Oregon Fires

[IdahoElk]

How are you guys doing?

 

[roosiebull]

i can only comment on the echo mtn and kimberling mtn fires (central coast) because they are just behind me. the echo mtn fire was the one that got us evacuated, it was just over the ridge and coming right to us.

i have never really considered being threatened by wildfire here on the coast, and this past week has been eye opening. it's freaking crazy seeing how much chaos these fires caused and how small scale they were compared to many others burning right now.

things are improving, that east wind finally let up and switched, and now we have light sw wind with moisture in the air. we came home yesterday. there was still zero containment yesterday morning, but it was mainly staying within it's borders and turned into a ground fire.... there were a few ugly days of it spreading like crazy, going from 200 acres to 2000 acres over night.

i think the 3rd morning it got really ugly moving into lincoln city (the town i live by and one of the biggest towns on the coast) and most of the whole city was evacuated, the hwy was closed, and there was really no communication because power and cell service was all down.... not only was it worse that morning than anyone could have guessed, but there was a flood of lies being spread as news and passed on as truth.

i think that night the wind finally let up, but it was still bone dry east wind, and we finally got a wildland crew on our fires. the fire was still spreading, but not at such a rapid rate. our fire crews were totally unprepared for what happened (we all were) stuff like this doesn't happen around here, but it was a rare perfect storm and it happened.... and will forever change protocol.

i had a bunch of friends who lost everything, you don't realize how devastating fire can be until you are involved in it. my wife opened her business yesterday finally (power was restored to lincoln city) and she came home frazzled, they are taking donations and helping as many people as they can rather than run her actual business... she is open to donate to those effected, and she said it was devastating seeing all of the people who lost everything, many without insurance.

a good friend of mine (we were hunting every day prior to this) is a sheriff, and he has been run ragged, and he was my only source of real information through this whole deal, he was on scene the whole time. he has been in law enforcement for almost 20yrs since we graduated HS and this seems like it was the hardest thing he has done in his career.... it's a small town, and he watched a lot of devastation happen to people he knows, and some family, and was not prepared for the few days he had..... we were walking into the woods on Sunday (chaos broke out that night around midnight) and we planned on hunting the next morning, and were talking about this "storm" being over hyped. we see lots of big wind here, but never out of the east making everything bone dry instantly, and we never expected this.

he is still working non stop, because we now have a big problem with looters, and there are still many places evacuated because the fire is still very active. people are sneaking into the evacuated areas and looting (talk about dirt bags)

the past 2 mornings have been cool and damp, rain starts tomorrow, so things are looking way better here. the other fires in the state are getting some relief as well, due to the shift in wind, and a more normal weather pattern with moisture in the air. i had a few friends who were evacuated in other parts of the state too..... complete chaos with that big easterly storm. i'm hoping things will be better in the next few days everywhere.

i feel for those who lost their homes, bums me out thinking about it. i was in a scramble a couple days rescuing things from my freezers, plus i had my bull that wasn't processed yet (luckily it wasn't and in my freezers) i was scrounging up as much ice as i could find, and have a big insulated tote, and everything turned out fine with my bull.

we got lucky here, all i grabbed was my guns and bows, living essentials and food i had to rescue.. i had everything else sitting here, including my 2 boats, one being a brand new drift boat that hasn't even been put in the water yet.... it was looking bad here for a while, but it worked out.

at my sis in law's, we had 19 dogs (6 are ours) and 26 horses we had to rescue from the fire zone, luckily we were able to, we tried earlier the one day but couldn't get to the horses and thought they may have been lost. that fire spread crazy fast, and we were severely under gunned as far as people fighting it.

a really good friend of mine who is a fishing guide somehow still has a house, he was right in the chaos zone, and there were 4 homes in this whole area that stayed standing, his being one. his wood pile next to his house burned, but his house didn't.... so lucky.

him and a couple other friends showed their true colors coming to help me out when there was no communication, helping move stuff, bringing me ice, and just showing up unannounced when they had their own issues. one of those friends was running around neighborhoods around me cutting trees out of the road so people could get out.

things like this you get to see people's true colors, how people step up and help out.... that part was pretty awesome, and it shows who your true friends are, and why.

praying these fires get under control soon, i feel terrible for those effected. i could have got more stuff out of my house but i just couldn't really care about my "things" with all of the stuff going on around me. certainly gave me a perspective i have never had.

the good people stepped up and helped (and still helping) and the dirt bags stooped to new lows and showed their true colors too. i'll keep praying for the folks around the other fires, and really hope loss is minimal. the conditions have greatly improved thankfully.... a couple more days of that dry east wind would have been catastrophic.... while for some it still was.

this will surely change future protocol in the type of conditions we had. had power been cut that first night, most, if not all of the chaos could have been avoided.... i don't blame that on anyone, it's just a thought in hindsight.... nobody expected this.

a few people have been arrested across the state for intentionally lighting fires the past week.... what the hell is wrong with people??!!

the echo mtn fire was at 0% containment until last night when it was reported to be 15% contained

 

[Elkdreamer]

I was typing a response and realized it made me sound like a whiny over deserving jerk.

My family and friends are all doing good. We are very lucky. Thanks for asking.

Many cannot say that. My prayers go out to them.

Here is a pic of my backyard. There is a creek and big trees about 125 yards out.

 

[spike camp]

Roosie- Curious, What did you mean by this?:
had power been cut that first night, most, if not all of the chaos could have been avoided

 

[Tmac]

I’m south of Portland. In this area the fire in the Santiam Canyon is now less of a threat for small towns to the west, Stayton etc. Towns to the east were devastated, Detroit, Mehama, Mill City, Etc.... Further north the situation is fluid, Estacada/Oregon City, but it did improve today. It’s been very bad. Had to evacuate my Mom, my bil lost his home, my grandkids may have lost theirs, we don’t know yet. There has been loss of life, but we have all been OK so far. Nothing like this since the 30‘s is what a few old timers are saying.

Had the east wind not stopped, it would have been much worse. I heard a report that 10% of the population was given evacuation notices, 500k people. It impacted some of the Portland metro area outlying areas, if it had gone another few miles I’m sure over 1mm would have been given notices. It’s far from over, but improving here now, which is good.

 

[scp]

So many prayers for so many of you affected by all of this. Heartbreaking.

 

[elkguide]

So sorry to for all of the losses.
My son lives in Oregon and the photos that he sent of some of the smoke and devastation around them are heart wrenching.
Prayers for all.

 

[spike camp]

Roosie- Curious, What did you mean by this?:
had power been cut that first night, most, if not all of the chaos could have been avoided

Also, are the causes of these fires known?

 

[roosiebull]

Roosie- Curious, What did you mean by this?:
had power been cut that first night, most, if not all of the chaos could have been avoided

it was trees falling and downed power lines initially starting the fires... had the power been cut, most of the fires would not have been started.... once they did, it was too late

 

[oakdeiros80]

Also, are the causes of these fires known?

I’ve heard about 90 percent are human-caused, but the wild rumors of widespread arson and Antifa are totally unfounded according to officials. In California, a lot of fires were caused by lightning, but many were human-caused. From what I hear, most are accidents and negligence. Only a few cases of known arson out of hundreds of fires (Dolan fire in Big Sur being one of them—that dirt bag is behind bars), but not politically motivated according to investigators.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[IdahoElk]

Prayers sent to you guy’s, we have gone through fires here a fraction of what you’re going through and it was about all our valley could handle, stress factor was off the charts, hope you all stay safe.

 

[TripleJ]

If you had told me 1 or 2 weeks ago that my house would be threatened by a wildfire I would have thought that you were a crazy person. I don’t live on the coast like Roosie, but it’s not like we live in an area where fires are ever a threat. Things are definitely looking up for us. I know our house is still standing and we may be able to even go back for a bit today to try and clean up the freezer / fridge messes that I know await us. We have been downgraded to a level 2 evacuation zone as of about an hour ago, but there isn’t any power yet and they are saying any trips in should be short and only to grab any items from your house you might need. The fire is currently up on the ridge at the head wall of the little valley we live in, about 4-5 miles away, but winds are pretty light today. We are the lucky ones. There is total devastation upriver in the little towns 15-20 miles away from us. These are places I have been going my whole life fishing, hunting, and camping. They will never be the same in my lifetime. We have a house still standing, our health, and my parents are putting us up at their place. I was even able to get all my guns and animal mounts out. My only inconvenience is that I am not elk hunting right now. My buddy and I cut our trip short and rushed back across the state when this all broke out. But that is fine. I will hopefully be able to make it out here in the last 2 weeks at some time, providing we can get back into our house. My heart goes out to those that have lost everything they own. Those stories are everywhere around this state right now. Even worse are those that have lost loved ones. My fear is that there has been a lot more loss of life then they have been saying up to this point. They said on the county sheriff news conference last night that they had brought in an 80 person urban search/rescue team from Washington to assist in locating and recovering the casualties upriver from where I live. That breaks my heart.

 

[slvrslngr]

Glad to hear you guys are ok, roosiebull and tripleJ. I’ve got family and friends in the affected areas of Oregon and luckily they’re all ok as well. It’s making me sick to sit here 4000 miles away and not able to help.

 

[CRUN]

We live in Eagle Creek, between Estacada and Sandy and we have been evacuated since Wednesday and have had no power since last Monday. I believe our home will be ok, sounds like the Riverside Fire has been been stopped outside of Estacada, air quality and visibility is still very bad but I’m going back home tomorrow even if we have no power.

 

[trazerr]

We cut our eastern Oregon archery elk trip short as my father, hunting buddy, and myself all live up and down the valley. Dad took hwy 58 home, I took 26, and my buddy went center via 20. We all had bad smoke for 5.5hrs straight pretty much. I had just gone through Mill City, Detroit, Idanha, etc to get over to camp a few days before this all started, too. Now they are all burned pretty good. Crazy how quickly it all happened. We found cell service a few days into our hunt and texted home. At first we thought all of our wives had lost it as the largest fire in Oregon by far was even east of where we were (it was when we left). I got enough bars to get on google and couldn't believe it. Now it looks like the rain forecast has been pushed to Thursday instead of tomorrow. Also showing some thunderstorms now... We really need a lot of rain as every single big fire in the state is only 0-5% contained.

 

[trazerr]

Couple pics from the drive home.


At times I couldn’t see headlights until they were less than 100 yards away. Even then they were just tiny hazy dots. Just insane how quickly it all blew up.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

it was trees falling and downed power lines initially starting the fires... had the power been cut, most of the fires would not have been started.... once they did, it was too late

I'm in Western WA. As soon as I saw that the East winds were coming my first worry was active power lines falling and potentially starting fires... It's pretty common sense, especially after the giant NorCal fires a few years ago, but apparently the PUD's are still completely asinine or too greedy to not cut power when conditions are like this. I feel for you guys down there.

 

[Elkdreamer]

I feel it is pretty hard to cut power. People would be pissed. Hope this shows them something new.

My mom lives in trees with no perimeter. She does not have a chance during a fire. I have built my house and maintained a perimeter. She was here the last week.

 

[Au-en-boy]

Roosiebull - I am pretty sure the LEO you are talking about I am friends with as well, and you are correct in saying that he has been going nonstop. One of very few I would completely trust. Absolutely a solid dude, and a fish killing machine. Known him since softball days. It also sounds like you live pretty close by where I do - I was one of the people who lost their house early Wednesday morning.

Spike Camp - This fire, and the others in the area, were started completely by Pacific Power not shutting down. The power at my house went off and came back on probably 10 times, associated with blue flashes in the sky and sounds of arcing, followed by the smoke and flames. I stayed up all night and have pics of the hill as the fire progressed. You would think that Pacific Power would have taken notes from Paradise California, or maybe a clue from PGE sitting down Mt Hood. Short story, they turned on the power to the main transmission lines coming over the coast range repeatedly, even after the fires started and were reported. Yep, they knew this storm was coming, and didn’t make the tough decision. At least that is my take on it - I invite any suit&tie from pacific power to talk to me face to face and tell me I am wrong.

Elk dreamer - please don’t take this the wrong way, and no disrespect meant. Given the choice, would you rather miss American Idol and have melted ice cream, or not have a house to go home to?

We will rebuild, and will come out better for this experience in the end. If you didn’t lose your house, walk around and take a video record of EVERYTHING, and zoom into the model/serial numbers. Then get that video off your phone - email, cloud based storage, whatever. This will give you proof of what you owned for insurance purposes, AND you can watch it to locate certain things if something were to happen.

A friend said it best tonight - Welcome to 2020 the game, you have achieved level August and are beginning level September, release the fires!


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[TripleJ]

Roosiebull - I am pretty sure the LEO you are talking about I am friends with as well, and you are correct in saying that he has been going nonstop. One of very few I would completely trust. Absolutely a solid dude, and a fish killing machine. Known him since softball days. It also sounds like you live pretty close by where I do - I was one of the people who lost their house early Wednesday morning.

Spike Camp - This fire, and the others in the area, were started completely by Pacific Power not shutting down. The power at my house went off and came back on probably 10 times, associated with blue flashes in the sky and sounds of arcing, followed by the smoke and flames. I stayed up all night and have pics of the hill as the fire progressed. You would think that Pacific Power would have taken notes from Paradise California, or maybe a clue from PGE sitting down Mt Hood. Short story, they turned on the power to the main transmission lines coming over the coast range repeatedly, even after the fires started and were reported. Yep, they knew this storm was coming, and didn’t make the tough decision. At least that is my take on it - I invite any suit&tie from pacific power to talk to me face to face and tell me I am wrong.

Elk dreamer - please don’t take this the wrong way, and no disrespect meant. Given the choice, would you rather miss American Idol and have melted ice cream, or not have a house to go home to?

We will rebuild, and will come out better for this experience in the end. If you didn’t lose your house, walk around and take a video record of EVERYTHING, and zoom into the model/serial numbers. Then get that video off your phone - email, cloud based storage, whatever. This will give you proof of what you owned for insurance purposes, AND you can watch it to locate certain things if something were to happen.

A friend said it best tonight - Welcome to 2020 the game, you have achieved level August and are beginning level September, release the fires!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sorry to hear about your house man. That really sucks. It's so hard to fathom that happening on the coast.

We are pretty lucky in that our house is still standing. If the weatherman had been right last Wednesday or Thursday, our house as long as many others would be nothing but ashes. A big chunk of east Springfield would have been gone also. The fire threatening our house was also started by power lines, though they are not officially saying it at this time.