Taking a breath, Oregon wildfires close in.

[Louis]

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, states like CA and OR will make to address the wildfire risk in coming years.

I assume that residents will insist on some major changes, just not sure what they'll be or if people will be willing to implement or pay for them.

How willing are you to live with a non-negligible chance over a five year period that your home and everything around it, including possibly your place of work, with burn to the ground?

[joosttx]

https://youtu.be/Ym7bwWusolM


This morning the AQI is over 300.

[robt57]

Thanks all for the well wishes.

Slept in Sellwood @ friends. Was up to the house until 10:30pm.

I'd have stayed, but wife and new arrival 2 week ago of 18 mo. greyhound in Sellwood, I bolted back to exile. Across street neighbors stayed.

Seems nearest actual flames is 10 miles from house. Our house is .9 mile inside the level 3. So I can walk into level 2 in a few minutes, drive in less than 1 minute.

I think they just choose to bring the zone 3 to the main No/South road as a quick and solid deliminator frankly.

[Kirk007]

This will be a huge issue for public (and private) lands management, but it is terribly complex and traditional approaches, like forest thinning, maybe of little use (and often fall into the category of cure being as bad or worse than the problem). The sad fact is that we are living in a time of catastrophic (for humans) climate change. These fires are not the result of only fuel load (forest denisty etc) but also the climatic conditions - extreme temperatures, winds and dryness. And look at the southern Oregon fire that is inbetween Medford and Ashland (and wiped out the town of Phoenix) - its traveling right along I-5 and US. 99 - populated, developed, human occupied areas not just overgrown forests.

Fire, Hurricanes, extreme weather events in general - we are in uncharted territory.

Originally Posted by Louis

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, states like CA and OR will make to address the wildfire risk in coming years.

I assume that residents will insist on some major changes, just not sure what they'll be or if people will be willing to implement or pay for them.

How willing are you to live with a non-negligible chance over a five year period that your home and everything around it, including possibly your place of work, with burn to the ground?

[PacNW2Ford]

Air Quality Index was 292 in the south Portland 'burbs this morning. Looks like Mars. I hope John Slawta and Mike DeSalvo in Southern Oregon are okay.

[Spaceman Spiff]

It's pretty surreal right now. Piling the fires on top of the pandemic, protests, and election seems pretty unfair!

I'm a member of a Jones Bicycle group on FB. It sounds like Jeff's family, employees, and shop are safe while the rest of the Talent, OR is unrecognizable.

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by PacNW2Ford

Air Quality Index was 292 in the south Portland 'burbs this morning. Looks like Mars. I hope John Slawta and Mike DeSalvo in Southern Oregon are okay.

And the staff at Jones Bicyles, among the rest of the residents.

Several of these Oregon and Washington fire locations are current or former hometowns for people in my life. I'm feeling frustrated and sad.

[smead]

Originally Posted by Louis

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, states like CA and OR will make to address the wildfire risk in coming years.

I assume that residents will insist on some major changes, just not sure what they'll be or if people will be willing to implement or pay for them.

How willing are you to live with a non-negligible chance over a five year period that your home and everything around it, including possibly your place of work, with burn to the ground?

This isn't something you'd fix with some "changes", unless you subscribing to raking the forests like Finland does.

Anyone who buys / builds a home in a high fire risk area in today's climate better be willing to live with a good chance of seeing a fire at their doorstep.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by smead

Anyone who buys / builds a home in a high fire risk area in today's climate better be willing to live with a good chance of seeing a fire at their doorstep.

True, but we are not in such an area. The high winds we had changed up the circumstances though...

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

This will be a huge issue for public (and private) lands management, but it is terribly complex and traditional approaches, like forest thinning, maybe of little use (and often fall into the category of cure being as bad or worse than the problem). The sad fact is that we are living in a time of catastrophic (for humans) climate change. These fires are not the result of only fuel load (forest denisty etc) but also the climatic conditions - extreme temperatures, winds and dryness. And look at the southern Oregon fire that is inbetween Medford and Ashland (and wiped out the town of Phoenix) - its traveling right along I-5 and US. 99 - populated, developed, human occupied areas not just overgrown forests.

Fire, Hurricanes, extreme weather events in general - we are in uncharted territory.

Really well said Greg. And I think it should be obvious, but the impacts of climate change and these events extends far beyond the loss of structures in rural areas - lost productivity, impacts to public health (mental and physical, acute and chronic), etc. The west coast is effectively on lock-down right now and that comes at a huge cost to the economy and people's livelihoods. It also shouldn't be lost that on the heels of these fires will likely come a La Nina winter that brings massive flooding to the region.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

It also shouldn't be lost that on the heels of these fires will likely come a La Nina winter that brings massive flooding to the region.

Which the fires will make worse as they decrease soils' water rentention capacity and make soils particularly steep slopes much more susceptible to erosion.

The really scary part, to me, is that the impact on human occupied areas is no longer the xurban-wild interface but extending in other regions, as it has for a long time in Southern California, into densely populated areas.

Flooding, from seasonal rainfall and tropical storms, will continue to have major impacts and the time is coming when rebuilding in flood zones over and over again on the backs of taxpayers (federal funding) will no longer be tenable.

[2LeftCleats]

Though I’d been aware of occasional fires in OR, this has been disconcerting, considering we moved from forest in the Midwest and cringed each time tornados roared through. So far, our area is safe from actual fire that has created such horror nearby, but the smoke is awful and persistent. Hoping this cluster of fires is a rare occurrence and that OR isn’t becoming the next CA. Agree, that in addition to the pandemic, racism, healthcare, preservation of democracy, climate change, we need to put fire prevention on our “to do” list.

[robt57]

We endured Nashville Squall lines rampaging past us for 9 years. Couple tornadoes started by us swept thru and to the north on NashVegas there...

Now we got Volcano and wildfires.

And today. 19 years ago I was sitting in my living room 7 miles from the WTC FYI. Must be me.

[572cv]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Really well said Greg. And I think it should be obvious, but the impacts of climate change and these events extends far beyond the loss of structures in rural areas - lost productivity, impacts to public health (mental and physical, acute and chronic), etc. The west coast is effectively on lock-down right now and that comes at a huge cost to the economy and people's livelihoods. It also shouldn't be lost that on the heels of these fires will likely come a La Nina winter that brings massive flooding to the region.

It also seems not unreasonable to consider that we have traditional ranges for plant growth in this and other countries (Zones), and that subtle changes in the climate can change the success of the plants in zones that transition. The plants can't move. They have to adapt or die. Many, including trees, will die, providing more fuel for the fires.

In the face of proximate disaster, many forumites are making thoughtful observations which help those of us looking from afar to better grasp the intensity of the moment. My best wishes to you all.

[mdeth1313]

Originally Posted by robt57

We endured Nashville Squall lines rampaging past us for 9 years. Couple tornadoes started by us swept thru and to the north on NashVegas there...

Now we got Volcano and wildfires.

And today. 19 years ago I was sitting in my living room 7 miles from the WTC FYI. Must be me.

Wonder if we can sneak you into Moscow?