Fire

[Tin-knocker]

Yes please post pics.
Today I was working with a friend from Boulder Creek. A month ago there were 600 residences on their water system. Today there are only 30. Fortunately his house did not burn.

Thanks, Bill

I didn’t take as many pictures as I should’ve but in my defense I was kinda busy. The last pic is my house. Still standing. Thank god. Worked our asses off to keep it that way.

 

[Tin-knocker]

If anyone has time I would really appreciate if you passed this along. My two neighbors lost their houses and could use a hand getting back on their feet.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/swanton-fire-reliefhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/nef-and-homegrown-surfboards-fire-fund

 

[Hddnis]

Heard from one friend in Oregon and his house was the only one left standing on his street in Detroit.

Another friend wasn't so lucky, we know his house and shop are gone, but so far no one has heard from him. I'm not too worried yet. He is most likely really busy helping out other people, that is just who he is.

Some other friends lost their cabin on the N. Fork, according to a neighbor, they have not been out to confirm yet, but that whole canyon burned really hot.

 

[bfrazier]

The whole west is a **** show. My kid just got pulled from Kalifornia, to go back to Idaho, because there are no resources. He is headed to Cambridge, Idaho. Oregon, Kalifornia and Washington are all on fire. At least one small town in eastern Washington, has been 80 percent burned down.
If you are going to live in the forest, CUT A DAMNED FIRE BREAK!

Firebreak, Orygun style:

 

[northmanlogging]

doo doo doo lookin out my front door

5 pm, should be blinding and bright

note: no filters used, nearest fire is 40+ miles away

 

[Hddnis]

Air smells like smouldering campfires, burned houses, and burned animals.

 

[slowp]

The fried internet cables and tower have been repaired. Now we need to get everyone to turn on their leaf blowers in unison and blow out the smoke.
The air quality in my area today.

I'm thinking it may be just a smidgeon better than it was yesterday, but not much. Cough cough. At least I'm not horking up the black stuff.

Bill, I've read where homes are saved when people stay behind. Apparently if you can douse the embers and keep an eye on the hidey holes houses have, you might be able to save your house. The other day, when our fire jumped the river, I was kind of starting the gathering up to evacuate process. I was having a debate about staying or going in my head. Fortunately, the little SEAT planes and engine crews controlled the spot fire.

Nebraska person: Most of the west sides of Oregon and Washington are or have been forest land. When the wind is howling and fire is running, you can't have a big enough fire line. In my part of the PNW, the fire was a brush fire. We had 50mph gusts. The fire jumped a really big fireline called the Columbia River. All you can do when the wind is blowing is get out of the way of the fire--run away. Now, imagine a 160 foot tall tree with the crown on fire (torching) in the same wind. A firebreak isn't going to stop it. You get out of the way, then return afterwards to mop up.

The western valleys of Oregon and Washington don't burn frequently--maybe 300 years or so. The catastrophic blazes occur when the east winds blow down through the valleys. That's a nervous time to be living there. That's also what caused the areas to be covered in Douglas-fir. It likes to start in openings and is an early seral species. You might say that much of the West Side is a fire dependent ecosystem--with a reduced frequency of fire than dryer areas.

Trivia: I was reading an account from the 1860s about a coastal tribe lighting a fire to burn out an enemy tribe but the fire got bigger than planned and took off.

Anyway, hope everybody stays safe and healthy out there.

 

[slowp]

Small wonder the air has been absolutely crappy recently. Don't know how folks can work the lines with temps over 100° and air so thick with smoke.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147250/a-smoky-inferno

You can when you are young..... and stupid. It's all about making that hazard pay and overtime!

Take care.

 

[catbuster]

Small wonder the air has been absolutely crappy recently. Don't know how folks can work the lines with temps over 100° and air so thick with smoke.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147250/a-smoky-inferno

Hand crews have it hard... But it’s not all that hard in this:

Downshot is that I can’t get a lot of places they can, wherever I go I **** things up pretty bad. That machine is pretty small in comparison to a lot of the west coast Cats where the “big” 6 (H,R,T series), 7 & 8s are common.

I commend everyone, especially the hand and engine crews working out west this year. I’ve not worked out west since 2018, which was the worst season on record for California at the time. This year has been worse and Oregon & Washington are burning.

Stay safe & best of luck,

R8 contract HEQB.

 

[slowp]

Firebreak, Orygun style:
View attachment 854321

Not really. Not unless the slash has been burned. Was on a fire years ago out of Enumclaw, WA. That fire would take off in the recent clearcuts and the little seedlings fried. Weyco, I think, yarded out the bigger slash but left the limbs that could be planted through in the unit. After the fire went through, the ground was black with little black sticks (seedlings) sticking up throughout. When that fire burned into the blocks of federal land, which had not been cut, it died down a bit. Just a bit. Then it would spot into another Weyco unit and take off.

A yarder covered in retardent is a sad sight to see, but better than a burned up one.

That's my take from that particular fire. I was an engine slug and we worked with a team of fallers. They cut and we drowned the flames that shot out of their stumps.

 

[bfrazier]

Oddly enough our high temperatures in Cottage Grove Oregon have been 64, with lows in the 40's! Weatherman say's "It's going to be 85, and NOPE. Even a little cooler than that up where I am, with air quality as poor as 800+. I guess this is what a nuclear winter, or a volcano would do.

The sky remains a deep orange, and it is as still out as I can ever recall, morning, noon and night, with just a fine drizzle of ash now for the last few days. The sun can't get to the ground - it's pretty weird, something we've never seen here before anyways. Good firefighting weather, if you can chew your way through the air.

H pay? Yeah, just for taking a breath! Can 2020 get any more F'ed up?

 

[Hddnis]

My two year old son pointed up at the sky towards the sun, which shown as a big red orb through the smoke, and said "Is that the moon or the sun, daddy?"

I said "That's the sun."

He said "Not the moon?"

I said "Not the moon, the sun."

He said "Oh, well, the sun is trying to moon me."

 

[2dogs]

Patty you are correct, several people stayed and fought the fire and saved their home. While the big news should be that we lost over 950 single family residences more coverage is given to the few people who refused to evacuate. It is still early but I expect to read how the fire agencies are to blame (along with Law) for the damage. There are MANY residents who claim to be joining the already present law suits. Lawyers and insurance adjusters are advertising locally. Many residents who lost their homes express no gratitude put forth to try and save their home but scream into the news cameras that they "will never evacuate again". I see this as suicide. We have tall trees.

Cal Fire is accused of trying to cover up their "anemic" response of the first 24 hours. (Of course there are claims that the government is using directed energy weapons to start all these fires. After all this is California).

Incidentally residents are not allowed to haul fire debris to the dump without the proper paper work. An inspection by "state and local" agencies must be performed to search for hazardous materials (no warrant needed). The County will not consider any building permit applications without this paper work, nor will financial aid requests etc be processed.

My friend lived in a HOA that is also their own private water system. Before the fire there were 600 taps. There are only 30 left! His house survived.

 

[Hddnis]

Stand and fight the fires is a great idea if you have a comprehensive plan ahead of time. Death wish otherwise.

A garden hose on a well run by electricity is not a plan.

Cleared and maintained defensible space is a must. Large supply of water and at least two pumps, got to have a back up.

Simple truth is there are very few fire fighters and fires are big. If a person prepares they can save what they have. Relying on government gets less attractive every year.

It is impossible to get insurance in many places and that list just got a lot bigger, you can't tell yourself "Well, it's insured, I can build new."

 

[2dogs]

To follow up on my post from a few days ago residents are not allowed to disturb what is left of their home. The County is requiring a hazardous material inspection of every property. They say that federal, state, and local inspectors will be available at no charge but I cant tell if each agency must inspect or any agency may inspect. I don't know how a little fire district can be considered an expert in the field of hazardous building materials. Any home that burned but was painted in years past with lead paint is considered a hazmat incident. ALL the debris from that house will have to be sent to a hazardous waste facility. I don't know how much that will cost but I imagine quite a bit.

While residents are not allowed to disturb the ashes of any structure there are businesses selling and non-profits giving out sifters so people can search for items that may have survived the fire. More than 950 single family dwelling burned and about 500 other buildings burned as well.

Quite a bit of media and social media is give to the upcoming winter and the danger of debris flows. This is a good thing.

 

[2dogs]

I read this morning that the permit price here is $75,000-$100,00! Just for paperwork!

 

[Hddnis]

When my wife's family was rebuilding after the Tubbs fire they ran into that. Their insurance paid for everything, but it seemed insane to me to pay that much to get permission to rebuild a house using the exact same floor plan. They had to evacuate again this year, for a couple days it looked like they might lose their brand new home. I heard they can't get insurance that covers wildfires this time.

California, as a state, is self-destrucing. Really sad to watch. I'd live down there if it wasn't so crazy, love the countryside in N. Cal. People aren't too bad either outside the cities.

 

[2dogs]

Hddnis in case you are unaware the Latin translation of California is spend-tax-regulate.

 

[Hddnis]

Hddnis in case you are unaware the Latin translation of California is spend-tax-regulate.

Ain't that the truth.

Everywhere else is trying to copy them like it's a good idea or something.

Freaking Gov. Small here in Idaho thinks he's some bigshot dictator. Oh, well, we ignore him and carry on.

 

[TBS]

Got back to our place today, made a special trip to clean out the fridge which luckily wasn't horrible . It was pretty surreal standing in an area that looked like nothing happened for 33 years but knowing just past the ridge line most every home is gone.