Big Fires in Oregon

Fires in the vicinity of Wildcat Autowreaking. Hope everything is ok. Also in the Medford area. Hoffman’s Winner Circle.

I used to live in Medford. Had fires there one year that turned the sky yellow and orange for days. Ash dust all over everything. It was terrible.

I think Wildcat is in Sandy, OR, east of Portland.

Lots of places burnt so far. Looks like multiple cities have been burned out by the fires. Very heavy smoke where I live at the moment but wind is supposed to shift in the next 24 hours. Heavy evacuations going on right now on the other side of the river.

Stay safe!!!

Closest i have ever gotten was when I was in Vail last weekend. On Labor Day there was enough fire smoke I couldn't see the trees on the surrounding mountains when I was in Breckenridge from the fires in that area

So far most of the Southern Oregon fires are at 0% containment. A good amount of local resources were deployed to the California fires however now that the crews are returning home things should get sorted out. In this area most of the small businesses either a) have a water wagon/fire truck or b) contract a wildland fire truck to watch their business. Hopefully all of the local businesses were on top of that. We have had two 1000 gallon water tenders parked at each end of the property and fire lines rolled out for a while now. It's a shame to see people lose everything especially knowing that the insurance won't cover most of the losses.

Southern Oregon Fire Aftermath

It will be along road to help these folks rebuild their community.

You stay safe Andy

No shortage of smoke in the air in Medford.

http://localcitycams.com/cams/u-s-city-cams/oregon-cams/or-medford/

Todd Hoffman says the fire was within 5 miles of his place before the fire crews stopped it. He said his cousin lost his house in the fire.

The smoke here is really bad, worst than I saw while living in SO CA for over 50 yrs.
I live about three miles south of the south city limits of Bend, OR at 4300 ft. altitude in the Deschutes River Woods area.
This pictures is of the side road besides my house, the last big tree (edited, on the right side of the road) you can see is about 125 yards (less than 500 Ft.) down that road
No racing today due to this smoky conditions and smell of burnt wood, not worth going out in it
Hopefully it will get better soon

All that smoke is up here today and bad.

Wow, that’s close. Does he live close to his mom and dads place?

Current view from my back yard. “hazardous” air quality.

It’s pretty bad. At least my house still stands. Lost over 600(I think that’s what I read) structures in the area already due to the Alameda Fire.

Keeping our fingers crossed for you.

Huge smoke clouds easily visible from Space

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/conus_band.php?sat=G16&band=GEOCOLOR&length=48

Note how the smoke from California is being pulled way East
into the classic “comma shaped” storm moving East from the center of the USA.
This is the storm that earlier caused the snow in Colorado.

Smoky as hell in Central Washington. Visibility maybe 1/2 mile, and I mean you can’t see ANYTHING past that.

It's now pretty smoky here too. Sun is orange/red instead of light yellow. It doesn't smell like smoke, but the sky is definitely dirty.


Edit: went back outside and it does smell a little. Not choke you out bad, but not healthy I'm sure.

I got caught in the middle of the Florida wild fires years ago and it's hard to explain after weeks the toil the smoke and ash in the air as thick as a heavy fog and the constant smell of burning wood takes on you. We were in a heavily wooded area and heard what we though were bulldozers coming to cut a fire block. Little did we know they had given up doing that because the fire was too large for it to help. The noise was the fire itself. The choppers came in and dumped water on the houses to save them. Until you experience it you won't believe the wind and power these fires create.

These fires were way worse than usual. This youtube vid is interesting.
Clackamas County leadership

You can thank ANTIFA for that.

Still just as smokey.

They updated the count from last weeks fire that took “600” homes.

The camp fire in Paradise resulted in 11,000 homes destroyed (19,000 structures) a year later 11 (less than one dozen) had been rebuilt.
Lets hope the homes can get through the insurance and permit process quicker. People need to be in their homes.
One thing I've learned after being involved in fire and reconstruction is that haz mat has to excavate the site of homes because of all the noxious compounds in the ash. Then there is the problem of what was permitted, and what was illegally constructed or added on. Also codes have changed and unless people pay for a rider for that, and construction cost index there is a good chance their insurance will not replace what they lost.

Paradise is a mess, with no end in sight anytime soon.

Yeah hard to see why that place would be rebuilt. Same with some of the places in Oregon that are gone. They just existed because they existed but once they are wiped out there isn't really a good reason for a town there anymore. Detroit will be rebuilt since it sits on a lake and has a marina but some of the other little towns were just wide spots on the highway. Years ago they were built around mills but the mills shut down and most of the people left. Before the fire some of the towns just had a few folks living in older houses or trailers.