today I saw crows in my son's front yard that were singed, one limping...all 3 could fly but they looked like they had survived a brutal burn somewhere....usually they are so shiny and upright...these were hunched over and looked defeated...when I get back out to my property this weekend I expect the wildlife population to have exploded....this morning I went out there and soaked my cabin with a hose....washed a ton of ash off my vehicles and picked up the mail...looks like we were spared this time...garden looks in shock as do the fruit trees...chickens still alive but have to be suffering breathing the air.
Wait, the mail still delivered in those conditions? When they say in sleet, rain, or snow, no matter what...they aren't fucking kidding
It got to Level two in my neighborhood so we decided to get out of town. The air quality map showed Hood River as still being pretty good so we booked a room there. It took us about 3 hours to get from our place in Oregon City to our room. Gridlock getting out of OC to the freeway, the usual stop and go with more stop than go on I-205, and then pretty open on I-84. We were in heavy smoke until 6 miles from Hood River, but clear air when we got here. I suspect it won’t last because the smoke was billowing up the gorge now that the east winds have died. The air tastes sweet for now so I’m celebrating that. Tomorrow is another adventure.
just looked at the weather report....looks like more of the same smoky misery thru the weekend. The smoke plume along the west coast goes out at least 500 miles so even if there was a reverse of wind direction we'd still be living in smoke. That would be better for firefighting though because a west wind would push the fire over ground that has little fuel anyway, the forecast calls for rain and showers by Monday night. Don't know how much rain but any will help the scary thing is the forecast calls for possible thunderstorms Tuesday and Tuesday night. Just what we need....more lightning
Actually the recent wind has been toward the Northwest from the Southeast for a number of these fires. In particular the Santiam and Clackamas area fires. A west wind will push the Clackamas fire across the area that has yet been spared. The one thing that would help is rain. Unfortunately Rain is still days away.
Been at level two since yesterday. There was no getting out last night because of traffic even if we planned to. Smoke is bad. Taking the animals and family to my uncles in the couv now.
Craziness. I hope y'all stay safe out there! Man, when I lived in Bend, I used to always stop off at that little store in Detroit during my travels to the coast. They had the best baked goodies! I'm now hearing that Detroit has been decimated by the fire(s)?!! So sad.
so now, Police and Sheriff departments are having to combat the loonies on social media about if antifa set some of the fires: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/police-debunk-rumor-antifa-wildfires_n_5f5b85aec5b62874bc1c1287
More fake news BS to help us all not trust anything. The real issue though? Looters. They are canvasing evacuated neighborhoods.
it's not just looters that are a problem apparently, firefighters, police, and others battling the blazes are having to deal with disaster tourists who want a first hand look at the damage while there is still all these emergency situations. These idiots need to get off the road and lay low. I understand the curiosity. I'll probably take a drive from Salem up the canyon to eyeball the devastation but that won't be till November most likely. But curiosity shouldn't overrule common sense and decency
so canby went to level 2 at 1pm yesterday and then the website had zero updates all night. I know some canby folk who drove towards the fire to figure out how far away it was and how fast it was moving to get more info to make thst decision to leave or not. Since the website wasnt updating like the day before, i could sew some people simply trying to get better info in order or make an informed decision. But ill take a tourist over a looter. Looters are creating the same issues but in an illegal and scumbag manner.
Apparently, the Governor's office kind of messed up the estimate of people forced to evacuate from their homes. The estimate released to the press of 500K, or more than 10% of the state's population seemed off to the Oregonian staff. They notified the state and eventually they released a new estimate of 40K. Still a lot, but you'd think someone would have thought, gee, 500K seems kind of high. Turns out, that's actually the number of people living in a Level 1, 2, or 3 evacuation area.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bu...fires-california-oregon-washington-2020-9?amp Trump hasn't said a word for weeks about the record-breaking fires ravaging California, Oregon, and Washington — all Democratic strongholds
