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Wildfires
Last Post 09/13/2020 09:14 AM by Orange Crush. 12 Replies.
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79pmooney

Posts:3178

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09/09/2020 07:26 PM
Starting to get a little close. Since Sunday evening, its been very windy and smoky from the fires to the east but there is the wide Willamette river between us. For the past day and a half, there's been a fire burning just to the east of the road I went down Sunday on my ride. Portios of that road, the road before that I also rode and all the other smaller roads in the area are under orders to evacuate with the grade school I passed coming home designated as a shelter they can go to.

13 and 10 miles from my house. Not upwind (for now) ans a lot of open land between so that isn't a threat. Still, it is a clear reminder of both that I am not immortal nor am I in charge.

Monday evening, night and Tuesday morning, it was storm winds, but driven by a high to the east, not a low to the west. Dry as a bone. The house has been bombarded with debris. Impacts, to the house and elsewhere, regular sound effects.

I've elected to hunker down and ride this out. My routine in very few leavings of the house save riding and the Farmer's market/stores on Saturdays anyway, so that doesn't change much except Jessica slept in yesterday instead of going out for her usual 40 miles. (I don't need either a wind-induced crash or smoke-induced lung burn.)

Rain! Please. Here and the rest of the west coast.

OC, do you have fires? The maps I've been going to are US only.

Ben
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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09/09/2020 09:04 PM
Just saw that another fire is happening between the west ends of two rides I do fairly often, to to and around Hagg Lake and out and back to the small community of Cherry Grove. Seems the fire is south of Hagg Lake and has caused Cherry Grove, the road to and the small roads between it and Hagg Lake to be evacuated.

This fire is in the far west of the county and more than 25 miles from home. The other fire is southwest of home and on the southern county line..
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/09/2020 09:18 PM
Ben we have some fires but nothing like the ones we had two years ago and five years ago. Years that were similar to what you have now.

Five years ago I actually had to do a huge detour around a fire zone to get to a bike race. I initially thought I could make it straight through in time but just as I got close to the key section a town was being evacuated and the road got closed off. A long nighttime drive to get around.

The next day we had the bike race. Half of it was in 40c (100F) temps with severe fire smoke. Memorable for level of punishment the heat served up. But the last 100 kms we entered clean cool alpine air. It was like finding a second wind 10hrs into the ride for an overall 15hr day. I still get ragged in club for that day. I forewent the last stop in heat knowing that I’d be better served with cool air waiting and thinking the rest would catch up again as I’d been lagging. But once I got that second wind they didn’t catch me and I rode the final hours solo into sunset.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/09/2020 09:31 PM
And this just in about Portland fires:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/wildfire-portland-thousands-evacuating-1.5717761

And this is how bad 2018 was...
In 2018, British Columbia experienced its worst fire season on record with 2,115 fires and 1.35 million hectares burned (British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development [B.C. FLNRORD], BC Wildfire Service, 2019a). It surpassed 2017’s fire season—previously the largest burned area—in which over 1.22 million ha were burned. Fires in British Columbia accounted for about 60% of the total burned area in Canada in 2018, compared to an average of 7% over the 1990 to 2018 period (National Forestry Database [NFD], 2019).
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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09/09/2020 10:45 PM
FWIW I was in northwestern BC in May 2019. A formidable wildfire hundreds of miles further east in Alberta ("the high level fire") sent so much smoke 300 miles west that what should have been a special day was converted to LA smog. This year is worse. The invasive spruce borer has converted about 1/3 of the northern forests into nitro glycerin. Add shorter winters and hotter summers, and here we are, which is not in a good place. Related is the current carnage in WA, OR, and CA. Some of the latter is our fault, not allowing natural burns, but not at all entirely. I am planning to be in the PW northwest next fall for some epic motorcycling, mainly in BC, hoping that Covid will be under control by then. But what about the fires?
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/11/2020 04:22 PM

Posted By Frederick Jones on 09/09/2020 10:45 PM
Related is the current carnage in WA, OR, and CA. Some of the latter is our fault, not allowing natural burns, but not at all entirely.


No. It is pretty much entirely our fault, there is no plausible argument to whitewash our role. The science on this is abundant and clear. A preference for monoculture forests which maximize lumber values but reduce forest resilience to pests and climate change creating a tinder box. Climate change,warmer winters leading to greater pest survival and wreaking havoc on those less resilient forests. Drier hotter summer conditions increasing the severity of the fires. Crap air quality today due to WA fires. The hill ride was one giant yikes ready to puke.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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09/11/2020 04:35 PM
OC, you forgot one. Humans to light the super dry stuff when lightening is taking a siesta. (When it's less dry, we put out those lightening strikes. Smart us.)

I keep wondering what a super old, like two century, Native American wise man would say. Probably something to the effect that we had been working for this a long time.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/11/2020 04:57 PM
Ben - oh for sure that was just a short list for arguments sake. And yes inclusion of traditional knowledge and practices is an emerging direction.
Dale

Posts:1767

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09/11/2020 05:05 PM
But how are we going to have gender reveal parties if we can't light the woods on fire?
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/12/2020 08:26 AM
Hahaha Dale. Which gender did you turn to be?

Anyways this just in. Good read.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/california-wildfires-climate-change-1.5659909
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/12/2020 09:22 PM
Apparently Vancouver had worst air quality in world today thanks to US fires.
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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09/13/2020 06:32 AM
I can only apologize for our stupidity.

I never thought I could so ashamed of our country. We are a raging dumpster fire.
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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09/13/2020 09:14 AM
We actually bagged a peak yesterday and got above the smoke.

Weird view with just a dozen or so other peaks into view and the rest a thick blanket of smoke.

Then going down conditions seemed to have considerably worsened and at 3pm is was feeling like diminishing light at sunset.
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