2020 Wildfire Season

[bodywhomper]

Regarding indoor air quality, one of the best things you can do is to run the fan on your hvac system with the house closed up. If it’s really bad seal fan entrances, etc. change the filters every couple of weeks or after the smoke clears. Your fan can probably do an air change of your house in a few hours.

Portable filters also work. I have a office shed I work out of and the difference is noticeable when I have a little $70 filter inside running.

One of the best economy filters you can make is to put a good hvac filter on the back of a box fan. Box fans move a lot of air. Make sure tape it / seal it to the back or a lot of the air will pass through any openings. I had a filter that was a little too small for the fan, so I took the cardboard sides off and stretched it over the fan. That also made it easier to tape it up with a good seal.

Happy breathing.


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This ^^ is the best advice. Also you can put tape around the edges of leaky doors and windows. We have no hvac. I have several box fans that are sucking through merv12 filters (I couldn’t find merv13 filters locally. And we have a portable hepa filter that I bought during the Camp Fire smoke fest. It’s medium size (~2’x1’x1’), and it helps substantially. Woke with a mild headache and my wife’s had a headache since Thursday.

I have a friend in Talent who’s home didn’t burn down, but they have bad smoke now and no power. That’s gotta be rough and I hope that can bail to someplace less smokey.

Our airs generally been bad since we had a local wildfire in July, but last night was the worst so far. The San Juan ridge, which is closer to the Bear Fire/North Complex by about 5 miles than me which had a low cost purple air station that was consistently reading over 600. Our air district site, which has its station about 8 miles from my house and about 15 miles from the site with the 600 readings, was consistently reading between 375 and 400 in the evening and jumped to 527 before I went to bed. I see that Reno is really bad right now).

Btw, why can’t I post a phone screen picture?

[ill-advised strategy]

Re: smoke. If thousands of us can go entire careers hiking around and working and sleeping in it all summer, you can go a few days or weeks. We’re fine. You’ll be fine. I promise.

[LongShortLong]

I have less than fond memories of the rice burning, but it was much more local as I recall ..... but then I was living in Davis so obviously didn't see what might have been happening in the Bay Area. While I would never blindly trust my memories of 60+ years ago, I have no recollection of any smoke days at all on the Peninsula. Another more current and local climate change issue is the complete disappearance of Tule/ground fog over the last 30 years - at most we now might see a little bit of high fog blow down from the North part of the Valley as the morning progresses that then quickly burns off.

To be clear, I don't remember smoke either. I do remember general air pollution was often bad (out in Livermore). Take a deep breath and lungs hurt quality air. Don't miss that. Hurray for air quality regs!

[KQ]

Re: smoke. If thousands of us can go entire careers hiking around and working and sleeping in it all summer, you can go a few days or weeks. We’re fine. You’ll be fine. I promise.

What you do is vital and I hope you do not suffer long term consequences. Several studies of the health hazards faced by wildland firefighters are ongoing:

Not Enough Is Known About Smoke's Effect On Wildland Firefighters' Health

Study shows firefighters’ exposure to smoke increases disease risk

Wildland Firefighter Smoke Exposure

You be safe out there and I'm going to stay home with the house closed up. Thank-you for what you do.

[Single Track]

Re: smoke. If thousands of us can go entire careers hiking around and working and sleeping in it all summer, you can go a few days or weeks. We’re fine. You’ll be fine. I promise.

Yeah man! And some of us can smoke a pack day for our entire lives and never get lung cancer! We're fine!!

[char_]

Re: smoke. If thousands of us can go entire careers hiking around and working and sleeping in it all summer, you can go a few days or weeks. We’re fine. You’ll be fine. I promise.

I know what you are saying but...


Not all of us are fine. And some of us have kids or are asthmatic or have developed issues that can probably be tracked back to smoke and chemical exposure.

[Meadow Skipper]

Re: smoke. If thousands of us can go entire careers hiking around and working and sleeping in it all summer, you can go a few days or weeks. We’re fine. You’ll be fine. I promise.

I figured you might get a little blowback on that.

[John_B]

I know what you are saying but...


Not all of us are fine. And some of us have kids or are asthmatic or have developed issues that can probably be tracked back to smoke and chemical exposure.

For sure. Never fought fire but as someone who has asthma I can feel my lungs getting shittier any time the AQI is above ~100. And that's the reason working fire was never on the table for me.

[MTT]

Re: smoke. If thousands of us can go entire careers hiking around and working and sleeping in it all summer, you can go a few days or weeks. We’re fine. You’ll be fine. I promise.

Around here it's the most smoke I have ever seen. But interesting everyone is out and about. Patio dining is packed at the local places. Life seems to go on

[Hood26]

Here is the incident command page with updates on Riverside.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/7174/55624/

The FB page for Mt. Hood National Forrest has been pushing info regularly too. Give them a like if you want to follow.

Regarding smoke, stay hydrated to give your body the best chance to keep your mucus system running well and your lungs as clear as possible. I am sorry for asthma suffers. You may want to check your inhalers and get your prescriptions filled. Your doc may let you refill earlier than normal.

[Sharon Needles]

KEZI9 reports that the Lane County Sheriff says 50 missing in the Holiday Farm Fire (Mckenzie)

[bodywhomper]

Hearing from the rogue valley area. Pre-fire: 1% vacancy rate. The current official info about home destruction is not accounting for the mobile home parks that were burned down, so the # of displaced is much higher than what’s being officially reported. And of course, that population is one of the most vulnerable to multiple bad things.

[KQ]

[TBS]

I dunno - the house already smells like a mix of fir and cedar...

I got the AQI in my garage to 420 with this method today.

[Meadow Skipper]

^ I’d take an AQI of 400 of that.

[Hood26]

Hearing from the rogue valley area. Pre-fire: 1% vacancy rate. The current official info about home destruction is not accounting for the mobile home parks that were burned down, so the # of displaced is much higher than what’s being officially reported. And of course, that population is one of the most vulnerable to multiple bad things.

City Commissioner of Talent was just on CBS National News And confirmed this. Over 500 homes lost. City Commissioner recommends donations to United Way and Red Cross who are spearheading efforts to get folk clothing, good, and shelter.

[TBS]

^ I’d take an AQI of 400 of that.

It's down to 480 outside (and inside) right now - gonna go back out to the garage. Ms TBS is slowly coming around to thinking the garage smells better too.

Forecast is for good chance of showers early next week. Would be great, esp because the storms will be coming from the west and that means rain will drop on the Holiday Farm, Beachie Creek and Lionshead fires

[donutlynx]

Hearing from the rogue valley area. Pre-fire: 1% vacancy rate. The current official info about home destruction is not accounting for the mobile home parks that were burned down, so the # of displaced is much higher than what’s being officially reported. And of course, that population is one of the most vulnerable to multiple bad things.

City Commissioner of Talent was just on CBS National News And confirmed this. Over 500 homes lost. City Commissioner recommends donations to United Way and Red Cross who are spearheading efforts to get folk clothing, good, and shelter.

I think we're going to see several thousand residences (including apartments and other housing facilities) lost in the area of Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, and South Medford. My wife and I couldn't sleep once the wind picked up early Tuesday AM - too noisy and I was switched into alert mode. The fire started a few blocks from my house and it went NNW in a real big hurry. Sustained SSE winds at 25+ and gusts over 50 for 36 hour period. No chance at containment and barely enough time to evac for many folks.

I have studied and taught wildland fire behavior as part of my profession for the last 15 years, and this is the first time I've seen, in-person, a fire move that quickly from ignition to full-on FUBAR. Smoke here is atrocious - AQI in the 400-500 range with a red flag warning in-place for tomorrow afternoon. Here we go again, but (hopefully) not with the same wind speeds and duration.

[Hood26]

Glad to hear you are safe. Best wishes for future.

[old goat]

I have less than fond memories of the rice burning, but it was much more local as I recall ..... but then I was living in Davis so obviously didn't see what might have been happening in the Bay Area. While I would never blindly trust my memories of 60+ years ago, I have no recollection of any smoke days at all on the Peninsula. Another more current and local climate change issue is the complete disappearance of Tule/ground fog over the last 30 years - at most we now might see a little bit of high fog blow down from the North part of the Valley as the morning progresses that then quickly burns off.

The dense tule fogs in the Sacramento valley miraculously went away when they stopped burning the rice stubble. When I first lived there finding your freeway exit was often a challenge in the winter. You never booked a flight before noon unless it was a very early flight where the plane landed the night before. Planes couldn't land in the fog back then. When I stopped living there in 2011 dense fogs were almost unheard of. Like London--the famous fog was actually smog, and lethal. Much better now than in Dickens' day.

[abraham]

The dense tule fogs in the Sacramento valley miraculously went away when they stopped burning the rice stubble. When I first lived there finding your freeway exit was often a challenge in the winter. You never booked a flight before noon unless it was a very early flight where the plane landed the night before. Planes couldn't land in the fog back then. When I stopped living there in 2011 dense fogs were almost unheard of. Like London--the famous fog was actually smog, and lethal. Much better now than in Dickens' day.

I thought depletion of ground water was part of it too? I remember the crazy dense fog when driving to see family near Fresno, so within the last 30 years.

[SkiBall]

I remember doing a job in Sacto and coming home on 5 in the middle of the night and hitting tule fog. I think that was my first experience with that dense of fog. Fortunately being on 5, not a lot of turning involved.

[Meadow Skipper]

The dense tule fogs in the Sacramento valley miraculously went away when they stopped burning the rice stubble. When I first lived there finding your freeway exit was often a challenge in the winter. You never booked a flight before noon unless it was a very early flight where the plane landed the night before. Planes couldn't land in the fog back then. When I stopped living there in 2011 dense fogs were almost unheard of. Like London--the famous fog was actually smog, and lethal. Much better now than in Dickens' day.

Interesting article about the decline of tule fog. In my California days - 60s and 70s - there was tule fog and burning rice fields...and fires were a lot smaller. Oh, and it was a lot more interesting driving then before I-5 existed and before 101 got freewayed. Things were a little wilder back then.

Anyway, https://www.livescience.com/46121-ca...-tule-fog.html

[altasnob]

Smoke forecast Monday 11 am pacific

[KQ]

Smoke forecast Monday 11 am pacific

Counting the hours. So bad here that despite my best efforts smoke continues to seep into the house.

Animals seem surprisingly okay with it. Donkeys and deer might be a bit bugged but horses and cats seem normal so far. Turkey and pheasants are quite active too.

One of my house cats who will not be contained has been spending all day outside and now stinks like a forest fire.

Here's a question for any aperists: what do bees do when it's smokey like this? Do they flee their hives or hunker down?