BenTha'er-Horizons

Fires

Oregon People

The smoke finally cleared away with the rain early Friday. Today is a sunny, relatively warm day, without smoke.
Too many of our fellow Oregonians lost their homes and businesses in the different fires. Many of the people in the small towns in Oregon are the heart and soul of community.

Many came to help their fellow neighbors as fires threatened.

The lovely rain that poured on our ground 2 days ago that settled the smoke and ash.

Oregon-rain-outside-9-20-20
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Fire Status

There are big fires all around us and other areas in western Oregon. We are not threatened with evacuation at this time yet so many have lost their homes, some horrifically their lives. Heart-breaking news. One of the closest to us and threatening the home of friends of ours out in Holley is the Holiday Farm fire. It is extended from the south where it started along the Willamette River and such communities as Vida and Blue River have been lost. This article does show how the area is dealing with this threat.
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Heat, Wind, Fires and Smoke

Last night we had the start of serious, once in a generation weather conditions. Higher heat over the Labor Day weekend with very low humidity. Due to a cold front dropping down into Colorado and Plains pushing the hot air west and creating strong, hot east winds out of the Cascades, we have had bad fires spring up all over western Oregon. The power was out last night due to limbs blown on power lines. Debris was blown all over the yard and decks. What a mess and extremely serious "red flag" conditions.

Here is a picture of the sky with all the red smoke taken just before dark.

heat-and-smoke 09-8-20

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Fire Alarm in the Morning

The fire alarm came blaring on in our room at the Hyatt Place in Austin, TX at 3 a.m. After getting dressed and grabbing my phone, we found the exit stairs and walked 16 floors down to the street. Not a fun walk and it was alarming since it did not seem like a drill. Surprisingly, there weren't as many people down below as I would expect.
Come to find out, some college guys broke a sprinkler head on the floor above us and the water was coming down to the 16th floor. They only evacuated those two floors. People did not leave or have an alarm they heard on lower floors. Fortunately my laptop was OK and the rooms affected were around the corner and down the all.

It was a killer for a bad knee to walk down the stairs.
fire-alarm-morning-4-2-16
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End of the Dry?

The late Indian Summer may be almost over. It has been warm, sunny, and dry since near the end of July. There has only been a few hundredths of an inch of rain over that time. The fire danger in the Pacific Northwest is extreme. One exhibit of that is the following photo. When we went up to central Washington State last weekend, we could see across the Columbia River a small fire started on a steep slope about 2 miles east of Hood River. The fire was not still burning when we came back that evening. There have been several fires in that area, some that have closed Interstate 84. it is easy for fire to spread so they are quickly putting them out. The rain is supposed to start in about 48 hours and the plants will most likely give a big sigh of relief………AHHHH!
Fire-10-10-12
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Fires

We drove up to Walla Walla today. As we crossed the Hood River bridge across the Columbia River, we saw the smoke plume for a forest fire just north of the town of White Salmon WA. They had evacuated some homes in the area since the fire was not contained. It is rugged country up that river gorge and in the forest area. We did see some planes heading there with water drops.
Fire-10-10-12
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