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New Fire News

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#22
C C Offline
(Sep 10, 2020 02:53 PM)Secular Sanity Wrote: "As of September 9, 2020, a total of 7,606 fires have burned 2,936,955 acres, making 2020 the largest wildfire season recorded in California history."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_wildfires


And more of the conflagration "season" awaits, to boot.

California Fires: Want to Control Blazes? Start More, Experts Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/ca...ntion.html

Which won't happen in a significant enough degree to matter: Returning to the so-called "natural" process of allowing smaller scale fires to eliminate the build-up of flammable debris. Due to the threat of litigation and being held responsible by the communities that have become entrenched in those combustible parts of the state. Populations that may replenish themselves with newcomers even as those who have "had enough" flee elsewhere.

"...too many people are moving into the wildland-urban interface, the transitional zones between denser areas of human development and vegetation, which makes them more vulnerable to damage in the event of a wildfire. The solutions to that problem, however, are as complex as the countless reasons people are moving into such areas — not least of which is the state’s housing crisis, pushing Californians farther outside of big cities."
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#23
Yazata Offline
Today things are very different than yesterday. It looks like a typical grey overcast day... except that the color isn't exactly right, more yellow than it should be but not dark like nighttime. They say that the air quality might not be any better as far as breathing goes (who does that any more in our age of coronavirus?) since the smaller amount of smoke is closer to ground level instead of up in a layer overhead.

Despite things improving somewhat, it looks like serious smoke covers all of northern California from the Oregon border to Reno and southwards.

Details on air quality all over is here

http://californiasmokeinfo.blogspot.com/

Hey, MR!

Oregon has it just as bad as California by all accounts. I hear that fires are maybe 20 miles from Portland with evacuation warnings all the way to the Portland suburbs. Big fires are burning east of Salem with many small towns evacuated (and some destroyed), firees are approaching Eugene and in southern Oregon have destroyed Talent and Phoenix (about 10.000 population between them) in between Ashland and Medford and have entered the south side of Medford where several hundred homes have burned.

Luckily only a handful of fatalities reported, since evacuation orders went out in time and were heeded.

So how are you doing where you are? Are you getting lots of smoke?

https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/information/firemap.aspx

This map has evacuation warnings and orders

https://projects.oregonlive.com/wildfires/map

Phoenix Oregon, which has largely been wiped out


[Image: EhiOJg4U8AEXkss?format=jpg&name=900x900]
[Image: EhiOJg4U8AEXkss?format=jpg&name=900x900]

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#24
Magical Realist Offline
I'm ok. I live on the southern outskirts of Portland in Milwaukie. The sky is an errie yellow but we remain ok at this point. It's tragic that so many are losing their homes. People having to move their horses and things in time. Just another day in this apocalyptic year.
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#26
Yazata Offline
I just found this photo of San Francisco that shows how dark the sky got yesterday in the middle of the day!! Somebody broke the Sun! Or else they are getting really serious about those rolling blackouts. (AP photograph by Jeff Chiu)

Where I live it never got quite that dark, but close. And never that hazy, the air was clearer.

This San Francisco scene looks less like Mars than what I'd imagine the surface of Venus looks like. The Solar System's closest approximation to Hell. (Just take this scene and add temperatures that will melt lead and sulfuric acid rain. And zombies of course...)


[Image: 1318814-11-20200910132949.jpeg]
[Image: 1318814-11-20200910132949.jpeg]



Oakland in a yellow mood

https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1303871597267353607
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#27
Yazata Offline
It looks like the majority of the land area in MR's county (Clackamas) is under a level 3 'Go Now' evacuation order. This is mostly a rural area. The exception is the northwestern Portland suburban area that includes Milwaukie. That's where most of the population is. It's at a level 1 'Be Ready' warning level.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wildfi...r-BB18WW1e

https://ccgis-mapservice.maps.arcgis.com...ccf1c84b30


[Image: EhlGypOXsAAoCUq?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]
[Image: EhlGypOXsAAoCUq?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]



Oregon has a very intuitive color-coded 'ready-set-go' warning scheme. 'Ready' level 1 (Green) means be aware there is danger in the vicinity and follow the news. 'Set' level 2 (Yellow) means get your valuables together and be ready to go at a moment's notice. And 'Go' level 3 (Red) means go right now, don't wait.

Apparently there's a small town (~3,000 people) called Estacada that's immediately threatened and has been totally evacuated. Yesterday they pulled firefighters back because it was too dangerous. I haven't been able to learn the current condition of the town. Nothing in the news about it being destroyed, so hopefully it's still there.

https://www.cityofestacada.org/cityhall/...re-updates

It also appears that a 10 PM to 6 AM curfew has been put in place countywide.

https://www.clackamas.us/news/2020-09-11...m-and-6-am
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#28
Magical Realist Offline
Thanks for the detailed info Yazata. They've designated places locally where people who have evacuated can set up their RVs or camp out. One is in a huge mall parking lot. Another is inside our convention center. I can't imagine leaving everything you own not knowing if it will be there when you get back. The tragedy of all this will only be fully known later, when the fire has burned out. Our weather has become more humid and less windy, which is good because that works against the fires. But the smoke is it's own little problem. I heard your Governor Newsom say that breathing this smokey air is like smoking 20 pks of cigarrettes. That's disturbing. As if I ever needed another reason to stay inside. The pandemic, the riots, and now this! What's next?
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#29
Yazata Offline
Here's an air quality map of the western United States. While smoke conditions have improved some in the SF bay area, Portland looks like it has the worst air quality in the US and perhaps the world. (Eat your heart out, Beijing! The US is Number One!!) The whole Willamette valley basin looks like it's filled with smoke. Lots of smoke in California's Sacramento valley too.


[Image: Ehp1JPtXsAAME6G?format=jpg&name=large]
[Image: Ehp1JPtXsAAME6G?format=jpg&name=large]


Current map of the August complex fires in SS-land is in the link below. There's links on that page to more information. You can use the drop-down menu on the upper right to find information on any of the California fires.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/55929

The pilots of that National Guard rescue mission to Mammoth Pool flew into in rugged mountain terrain with almost zero visibility and fierce fire-driven winds and updrafts. Reportedly they were told to abort the rescue as it was too dangerous to attempt in those conditions, and they said they were going in anyway as lives were depending on them. And they rescued 200+ people! Plus more in the next days in similar circumstances. And they were just personally awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the President of the United States. Not too shabby.

Cal Fire update on resources deployed statewide.


[Image: Eh49OReUYAAytmE?format=jpg&name=900x900]
[Image: Eh49OReUYAAytmE?format=jpg&name=900x900]

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#30
Magical Realist Offline
Our smoke is supposed to clear out this Thursday and Friday. Also expecting some rain this week. Most the fires are losing steam now due to humidity and even fog conditions and the hard work of the firefighters. We are encouraged. There is another side to this.
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