Rolling Western U.S. Is On Fire / Wildfires Thread

numerous friends who live less than an hour away have had to evacuate

all hell broke loose all over western Oregon last night and today. we are OK, but our neighborhood is thick with trees and all it would take is a power line sparking and that could change fast.

Ugh, sorry

possible water outages projected for tonight in addition to power outages, stocking up now

glad I have a serious solar array and battery backup for our freezer

sorry sleeve and Aimless, this sucks

lost power for about 10 hours last night, recently went through a very extreme and awful respiratory illness and remain in recovery for that, so sitting in a hot box terrified of the smoke with no ability to move any air around in here was a real anxiety experience i'd like to not go through again for a bit

What with huge masses of home grown smoke and more wildfire smoke able to travel down from WA and up from CA, I have the idea that when it comes to smoky air the ordeal is only beginning for most western Oregonians.

Speaking of wildfire smoke, this is a satellite photo of NW Oregon today:
https://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/download/file.php?id=76887&t=1

Sympathy for those living in the shadow of the pyrocumulus, from hurricane alley.

Daniel Swain @Weather_West is a great follow for those interested in satellite animations of this.

hmm yes that particular satellite image probably came from either NASA's MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Aqua or Terra satellites. I do believe one of the two recently came back online. The image would be preferable if the heat-sensitive filters had been applied, but I understand Aimless is more of a humanities major. One would have to wonder what the post-burn EVI or NDVI value differential would be for the affected AOI...

wait is burrito outing himself as a Sanpaku sock

FUCK forgot to change usernames

Burrito already outed as dusty crophopper upthread

no, you're that, what I am is the Cheech Marin car from Cars (2006), which btw is "Ramone," a 1959 Chevrolet Impala Lowrider, which btw is racist

this is the pixar content the board craves

best wishes to everybody in the path of this horribleness <3

@AlmightyAcey's photos are surreal

the northeast part of Sierra Madre here (along with all the other foothill cities) just went to voluntary evacuation - apparently they're expecting a wind shift on the Bobcat Fire in a day or two. Fingers crossed for everyone.

I know we keep using the word "apocalyptic" but here's some truly terrifying footage of the Bear Fire near Chico, which was reported at ~12,000 acres last night and has exploded overnight to over 250,000 acres. Just unfathomable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvyhWTjk6Qw

According to a press conference with the Oregon governor and top officials, they barely have the resources to manage orderly evacuations and try to keep people's houses from burning down (if that). Several hundred thousand people are under some level of Evacuation Alert and many thousands have already been given Level 3 notices and been directed to evacuation checkpoints. More than one small town has been largely destroyed along a 50 MILE LONG fire zone along highway 22.

My entire county (third most populated in Oregon) is under Level 1, 2, or 3. We're at level 1 and probably (?) ok. But it's anxious.

Christ. Good luck.

well I pulled two crates of LPs out of 4000 to take with me, working on a box of 45s now

I hear the wind is reversing tomorrow in Lane County, good news

thinking of you all. this is hellish.

<3 to all. I lived in Eugene for 3 years and just now scanning headlines in the R-G, I felt sick to my stomach, so many places that mean a lot to me in trouble, evacuating, or under threat

next year, when it's time to get back out into the forests and mountains around here, there will be a time to do some grieving about all the beautiful natural places that will have been reduced to charcoal. meanwhile, this is a human catastrophe and that is dominating the foreground of most of our thoughts.

Thinking of all who are evacuating and all who've lost family and homes...

My old place of work in the Southern Humboldt hills (iykwim) evacuated today. Some of the most beautiful country I've ever had the pleasure of living and working in. I really hope the place gets spared.

My daughter's group home is currently in Level 2 and in the process of evacuating. As luck would have it, there is an empty group home they will be able to move into, outside the evacuation zone. It was all prepared to get up and running as a new group home when the covid-19 lockdown started and all new admissions and transfers were cancelled until further notice.

My stomach is churning, in spite of knowing she will be safe. My emotions don't know it even though my intellect is pretty certain.

btw, our home is still in a level 1 zone. Yesterday we identified some possible friends and family who'd take us in if necessary. The 'natural' winds have died down quite a bit, but big fires can create their own winds.

Ugh, that's a lot. Hope the wind stays on your side.

reports of gun battles between residents and looters in the Blue River area, Route 126 in Oregon

Glad to hear your family is safe for the moment, Aimless

thinking of you Aimless, and all ilxors near danger

take care Aimless ♥️

sounds really difficult Aimless and sleeve, hope you will be ok

Echoing all the above good wishes. The air may be thick right now in SF but that's nothing like what you're both facing.

Aw shit. Went level 2 a couple minutes ago. Bye for now.

oh man, yeah head out

Hoping best for you, aimless, and others in the thick of it.

Whew! False alarm! I heard the phone broadcasting the "alert" klaxon sound, glanced at the text and didn't absorb the full message beyond "Level 2 alert BE SET to go..."
If I'd been calmer I'd've seen that it applied to an area 12 miles south of here.

Stay safe friends

12 miles isn't far :(
good wishes, all

I just spent the morning running masking tape over all of my house's door and window seams (including the front door) to keep out the smell of smoke.

Hope all in any potential fire paths are ok!

today in Oregon:

Big takeaways from Oregon Governor Kate Brown's presser:
- Salem-area fires are expected to merge.
- evacs in Portland metro is possible as early as Sunday
- decent # of ppl fighting fires are students
- we need MIN 2x the ppl power
- have requested aid from DoD
- WH hasn’t returned the Governor's call
-Fires in Clackamas county merged, and Portland is “on alert”
- Oregon Convention Center is open for evacuees
-ppl with RVs go to Portland International Airport
-Senator Merkley has been calling WH “multiple times a day”
-Rep. DeFazio says WH signed Emergency Order
-10% of pop evacuated and may rise to 35% before it's over
-Do not breathe air outdoors in Portland and Willamette Valley

In other words, things are looking great!

has the WH returned Merkley's calls, at least? or neither Merkley nor the governor? jfc

nothing, not a fucking thing.

last time washington voted for a republican president: 1984
oregon: 1984
california: 1988

is idaho (R for every election since 1964) getting their calls returned?

my place smells like smoke, AQI here is about 300. i've alluded elsewhere but never been too specific about it: a couple months back i survived and am obviously still dealing with a whole cascade of pulmonary embolisms -- the upper lobe of my right lung is a goner due to related infarction -- so my lungs are not in great shape to say the least.

when i got home from the hospital i remember saying aloud "hope the wildfires aren't bad this year! not sure i could handle that!" so yeah.

oh man, dude. idk if I can do anything from Eugene but my ILXmail does work if you need anything.

we also have spare bedrooms fwiw

yeah that completely sucks, clay. :(