ATTENTION Fire Update
Tue, Aug. 22nd, 2017 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiraliciousHello All,
A lot has changed since I last spoke to you. That fire no one was worried about because it was putting itself out suddenly changed direction and grew exponentially in size. Normally, this would not be concerning, but this fire is the closest to town as have ever been.
I could rehash the events of the entire weekend, what I have been up to, and analyze exactly what led to city wide panic Sunday and Monday, but I think it would be more productive to give you the bullet points of last night's town meeting and facts as I know them now.
*Yesterday, the weather stabilized and they were able to create trenches to start a fire line that are 2 bulldozer blades wide for the part of the fire that is closest to town.
*Today (Tuesday) they were supposed to do a back burn in the morning to complete those fire lines and then move on to the next high priority part of the area (The afternoon update says that the smoke is too dense for them to do that at this time.)
*They have the dump helicopters on standby to get water from the river to dump on the fires as soon as there is enough visibility to fly.
*The City Council assured everyone that despite rumors on Facebook, the screw up with emergency notification system Saturday night, etc. there is no evacuation order for the City of Brookings. We are evac level 1, which is shelter in place.
*There are hundreds of fire fighters from all over the United States camped out in town. Hundreds more are coming. Their sole job is to protect town should the worst happen. Some are coming door to door to examine properties. These are fire fighters from outside the state learning the terrain.
*The fire was detected in the middle of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness July 12th. It was suppressed by repellers and air dumps immediately. The next day, it grew to 10,000 acres. It stayed at that level and was putting itself out until August 17th.
*The air quality adviser would like everyone to stay inside as much as possible even though air quality should improve until Friday. (That did not turn out to be the case for today.)
*August 17th, the 3 days of Chetco Effect changed conditions dramatically and created a situation for the fire to act in ways that could not have been predicted and grew from 10,000 to 90,000 acres in 4 days.
*Unlike a week ago, we now actually have the resources to actually fight this fire, thanks to fire fighting agencies throughout the US, the National Guard, FEMA, and locals banding together. Not to mention the work of our own guys who have been at it for almost a month and a half now.
*The next three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) the weather should be stable. The guys on the front line, County Forestry Service, and the National Fire Management team are confident this is enough time to get ahead of this before the next Chetco Effect predicted for Friday.
*This is not a large fire, nor are forest fires unusual this time of year. Most of the western US is on fire from mid-July through September. Last time I checked the Federal fire map, there were 5 or 6 fires in Washington, 16 in Oregon , 6 in California, and a few in Idaho. The only thing that is particularly worrisome is the proximity to town.
*It only grew another 6500 acres in the last 24 hours. Otherwise, there is no new news – that is a good thing.
*We are under a water conservation order because the river is low and we are going to need it.
*We are top priority. (Apparently, there was a news thing this morning saying we were top priority in the nation o.0) The city of Brookings has a population of about 6000 and Harbor has about 4000 people. That makes us roughly half the population of the entire county.
*The county fair grounds in Gold Beach is boarding large caged animals and livestock.
*All local vets and animal shelters are full and cannot take more companion animals (pets like dogs, cats, etc.) They are trying to get vets in Gold Beach and Crescent City to pick up the overflow.
*The Red Cross evacuation shelter has been moves to Gold Beach.
*My doctor's appointment was canceled because the clinic closed to primary care and non-emergency visits because they volunteered to use the clinic for emergency medical care for fire fighters. (We have no hospital.) At least for the day. My appointment was rescheduled for next week.
*Local restaurants seem to be taking turns closing for a day to feed the firefighters.
*My household has been packed in case of evacuation since Sunday afternoon, though it is unlikely it will be needed.
*We do have several places to go in California, if we have to leave.
*The cats are understandably anxious.
*I have been dealing with my severe anxiety by making sure things are packed as efficiently as possible, doing any and all cleaning that doesn't require water, making a photographic inventory of the house, and checking in by phone with people periodically.
*Yes, we have a (several) emergency kit(s). I normally inventory and update them in September. I'm trying to think of this as a really extensive drill.
*I do not know how much I will actually be online. I am not comfortable spending hours at the library right now and my housesitting job for this week was thankfully and understandably canceled.
I am leaving the comments on for questions you might have. Any good thoughts, prayers, good wishes, concerns, etc. are very much appreciated and thank you so much for the love, but dealing with the texts and phone calls of people expressing them has been very stressful and my anxiety was already taxed before the fire.
I will try to check in once a day or so. If I am radio silent too long (say 3 or 4 days),vexed_wench is my out of state emergency contact and should know what is going on (though it is hurricane season for her).
A lot has changed since I last spoke to you. That fire no one was worried about because it was putting itself out suddenly changed direction and grew exponentially in size. Normally, this would not be concerning, but this fire is the closest to town as have ever been.
I could rehash the events of the entire weekend, what I have been up to, and analyze exactly what led to city wide panic Sunday and Monday, but I think it would be more productive to give you the bullet points of last night's town meeting and facts as I know them now.
*Yesterday, the weather stabilized and they were able to create trenches to start a fire line that are 2 bulldozer blades wide for the part of the fire that is closest to town.
*Today (Tuesday) they were supposed to do a back burn in the morning to complete those fire lines and then move on to the next high priority part of the area (The afternoon update says that the smoke is too dense for them to do that at this time.)
*They have the dump helicopters on standby to get water from the river to dump on the fires as soon as there is enough visibility to fly.
*The City Council assured everyone that despite rumors on Facebook, the screw up with emergency notification system Saturday night, etc. there is no evacuation order for the City of Brookings. We are evac level 1, which is shelter in place.
*There are hundreds of fire fighters from all over the United States camped out in town. Hundreds more are coming. Their sole job is to protect town should the worst happen. Some are coming door to door to examine properties. These are fire fighters from outside the state learning the terrain.
*The fire was detected in the middle of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness July 12th. It was suppressed by repellers and air dumps immediately. The next day, it grew to 10,000 acres. It stayed at that level and was putting itself out until August 17th.
*The air quality adviser would like everyone to stay inside as much as possible even though air quality should improve until Friday. (That did not turn out to be the case for today.)
*August 17th, the 3 days of Chetco Effect changed conditions dramatically and created a situation for the fire to act in ways that could not have been predicted and grew from 10,000 to 90,000 acres in 4 days.
*Unlike a week ago, we now actually have the resources to actually fight this fire, thanks to fire fighting agencies throughout the US, the National Guard, FEMA, and locals banding together. Not to mention the work of our own guys who have been at it for almost a month and a half now.
*The next three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) the weather should be stable. The guys on the front line, County Forestry Service, and the National Fire Management team are confident this is enough time to get ahead of this before the next Chetco Effect predicted for Friday.
*This is not a large fire, nor are forest fires unusual this time of year. Most of the western US is on fire from mid-July through September. Last time I checked the Federal fire map, there were 5 or 6 fires in Washington, 16 in Oregon , 6 in California, and a few in Idaho. The only thing that is particularly worrisome is the proximity to town.
*It only grew another 6500 acres in the last 24 hours. Otherwise, there is no new news – that is a good thing.
*We are under a water conservation order because the river is low and we are going to need it.
*We are top priority. (Apparently, there was a news thing this morning saying we were top priority in the nation o.0) The city of Brookings has a population of about 6000 and Harbor has about 4000 people. That makes us roughly half the population of the entire county.
*The county fair grounds in Gold Beach is boarding large caged animals and livestock.
*All local vets and animal shelters are full and cannot take more companion animals (pets like dogs, cats, etc.) They are trying to get vets in Gold Beach and Crescent City to pick up the overflow.
*The Red Cross evacuation shelter has been moves to Gold Beach.
*My doctor's appointment was canceled because the clinic closed to primary care and non-emergency visits because they volunteered to use the clinic for emergency medical care for fire fighters. (We have no hospital.) At least for the day. My appointment was rescheduled for next week.
*Local restaurants seem to be taking turns closing for a day to feed the firefighters.
*My household has been packed in case of evacuation since Sunday afternoon, though it is unlikely it will be needed.
*We do have several places to go in California, if we have to leave.
*The cats are understandably anxious.
*I have been dealing with my severe anxiety by making sure things are packed as efficiently as possible, doing any and all cleaning that doesn't require water, making a photographic inventory of the house, and checking in by phone with people periodically.
*Yes, we have a (several) emergency kit(s). I normally inventory and update them in September. I'm trying to think of this as a really extensive drill.
*I do not know how much I will actually be online. I am not comfortable spending hours at the library right now and my housesitting job for this week was thankfully and understandably canceled.
I am leaving the comments on for questions you might have. Any good thoughts, prayers, good wishes, concerns, etc. are very much appreciated and thank you so much for the love, but dealing with the texts and phone calls of people expressing them has been very stressful and my anxiety was already taxed before the fire.
I will try to check in once a day or so. If I am radio silent too long (say 3 or 4 days),
vexed_wench is my out of state emergency contact and should know what is going on (though it is hurricane season for her).
