West Coast Fire Thread

[Ernie]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CP5SKQjzg

A Season with the Hotshots. Great documentary. Toughest work, much sacrifice, for low pay.

I'm guessing this is the sort of hard work that many Anabaptist conscientious objectors did during the world wars?

[Ernie]

You have these country people who are used to taking care of their property, used to risks, and used to weapons, and not used to being told they can’t go on their own property by a cop. And they know that they can’t trust the firefighters to save anything, and they know that most homes can be kept from burning with just a bit of effort.

This was in the city, correct?

[Ernie]

What percentage of residents in eastern Oregon have grab bags packed or the equivalent during a season like this?

[R7ehr]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CP5SKQjzg

A Season with the Hotshots. Great documentary. Toughest work, much sacrifice, for low pay.

I'm guessing this is the sort of hard work that many Anabaptist conscientious objectors did during the world wars?

I think its a similar sort - hand tools, working in the mountains. But the physical fitness nessessary for these hot shots is markedly higher. And this more dangerous.

Great video.

[R7ehr]

You have these country people who are used to taking care of their property, used to risks, and used to weapons, and not used to being told they can’t go on their own property by a cop. And they know that they can’t trust the firefighters to save anything, and they know that most homes can be kept from burning with just a bit of effort.

This was in the city, correct?

The article is about the fire near Spokane. And while I’m not there, I think that it is likely that the guy in the article may have lived on the outskirts, where it is common to have small farms, and acreages, which is where the fire will cause the fires losses before getting to the city’s suburban developments. That’s my thought.

But my comment was more referring to the cases I am familiar with, where ranches and farms and rural homes are under fire threat, and not necessarily about towns getting burned.

[R7ehr]

What percentage of residents in eastern Oregon have grab bags packed or the equivalent during a season like this?

No idea. But I suspect a very low percentage just has a go bag packed and ready with no wildfire around.
Because they’re intention is not to leave. And also, they typically have plenty of warning time, which they can use to grab what the will.

[R7ehr]

Looks like the Round Butte Fire is out this morning by the lack of smoke over there. Clear morning, no aircraft flying. Burned about 1,200 acres in probably 3-4 hours. It burned up to the farmland. I bet it was human caused, it started right beside a house in the middle of the day, no lightening.

As we stood out there yesterday afternoon watching it, we had a couple does with their fawns leave ahead of the fire and come right up near us without too much concern of us. Reminded me of Bambi.

Feels like many of the nearby huge fires are getting under control. Air has been great, clean and clear. Now we just need to have no new ones start.

The current fires that are large are east of us, with the wind blowing the smoke away from us.

This central (and the eastern) part of Oregon, is so much different that the western Oregon I grew up in.
Western Oregon is wetter, greener. And the winds from the Pacific largly keep the smoke from the interior of the western US out of that part of the state.
Back then, we sort of knew that the other 2/3 of the state had fires, but it was out of sight and out of mind. Once you live on the dry side, it becomes a part of living here. Every August-Sept, the air gets in smoky in varying degrees. But rarely is the month smoke free. Western Oregon is just a lot different climate, and benefits from wind direction.

[R7ehr]

Most acres burned.

Oregon set a new modern record for acres burned in wildfires on Aug. 2, and it comes with almost two months remaining in fire season.

The state’s 60 large fires have blackened 1.978 million acres in 2026, which surpasses the previous record of 1.93 recorded for the entire 2024 season, according to data from Northwest Coordination Center.

Detailed data on acres burned only extends back to 1992 and was more difficult to tabulate in the early 1900s.

This year’s fire have burned almost entirely east of the Cascade Mountains, where they’ve destroyed homes, ranches and two lookout towers, while bringing smokey skies and putting thousands on evacuation.

The infernos have been similar to the 2024 fires in that most of the burning occurred on the state’s east side, many coming in massive grassland fires, rather than forest fires.

In terms of sheer impact, Oregon’s 2020 wildfire season still remains by far the most deadly and destructive, having taken 11 lives and burned more than 4,000 homes.

This year, a total of 20 homes have been confirmed lost, although that number is likely higher and doesn’t take into account smaller structures. This year’s fires have also been extremely expensive, having already cost $353 million.

“We thought that 2024 was going to be as busy as a July could get, and I can confidently say that 2026 has outpaced that year in terms of fires, scale of those fires, stretching of the resources, threats to communities,” said Kyle Williams, the Oregon Department of Forestry's deputy director of fire operations, during the Explore Oregon Podcast.

“As far as the impact on eastern Oregon goes, it’s probably the worst that we've had it, at least in modern times,” Williams added.

The good news is that, even with the wind event on Aug. 1, fire crews have been able to get containment on many of the largest fires and fire complexes — including the Bench, Rowe Creek Complex and Hay Creek Complex. The rate of acres burned has slowed.

But many fire still remain active and new fires are popping up by the day.

The Grasshopper Fire grew to 30,000 acres east of Mount Hood on Aug. 2 and burned an iconic fire lookout.

A wildfire just off Interstate 5 near Grants Pass brought level 3 evacuations and burned at least one home, and the Round Butte Fire outside Madras also brought evacuations.

“With the fuel conditions and the potential that's out there right now, any human caused fire is still going to have the potential to turn into one of these giant terrible fires," Williams said.

What caused this year’s fires to grow so large?
The table-setter for the wildfires, Williams said, has been a deep drought that began with the warmest winter on record and almost no snowfall, and continued with a dry and hot spring.

Then, thunderstorms brought more than 10,000 lightning strikes across the state in two storms on July 15 and then July 22-23.

“The lightning a couple weeks ago that put down more initial starts than we had capacity to put them out when they were small, so you end up with a lot of large fires,” Williams said.

Williams said the lightning strikes in western Oregon came with more rain, giving fire crews enough time to snuff them out before they grew. But on the east side, most of the rain dried far quicker and the sheer number of fires “overwhelmed the system.”

Once the fires started burning, the fuels were so dry that the NWCC wrote in an advisory that fires were “showing increased resistance to control, requiring more resources for longer periods and aviation support is often less effective."

Williams said the department’s normal tactics for putting out fires weren’t working, requiring them to give the fires more space in getting containment.

“The Akawa Butte Fire had 150 foot flame lengths coming out of the timer,” he said. “You can't stand next to that and keep people safe. It requires a lot bigger footprint. Every single fire is exhibiting that kind of resistance and really stretching the system to its maximum.”

[R7ehr]

Spokane, Washington- Eastern Washington fires have burned 600 structures and forced the evacuation of 60,000 people.
https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-we ... df34ee50d0

[Ernie]

Spokane Old Trails Fire, the most damaging fire in Washington State history that destroyed over 700 structures, appears to have been arson, carried out by a convicted criminal.

It is notable that the fire took off so fast, and couldn't be stopped, even though it was reported 10 minutes later.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/loca ... 967a787cce