Fires In The West

[mso489]

B_rock mentioned the fires in his area around San Jose, CA. I just wrote my 'cuz and his wife south of SFran in Woodside; he's famously incommunicative, not into cementing family relations, but I'd rather send word, under the circumstances, than not. There are vast areas up and down California, into Oregon and Washington state and further east in Colorado, etc. By historical standards, the fire season has just started. I'm hoping my cousin and his wife have decamped to some safer area. sable' has mentioned the orange twilight that hangs over the L.A. area midday. How is everyone out west doing? In N.C. we recently danced with a hurricane and had a definite though minor earthquake that was strong enough to put the Dr. Grabow pipe factory out of commission, but nothing as compared to the inferno in he woods and brush areas (often inhabited) out west. I wish you safe passage in this dangerous time.

 

[scottygod]

It’s crazy. I live in the Phoenix area and while you’d think our wildfire situation would be regularly out of control, it’s nothing compared to what the Pacific states are going through. We’re getting the smoke cover here. Been orange sunrises and sunsets with hazy skies for the last several days. I hope those folks stay safe and wish them the best.

 

[jttnk]

I was in CA visiting family in Orange County and LA last weekend. It was hotter there than in AZ. My car was covered in ash. Strange. Skies here in AZ are a weird gray haze and odd lighting.

For some crazy pics, see GL Pease’s Instagram page photos. It looks like Mars. He says they are untouched images.

 

[mingc]

I am in the inner city in Portland, OR, far from any actual fires. But the word haze doesn't begin to describe the scene here. There's a yellowish gray tint to the daylight and a smoky miasma surrounding everything. I'd say visibility is maybe 200 yards or less. The Air Quality Index is currently around 300, above which the condition is "hazardous" for everyone, not just the old, young or infirmed. It's like nothing I've ever seen; it looks otherworldly. I thought of evacuating yesterday, but the closest blue sky appears more than a day's drive away. Given that the air itself might kill me, I stopped all smoking on Wednesday.

 

[mso489]

Even from people well away from the actual (monumental) fire areas, there seem to be some overt effects. Once I started to taste the laden air and feel it in my sinuses, I believe I'd lay off smoking until things got clearer. They have run short of people power to fight the fires, and exhausted the ones who showed up at first. The visuals of the forested areas and the burnt out communities are like nothing I have ever seen.

 

[peregrinus]

Air in the PNW is as bad as anywhere in the word at the moment. You can feel the air as you breathe, it’s heavy and irritating to the respiratory system, like inhaling a cigarette.
This is a daytime photo of a ferry on Puget Sound with the Space Needle in the background.

I believe I'd lay off smoking until things got clearer.

Amen

 

[mso489]

Wow. The Space Needle may be in the background, but I can't see it. ... oh yes I can, or I can imagine it anyway, a sort of vertical blur.

 

[Sonorisis]

In Tucson, our sky has been heavily overcast with smoke. The Sun barely peeks through occasionally. There's not a cloud in the sky, yet everything is in the shade of the 'fog' overhead. It is really eerie and scary. That smoke has travelled hundreds of miles to obscure our skies. I pray for a weather change soon. We have many friends in the Northwest and California who have been affected by this situation.

 

[anotherbob]

and that's what happens when you follow a policy of stopping every single burn. You get decades of fuel lying around. Hope everyone is fine, but it's going to keep getting worse.

 

[STP]

Sad, and it seems like it gets worse every year

 

[B_Rock]

B_rock mentioned the fires in his area around San Jose, CA. I just wrote my 'cuz and his wife south of SFran in Woodside; he's famously incommunicative, not into cementing family relations, but I'd rather send word, under the circumstances, than not. There are vast areas up and down California, into Oregon and Washington state and further east in Colorado, etc. By historical standards, the fire season has just started. I'm hoping my cousin and his wife have decamped to some safer area. sable' has mentioned the orange twilight that hangs over the L.A. area midday. How is everyone out west doing? In N.C. we recently danced with a hurricane and had a definite though minor earthquake that was strong enough to put the Dr. Grabow pipe factory out of commission, but nothing as compared to the inferno in he woods and brush areas (often inhabited) out west. I wish you safe passage in this dangerous time.

Mso, thanks for your concern & I hope your family is ok. The 3 big SF Bay Area fires are almost 90% contained. However, the air quality has been unhealthy for weeks. Yesterday it topped out at 221 or “very unhealthy” - which seems to be the case throughout much of CA, OR & WA.

We have a vacation house north of Napa, in Lake County, which has seen over 70% of the county burn the past 5 years, but so far has been spared the recent fires. The trouble is the fire season has just begun.

Whether it is fire suppression, more people living in wooded areas of the state, or climate change, I’ve never seen anything like this in my 61 years as a native Californian.

Between pandemic, an endless lockdown, and fires - it’s been quite a year!

 

[hairvise]

Here in San Francisco, the air quality has gone from deadly to just plain terrible. Just took a walk outside and it’s eerie out there. Some people are shopping, even sitting at outdoor restaurants having beers, but it’s a sickly feeling. All that’s missing is an earthquake.
It’s so bad, I haven’t been remotely interested in sitting in the backyard and smoking for the last five days. Well, maybe remotely isn’t exactly true, but...

HV

 

[mawnansmiff]

According to a BBC report today...

"The smoke pollution from the wildfires has left Oregon's largest city, Portland, with the worst air quality in the world, followed by San Francisco and Seattle, according to IQAir.com."

. ...this whole problem needs some serious people doing some serious thinking so as to prevent this being an annual event.

My thoughts go out to anyone suffering from this tragedy but once the dust settles, those people need to be demanding something gets done.

Regards,

Jay.?

 

[mawnansmiff]

This is an interesting article from the BBC that looks at it from several angles....

Death toll rises in US as wildfires continue in West Coast states

More than 30 people have been killed and dozens are missing in Oregon, California and Washington.

www.bbc.co.uk

....but this statement is so wrong for many reasons.....

President Trump has argued that California could prevent wildfires if it raked forest floors properly.

"You've got to clean your forests - there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they're like, so flammable," he told a rally last month. "I've been telling them this now for three years. But they don't want to listen."

.....doesn't he realise that underneath all those dead leaves is an extremely thick layer of peat made up of thousands of years of decaying leaf litter that too is highly flammable?

Regards,

Jay.?

 

[mso489]

It is incongruous to click "Like" in response to these posts, but what I mean is that I appreciate your reports on the situation from near the front lines, and I hope everyone can escape the threat and health effects. I'd "like" to hear that people are doing okay.

 

[jpmcwjr]

AQ here is terrible, and has been for three days. Being near the ocean, we are likely to clear up before the valleys and inland areas, but still.....

And even if the forest floors are clean, even if there were no peat, there will be forest fires of some magnitude every now and then, perhaps every year. I wonder if massive fire breaks would help immensely.

 

[sfduke]

Here in San Francisco, the air quality has gone from deadly to just plain terrible. Just took a walk outside and it’s eerie out there. Some people are shopping, even sitting at outdoor restaurants having beers, but it’s a sickly feeling. All that’s missing is an earthquake.
It’s so bad, I haven’t been remotely interested in sitting in the backyard and smoking for the last five days. Well, maybe remotely isn’t exactly true, but...

HV

Yup. A lot of businesses are closed the past few days since the air quality is so poor. Not ideal for outdoor only dining.

Less people than usual at the markets and shopping. Even the Muni buses were free so those can go to relief centers if needed.

Hoping those directly impacted by the number of fires stay safe. We can deal with the bad air quality.

 

[NomadOrb]

I live in the greater LA area near the Bobcat fire, and it's been pretty bad. Our air quality is terrible. I was running errands yesterday and my car got covered in ash while it was in the parking lot for only 25 minutes. Thoughts going out to the brave men and women fighting the fires.

 

[sablebrush52]

This is an interesting article from the BBC that looks at it from several angles....

Death toll rises in US as wildfires continue in West Coast states

More than 30 people have been killed and dozens are missing in Oregon, California and Washington.

www.bbc.co.uk

....but this statement is so wrong for many reasons.....

President Trump has argued that California could prevent wildfires if it raked forest floors properly.

"You've got to clean your forests - there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they're like, so flammable," he told a rally last month. "I've been telling them this now for three years. But they don't want to listen."

.....doesn't he realise that underneath all those dead leaves is an extremely thick layer of peat made up of thousands of years of decaying leaf litter that too is highly flammable?

Regards,

Jay.?

He's not entirely wrong. It's about thinning out the density of trees per acre and getting rid of a percentage of the dead material. Its not exactly raking and it doesn't guarantee that fires won't happen. However, it may make forests healthier and make fires easier to contain. California passed a bill last year to fund clearing out a million acres a year. Dry lightning storms got there first.

 

[ashdigger]

and that's what happens when you follow a policy of stopping every single burn. You get decades of fuel lying around. Hope everyone is fine, but it's going to keep getting worse.

In my library I have a book written in the 1930’s discussing this issue. I also have a book written in the 1970’s describing how the government has managed to make things worse by pouring tons of money into the problem with little to no accountability.

Negligence and corruption are the problem.

Fun fact, the environmentalists are actually the bigger problem. They’ve lobbied weak politicians into passing laws that forbid efforts to lighten underbrush fuel loads.

Choices were made. Welcome to consequences.