Wildfires 2021 edition

[Alefroth]

Is that band of heavy soot across the Gulf states from a fire there, or just weird air currents?

[jztemple2]

According to https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/ there are wildfires north of Meridian MS if I'm reading that map correctly.

[hitbyambulance]

this whole attitude of "guess we're all just going to be living with toxic air from now on, what can ya do?" boggles my mind

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-wor ... ght-think/

Many of the buildings razed in the Camp fire were likely constructed before the 1978 lead paint ban, Benjamin said. And many of the vehicles that burned likely contained chemicals such as zinc.

“When we have an incident like this, where you have 19,000 structures that burned in Paradise … all of those metals are vaporized and released into the atmosphere,” he said.

Lead levels in Chico, the closest available monitoring site to the Camp fire, were 50 times higher than normal for one 24-hour period during the fire, Benjamin said.

[Paingod]

Come to Florida!

Between hurricanes and sea levels rising, I'd pass on that. It's a very low, very flat state.

I don’t know if we’ll come back if this shit happens again.

i'm starting to consider leaving the west coast

I honestly wonder how long it'll be before people consider the Northeast more preferable to constant wildfires and literally having ocean levels rise up over their driveways. I'm worried that before the end of my lifetime, our 10+ acres in Vermont will be worth millions of dollars - not because it's awesome, but because people are climbing all over each other to find places to live where climate destruction isn't killing them.

I feel for those who can't afford to move. Getting in your car with as much as you can fit in there and driving away from your home isn't really "moving" - it's being evacuated.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I honestly wonder how long it'll be before people consider the Northeast more preferable to constant wildfires and literally having ocean levels rise up over their driveways. I'm worried that before the end of my lifetime, our 10+ acres in Vermont will be worth millions of dollars - not because it's awesome, but because people are climbing all over each other to find places to live where climate destruction isn't killing them.

I feel for those who can't afford to move. Getting in your car with as much as you can fit in there and driving away from your home isn't really "moving" - it's being evacuated.

Forget affordability. A good friend and his family relocated from the Sacramento area to Austin, TX just this past weekend, and he was forced to collect his U-Haul truck from Reno, NV -- a roughly 270-mile round-trip -- because that was the nearest location where they even had one available due to the insatiably high demand of Californians seeking to fly the coop.

[hitbyambulance]

I honestly wonder how long it'll be before people consider the Northeast more preferable to constant wildfires

maybe no wildfires, but the smoke, as of right now:

[Kraken]

Yup, it was noticeably smoky in Boston today. I mistook it for humidity because we have that, too. But we're going to build offshore windmills to blow it all away.

We get our share of unpleasant weather here, and it can turn violent, but we don't see many natural disasters. So far. We get a hurricane every 10 years or so, and blizzards and Nor'easters are familiar nuisances. Our climate-changed summer has so far brought us the hottest June in history with the longest heat wave in 100 years, followed by our second-wettest July on record. It got cold enough to turn on the heat on both Memday and July 4. IDK what August will bring but I'm not betting on many beautiful summer days. At least it probably won't make national news.

[Paingod]

I honestly wonder how long it'll be before people consider the Northeast more preferable to constant wildfires

maybe no wildfires, but the smoke, as of right now...

At least with smoke, I can close my windows and filter the air. If it was a wildfire, casually filtering it out won't help much.

The NE area does get the west coast's pollution, though. The smoke was just the most recent and most obvious example. Honestly, I'd still choose that over being burned out of my home, having my home submerged, or worrying about which hurricane would rip my home apart.

[hitbyambulance]

"AccuWeather’s long-range meteorologists are predicting 9.5-million acres to be burned across the western U.S. during the wildfire season, which may not end until December for some areas."

so smoke season is basically going to be HALF OF THE YEAR.

what if it's like this every year now? my brain is starting to go to ... is this even quality living anymore, when toxic clouds surround you constantly? there isn't even that much research into the long-term effects of breathing this smoke. at the point where i hear about someone's recent death and i'm thinking they're one of the lucky ones. i may be in a despair spiral.

[Alefroth]

While living in smoke country sucks bad, what's got me worried is water supply. With lakes and reservoirs at dangerously historic lows it seems like water shortages can become a serious threat in a short amount of time. Not necessarily our area, but I'm sure you've seen what Rainier looks like. Baker is nearly as bad. That's bound to have an effect on water supply.

[hitbyambulance]

(despair ratchets up several more notches)

[Alefroth]

Sorry, definitely not my intent.

And I guess it belongs in the climate change thread more than here.

[Scuzz]

Yup, it was noticeably smoky in Boston today. I mistook it for humidity because we have that, too. But we're going to build offshore windmills to blow it all away.

We get our share of unpleasant weather here, and it can turn violent, but we don't see many natural disasters. So far. We get a hurricane every 10 years or so, and blizzards and Nor'easters are familiar nuisances. Our climate-changed summer has so far brought us the hottest June in history with the longest heat wave in 100 years, followed by our second-wettest July on record. It got cold enough to turn on the heat on both Memday and July 4. IDK what August will bring but I'm not betting on many beautiful summer days. At least it probably won't make national news.

I think it was last week early that I was watching a ballgame from Fenway Park at the announcers said something about the air quality being so bad, and the sky so dark, because of the fires burning in the western states. Pretty amazing.

[Daehawk]

Goldrush town Greenville CA burns to the ground in one night.

[gilraen]

Denver tops list of most-polluted cities in the world

[IQAir.com] site said Denver's Air Quality Index (AQI) was as high as 179 (Unhealthy) as of the time of this writing, with a PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) concentration that was 11 times higher than the World Health Organization's (WHO) exposure recommendation.

Mostly smoke from California wildfires, with some of Colorado's own. There have been air quality alerts for several weeks in a row now, except a scattered handful of days when it rained.

[hitbyambulance]

Denver tops list of most-polluted cities in the world

[IQAir.com] site said Denver's Air Quality Index (AQI) was as high as 179 (Unhealthy) as of the time of this writing, with a PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) concentration that was 11 times higher than the World Health Organization's (WHO) exposure recommendation.

Mostly smoke from California wildfires, with some of Colorado's own. There have been air quality alerts for several weeks in a row now, except a scattered handful of days when it rained.

And yet, people went out to anyway on Saturday. There was still a crowd at Lookout Mountain during the afternoon.

Carlo Gonzalez visited Lookout Mountain for the first time after moving to the state with his girlfriend.

"Love to see this without the smoke," he said.

The air quality also made a 40-mile bike ride much harder for Dan McDermott and Alden Lowney.

"You are definitely laboring a lot more. Much tougher to breathe, gasping. Sucks to be honest," said McDermott.

ugh. a good way to permanently damage your lungs. you may not feel the effects immediately, you may not feel them in five years... but twenty years from now...

this is how you know the information of the smoke toxicity isn't being adequately communicated well, with people still thinking this is NBD. can't help but feel the prevalence of lung disease in this country in two decades is going to be massive. i see all kinds of evidence this is a public health crisis in the making and people are still ignorant, in denial or going la-la-la-i-can't-hear-you about it.

if you want to see what to actually do during smoke events, here's the extremely uplifting pamphlet put out by Clean Air Methow (an organization in the Methow Valley, an area in north central Washington which has had the worst air quality this summer overall, and has been dealing with this for years)

https://deohs.washington.edu/sites/defa ... ERV_13.pdf

(i'd add to the "About those feelings..." section "Move the hell away from the Methow Valley": https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-wor ... n-survive/ i'd say this one of several newly-designated parts of the US that are no longer fit for human habitation)

[Alefroth]

"AccuWeather’s long-range meteorologists are predicting 9.5-million acres to be burned across the western U.S. during the wildfire season, which may not end until December for some areas."

so smoke season is basically going to be HALF OF THE YEAR.

what if it's like this every year now? my brain is starting to go to ... is this even quality living anymore, when toxic clouds surround you constantly? there isn't even that much research into the long-term effects of breathing this smoke. at the point where i hear about someone's recent death and i'm thinking they're one of the lucky ones. i may be in a despair spiral.

We're getting some smoke from the Fraser Valley today. PM2.5 is at 134, almost to Unhealthy. Worst day to have to close the windows, but looks like it'll be better tomorrow.

[hitbyambulance]

We're getting some smoke from the Fraser Valley today. PM2.5 is at 134, almost to Unhealthy. Worst day to have to close the windows, but looks like it'll be better tomorrow.

your area is supposed to be really not good today. it's already reached Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups level here in the Sound, and that's just from southern BC. we get to see tomorrow if we get the backdraft from eastern WA as well. : /

[dbt1949]

Finally the smoke has blown out or my neighborhood. My sinus's are calm for a change.

[Scuzz]

Last year the air quality due to smoke was horrible here (Fresno, California area) but thanks to no local fires and apparently friendly winds (for us anyway) we have had very few smoky days. Which is good since we will probably set a record for most days over 100 this year. The old record was 45.

[Pyperkub]

#LassenFire is within 2 miles and the wind is blowing it towards us. 20% contained and (maybe) holding at 30 acres

We'd probably be in the the next group of evacuation orders



https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23 ... ery&f=live

[TheMix]

Yikes!

Stay safe. And good luck.

[Kraken]

My nephew is on Amtrak's Empire Builder right now en route to Portland, where he will live with his father while training to become a hotshot, fighting forest fires for the federal government. Wiki tells me they start at about $30k and can earn up to $91k. He's spent his adult life drifting from one dead-end job to the next (while trying to support 3 kids), so this is a big step forward for him if he can pull it off. It's hard, dangerous work, and not the kind of job one retires from...but he'll never lack for work, and the career path leads into the forest service.

[Pyperkub]

#LassenFire is within 2 miles and the wind is blowing it towards us. 20% contained and (maybe) holding at 30 acres

We'd probably be in the the next group of evacuation orders



https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23 ... ery&f=live

Firefighters were quick and it never got past 30 acres. 80% contained and stable.

Whew.

[gilraen]

#MarshallFire in Boulder County (about 20 miles northwest of metro Denver). Several suburbs just north of us have been ordered to evacuate. Downslope windstorm with 100+ mph gusts downed power lines and ignited the grass. There's a lot of open space in that area, and we barely had 1" of moisture in the last 6 months, so it's bone dry. Hard to breathe outside right now with all the smoke.

There's also a second major fire on the north side of Boulder and several other smaller ones.

[Enough]

Worried about Colorado OOers in the vicinity. This is a really serious situation.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

[hentzau]

My sister in law and her son and his kids near Denver have been evacuated. I have another sister in law near Boulder that is in Hawaii right now that they are heading towards.

[Smoove_B]

I just learned that CO apparently is reliant on inmates as emergency firefighters (that link is from last month). That seems...questionable.

Regardless, stay safe CO OOers. The pictures I'm seeing are unreal.

[jztemple2]

I just learned that CO apparently is reliant on inmates as emergency firefighters (that link is from last month). That seems...questionable.

Probably more common than we think.

[The Meal]

I was at an ENT appointment about a mile away from the Costco that went up. Heading into my appointment it looked apocalyptic already, but it seemed much farther away (and winds were moving smoke much further north of where I was heading). Then the sirens started. Then the power went out. Then a lady showed up to clear the building as we were under evac orders. We live 25 miles away and are fine. I got out okay.

Assuming the building still stands tomorrow, the PA is going to call with my options for dealing with an extremely deviated septum.

I can't begin to count how many friends live in the evacuation zone, but I can't think of anyone who lives in the burn zone. That said, I'm certain there'll be a number of coworkers severely affected. Both our worksites got evacuated. Videos making the rounds are crazy.

Who had a late December wildfire on the ring-out-2021 bingo card. Late December wildfires?!? What is going on with this world?

[TheMix]

We are still okay. No evac or pre-evac... yet. Crossing our fingers. Right now most of the activity is on the south side of Hwy36. As long as the winds don't swing north, we should continue to be safe. But it's going to be a bit worrying for the next few hours.

The latest evac orders are less than 4 miles away.

[MHS]

We are still okay. No evac or pre-evac... yet. Crossing our fingers. Right now most of the activity is on the south side of Hwy36. As long as the winds don't swing north, we should continue to be safe. But it's going to be a bit worrying for the next few hours.

The latest evac orders are less than 4 miles away.

We have a guest bedroom if you need it. Hoping the snow comes heavy and early, this is awful.

[TheMix]

We are still okay. No evac or pre-evac... yet. Crossing our fingers. Right now most of the activity is on the south side of Hwy36. As long as the winds don't swing north, we should continue to be safe. But it's going to be a bit worrying for the next few hours.

The latest evac orders are less than 4 miles away.

We have a guest bedroom if you need it. Hoping the snow comes heavy and early, this is awful.

Thanks. And that's the kicker.... expecting snow tomorrow. Just one more day earlier and most of this would probably have been averted.

[Zaxxon]

Hoping for the best for all of you in the area. Today we've been planning an early exit from our Christmas visit with family out east due to the impending snowpocalypse that's expected to shut down I-80 this weekend, and now Colorado's on fire.

This timeline sucks.

[Kurth]

Thinking of you all in CO in the impacted area. Good luck all, and stay safe!

[naednek]

I just learned that CO apparently is reliant on inmates as emergency firefighters (that link is from last month). That seems...questionable.

Regardless, stay safe CO OOers. The pictures I'm seeing are unreal.

California does it. They have had a few escapes over the years, but the inmates love it, and I believe it helps them as it helps the state.

[Zaxxon]

For anyone wanting to donate.

[gbasden]

I just learned that CO apparently is reliant on inmates as emergency firefighters (that link is from last month). That seems...questionable.

Regardless, stay safe CO OOers. The pictures I'm seeing are unreal.

California does it. They have had a few escapes over the years, but the inmates love it, and I believe it helps them as it helps the state.

I'm glad we've finally passed a bill unbarring them from becoming firefighters after release.

[gbasden]

For anyone wanting to donate.

Done

[MHS]

For anyone wanting to donate.

I'm going to add another link, not to compete but because one of our good friends works as an emergency volunteer fire fighter and two of his guys lost their own homes and all of their possessions last night while out fighting the fires.

If anyone has a few bucks you could throw their way, it would be appreciated: https://gofund.me/1ba44c9a