. Understandably things are quite fluid during an event like this but the extreme lack of info just added to the fear and frustration of a lousy situation.
We actually bugged out twice. We were able to return for a few days, but then the fire continued to blow up and we had to beat feet again for a longer period. It was an emotional roller coaster ride and by the time we were able to come home we were both mentally and physically exhausted.
Sleeping patterns are disrupted, meal times, etc, and it was tough on our pets as well.
Our cat was locked up in a bedroom for three days and then for eight days. The dog also spent way too much time in there. So although we had supplies and had prepped for their bugout, their lives got disrupted and they were stressed as well.
We keep "Rescue Remedy" on hand for them. It comes in several forms but we use the tincture for the fur family. It's actually fine for people too and so I don't mind using it for them. Its a mixture of about six herbs and it has a calming effect. We put a few drops on their tongue and in a little while they are doing better.
I will definitely devote more time and money for communications equipment and training. This was my main failure area and the most frustrating.
We have to get a solar charger or two and some other gear as yet undetermined.
I also will get some type of scanner/receiver and will look into ham and other comms asap because I only know really basic stuff.
We also tossed all the perishable food in the fridge since the power was likely to go out and I was going to kill the main anyway. *Kill the main breaker to prevent a fire during an evacuation for a fire.
Food... We did our best to save our frozen food which was mostly meats. We emptied the chest freezer and the fridge freezer and stored them in a spare freezer at the ranch where we stayed. Unfortunately that freezer didn't work and we only found out after all the food went bad. So the price of evacuating may have hidden costs although YMMV.
Garbage... There was a bunch of spoiled foods and other nasty stuff and it stewed in the dumpster for right around three weeks. So there were maggots, the stench and all that good stuff and the dumpster reeks so it's getting replaced.
Bills... The bills keep coming, but the mail doesn't necessarily get delivered to evacuation areas so getting stuff paid on time was a hassle.
There's ammunition, propane, gasoline and kerosene in some quantities and assorted other chemicals stored here that pose hazards for the firefighters, so we made sure they knew. I hated to say anything but it was the right thing to do.
I'm going to replace my PC with a laptop. It's a complete PITA to deal with a CPU for bugging out.
We need to buy ramps for the truck. I lost count of how many times I loaded and unloaded the truck and ramps would have been helpful. I'm getting too old for this.
Something that did work really well was having wheeled job boxes pre-packed with our bugout gear.
Oh yeah, there were looters. The lowest of the low taking advantage of others' misfortune. They were floating down the river past the NG checkpoints and then would hit the shore and rob the neighborhood.
There was also a number of lowlifes who actually burglarized their neighbors.
I'm going to go ahead and post this thread even though it's a pretty inadequate narrative. Hopefully if folks chime in, more information will develop and we can all learn some stuff.
I need help getting a few videos to load and will insert them here when I can >
The fires actually started on July 15th due to lightning strikes and things progressed from there.
The fire we were threatened by was the Taylor Creek Fire and it's still burning, although it's being managed at this point. There were so many fires that it was included in the Garner Complex fire to more efficiently fight it and the other fires that are in the area.
However it grew so large that it was broken out into its own fire again to manage it better. As of last Tuesday, 8/13/18 the Klondike Fire & Taylor Creek Fire are over 100,000 acres.
This place is my BOL/retreat so I'm not just leaving on a whim. I've always said that the only way I'm leaving here will be because of a natural disaster or feet first.
Well, I got to test my theory and had no choice but to bug out.
We were blessed to stay with friends at their ranch and that was a good thing because there wasn't a motel room within miles. We would have been forced to camp somewhere if we could find a spot plus the fact that the smoke was horrendous. It's still bad, but not quite as bad as it was.
A lesson learned on the subject; when the budget allows we're going to buy a small travel trailer and stock it with the basics to have on standby. I bought a new truck last year to have the capability to tow, so now it's time to figure out that part and do what's next indicated.
Although we had bugout bags and we keep some things pre-loaded in the truck, we still had to grab, pack and go. The basics were already covered; the important papers and the most important stuff are always ready to go, but there was still some fumbling around before our exit.
It's also expensive! We spent a bunch of money and I can't honestly tell you where most of it went.
One of the worst issues of the entire event was the lack of timely information. Understandably things are quite fluid during an event like this but the extreme lack of info just added to the fear and frustration of a lousy situation.
We actually bugged out twice. We were able to return for a few days, but then the fire continued to blow up and we had to beat feet again for a longer period. It was an emotional roller coaster ride and by the time we were able to come home we were both mentally and physically exhausted.
Sleeping patterns are disrupted, meal times, etc, and it was tough on our pets as well.
Our cat was locked up in a bedroom for three days and then for eight days. The dog also spent way too much time in there. So although we had supplies and had prepped for their bugout, their lives got disrupted and they were stressed as well.
We keep "Rescue Remedy" on hand for them. It comes in several forms but we use the tincture for the fur family. It's actually fine for people too and so I don't mind using it for them. Its a mixture of about six herbs and it has a calming effect. We put a few drops on their tongue and in a little while they are doing better.
I will definitely devote more time and money for communications equipment and training. This was my main failure area and the most frustrating.
We have to get a solar charger or two and some other gear as yet undetermined.
I also will get some type of scanner/receiver and will look into ham and other comms asap because I only know really basic stuff.
We also tossed all the perishable food in the fridge since the power was likely to go out and I was going to kill the main anyway. *Kill the main breaker to prevent a fire during an evacuation for a fire.
Food... We did our best to save our frozen food which was mostly meats. We emptied the chest freezer and the fridge freezer and stored them in a spare freezer at the ranch where we stayed. Unfortunately that freezer didn't work and we only found out after all the food went bad. So the price of evacuating may have hidden costs although YMMV.
Garbage... There was a bunch of spoiled foods and other nasty stuff and it stewed in the dumpster for right around three weeks. So there were maggots, the stench and all that good stuff and the dumpster reeks so it's getting replaced.
Bills... The bills keep coming, but the mail doesn't necessarily get delivered to evacuation areas so getting stuff paid on time was a hassle.
There's ammunition, propane, gasoline and kerosene in some quantities and assorted other chemicals stored here that pose hazards for the firefighters, so we made sure they knew. I hated to say anything but it was the right thing to do.
I'm going to replace my PC with a laptop. It's a complete PITA to deal with a CPU for bugging out.
We need to buy ramps for the truck. I lost count of how many times I loaded and unloaded the truck and ramps would have been helpful. I'm getting too old for this.
Something that did work really well was having wheeled job boxes pre-packed with our bugout gear.
Oh yeah, there were looters. The lowest of the low taking advantage of others' misfortune. They were floating down the river past the NG checkpoints and then would hit the shore and rob the neighborhood.
There was also a number of lowlifes who actually burglarized their neighbors.
I'm going to go ahead and post this thread even though it's a pretty inadequate narrative. Hopefully if folks chime in, more information will develop and we can all learn some stuff.
I need help getting a few videos to load and will insert them here when I can >
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