Wildfire(s) Out West

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  • DE4173DE4173 Posts: 748

    1993: 11/22 Little Rock
    1996; 9/28 New York
    1997: 11/14 Oakland, 11/15 Oakland
    1998: 7/5 Dallas, 7/7 Albuquerque, 7/8 Phoenix, 7/10 San Diego, 7/11 Las Vegas
    2000: 10/17 Dallas
    2003: 4/3 OKC
    2012: 11/17 Tulsa(EV), 11/18 Tulsa(EV)
    2013: 11/16 OKC
    2014: 10/8 Tulsa
    2022: 9/20 OKC
    2023: 9/13 Ft Worth, 9/15 Ft Worth
  • DE4173DE4173 Posts: 748
    edited August 2020
    1993: 11/22 Little Rock
    1996; 9/28 New York
    1997: 11/14 Oakland, 11/15 Oakland
    1998: 7/5 Dallas, 7/7 Albuquerque, 7/8 Phoenix, 7/10 San Diego, 7/11 Las Vegas
    2000: 10/17 Dallas
    2003: 4/3 OKC
    2012: 11/17 Tulsa(EV), 11/18 Tulsa(EV)
    2013: 11/16 OKC
    2014: 10/8 Tulsa
    2022: 9/20 OKC
    2023: 9/13 Ft Worth, 9/15 Ft Worth
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    I talked to friends in the Bay Area today.  It's worse than bad.  Mother Nature has unleashed her wrath. 

    Seems like every year I say, "I've never seen it this bad."  Here we go again.


    Burning the California Bear Flag Virtually  Bear Flag Museum http
    "The Bear is Burning"


    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    Devastating I'm so sorry. It's really horrible.
    We are heading into a la Nina year but that doesn't mean much in Australia it just means more growth of flammables and our summers are still ridiculously hot. Australia was just a massive brown combustion oven last summer it really was inevitable.

  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    Devastating I'm so sorry. It's really horrible.
    We are heading into a la Nina year but that doesn't mean much in Australia it just means more growth of flammables and our summers are still ridiculously hot. Australia was just a massive brown combustion oven last summer it really was inevitable.

    That's pretty much the same situation here.  Australia and the U.S. west have a lot in common that way.

    We are having our first morning of comfortable temperatures but our air quality is in the "very unhealthy" range today so no opening windows or going outside for any length of time.  Claustrophobic, scary times!

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    Same here, although already 82 at this early hour? Ugh!

  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    hedonist said:
    Same here, although already 82 at this early hour? Ugh!


    Bummer!  It's hard enough when days are hot, but when you don't get cooling at night- that's when it gets even more uncomfortable! 
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    It’s days like today I’m very thankful for AC.  I feel for anyone who has to work outside with the added heating layer of mask!
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    hedonist said:
    It’s days like today I’m very thankful for AC.  I feel for anyone who has to work outside with the added heating layer of mask!
    Excellent point!

    I was thinking about that yesterday when I drove to the Post Office.  There was a road crew out there working in the heat and breathing the bad air and I felt badly for them.  And all the other folks who work outdoors. And the firefighters!  How do they do it?!

    And then I saw one of our local homeless guys and I thought about all the other many homeless people who are stuck outside most of the time.  It was overwhelming to think about. 
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • Meltdown99Meltdown99 Posts: 10,739
    Just curios.  Have any of you native Californians ever thought of just packing it in and move to another State?  I saw on the news that the entire state is under a state of emergency from these fires.  
    Give Peas A Chance…
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    Just curios.  Have any of you native Californians ever thought of just packing it in and move to another State?  I saw on the news that the entire state is under a state of emergency from these fires.  

    Oh yes,  many a time!  But to where? 

    I did live in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula for about three years (1990-93).  But fires are common in all western states as well as western Canada these days.  In fact, all of the western U.S. is prone to fire. 

    Until we can fully extricate ourselves from the book store of which my wife is half-owner, we're pretty much stuck here.  In the midst of a pandemic, it's hard enough to keep a small business running, let alone try to sell it off. 

    So, yeah, I still look at listings in other places and dream of a new place to live.  But we're all living on the edge of the apocalypse (and that's no exaggeration).  What can we do?  Make the best of what we have, be kind as much as possible, help others, vote, and when ever possible, do what my Pop used to tell us:  "Have fun"!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    This is my home and I love it for all its faults - both literally and otherwise. My husband wouldn’t mind moving to his home state of Ohio but my health stuff is too tenuous to seriously entertain it in the near future. 
  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    edited August 2020
    Just a question why does America measure the size of fires in acres? We measure ours in hectares. We recently lost over 10 million hectares of land to the fires. 
    1 hectare = 10,000 square metres.
    An acre is 0.405 of a hectare.
    Post edited by rhanishane on
  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    Australia burnt 38610.216 square miles during the bushfires. Working that out just now blows me away .
  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    hedonist said:
    Same here, although already 82 at this early hour? Ugh!

    90 is about 32 degrees is that right? We were getting up to 48 degrees in the height of summer it was terrible and the smoke hung around for months. Absolutely sickening and nauseating. I hope this summer gives us a break downunder.
    I hope you get the fires under control over there. I read they have asked Australia and Canada for help so fingers crossed they arrive soon.
    Be safe
  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    Announced today Australia are sending a team of 55 specialist fire fighters to California. Returning the favour be safe all
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    Just a question why does America measure the size of fires in acres? We measure ours in hectares. We recently lost over 10 million hectares of land to the fires. 
    1 hectare = 10,000 square metres.
    An acre is 0.405 of a hectare.
    I've seen both but mostly acres.  America is very slow to change with things involving numbers.  We're used to hearing quarts and inches and acres and Fahrenheit numbers and miles per hours.  Most people when they hear liters and centimeters and hectares and  centigrade and kilometers per hour, they're lost.  We're quite behind the times that way.
    Announced today Australia are sending a team of 55 specialist fire fighters to California. Returning the favour be safe all
    Greatly appreciated! 

    We caught a bit of a break over the weekend as the red flag warning didn't cause as much harm as feared.  Still a long, long way to go.

    Updates on all the fires can be found here:
    and here:



    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    brianlux said:
    Just a question why does America measure the size of fires in acres? We measure ours in hectares. We recently lost over 10 million hectares of land to the fires. 
    1 hectare = 10,000 square metres.
    An acre is 0.405 of a hectare.
    I've seen both but mostly acres.  America is very slow to change with things involving numbers.  We're used to hearing quarts and inches and acres and Fahrenheit numbers and miles per hours.  Most people when they hear liters and centimeters and hectares and  centigrade and kilometers per hour, they're lost.  We're quite behind the times that way.
    Announced today Australia are sending a team of 55 specialist fire fighters to California. Returning the favour be safe all
    Greatly appreciated! 

    We caught a bit of a break over the weekend as the red flag warning didn't cause as much harm as feared.  Still a long, long way to go.

    Updates on all the fires can be found here:
    and here:



    Thanks I like to keep a watch on what's happening. Our fire seasons will definitely cross over again this year. We already have bad fire conditions happening in the northern territory with fire weather warnings issued. While it's cold in NSW and we have had snow the winters dry out the grasses, can already see it happening. There is still a lot of bush to burn and even after the fires the dead leaves trees and branches have now fallen to the ground ready to go again. 9 months on from the fires some areas to the north of myhmy are just bare hills with sticks on them where it just anniallated the bush. South of me none of it burned so our local fire brigades are still very cautious for the upcoming fire season. All it takes is a wind shift and that's what saved my town and my house. Unfortunate for those just a few minutes north though it was unstoppable
  • rhanishanerhanishane Posts: 505
    NSW Australia
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    NSW Australia

    Sad.  There are NASA photos showing similar destruction  in our state.

    Despite CalFire putting out a message asking (but not requiring) people to not engage in activities that could create sparks, some idiot in my neighborhood was out target practicing with his guns yesterday.  Shooting jacks up my anxiety anyway so yesterday I was a wreck.  Today I sit on pins and needles wondering if it will happen again today.  Why are some people such idiots? 
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • So many idiots 🙄 
    We had snow on the mountain last week.... tomorrow will be high 20s with warm windy conditions and a fire weather warning. Authorities being extra vigilant. Our fire season has started here already and we require a permit for pile burns now. Depending on the weather they will upgrade that to no outdoor fires at all. The Royal commission into the black summer fires have just passed all 76 recommendations by chief firefighters. I'm not sure what they all are yet but it gives fire authorities a lot of power to reduce fuel loads etc without the red tape.
  • Was a hot 32 degrees Celsius yesterday and windy. Winter straight to summer heat makes for choosing an outfit for the day hard my co-worker cut the legs off her denim jeans yesterday while she was still wearing them lol
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    Currant acreage burning in major California fires:  1,607,815 acres. 
    Record heat expected Saturday through Sunday. 
    106 (42 Celsius) Fahrenheit here Sunday.  103 (39.44 C) Monday and Tuesday.
    122 (50 C) Fahrenheit in Death Valley Sunday and Monday
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    Our air quality is 207, higher than I recall ever seeing it.

    In the 100's this weekend, with not much respite after.

    Once again, I'm thankful for AC.  As is our fat furry friend.
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    hedonist said:
    Our air quality is 207, higher than I recall ever seeing it.

    In the 100's this weekend, with not much respite after.

    Once again, I'm thankful for AC.  As is our fat furry friend.

    Same here! (I mean, assuming AC is air conditioning, not your hubby, lol!)

    Yeah, our air quality has sucked for a couple weeks now.  Today, the air movement was definitely not good for us.  When I woke up, for a moment I thought it looked like it might rain outside.  Nope, just a haze of smoke.  And then this evening, when the sun was about a half an hour away from setting on the horizon, it was a red ball that you could look at momentarily without squinting (but still, I only peaked). 

    The next three days should be, to put it mildly, interesting.

    Hang in the Hedo, and any other fellow west coasters out there.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • I couldn't even stand to smell winter chimney smoke after the fires and rarely lit my fire this winter. After choking on it for months it brings about anxiety everytime I smell it now. 
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    I couldn't even stand to smell winter chimney smoke after the fires and rarely lit my fire this winter. After choking on it for months it brings about anxiety everytime I smell it now. 

    I totally understand!  I've become rather sensitized to the smell myself. 
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    That scent is one of my all-time favorites. I can’t imagine having that taken away. 
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,012
    hedonist said:
    That scent is one of my all-time favorites. I can’t imagine having that taken away. 

    Well, there actually is one type of smoke scent I like.  A LOT!  :smiley:
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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