Wildfire Season Has Arrived...

[Bill Satko]

with a vengeance. We have had a relatively slow start but the past few weeks have turned that around. About 3 weeks ago we had a fire in the North Cascades that closed that pass. Just last week we got another one in the same pass. Those fires are just inconvenient and not a threat to anyone. But other fires in Washington and our Canadian neighbors in BC have destroyed structures. A massive fire has crossed over the border from British Columbia directly north of us (the blue cross which represents approx. where we live). Each time the wind picks up we get a little nervous as any fire that starts will travel very fast. And yes we have plenty of smoke coming from all directions.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

That's a bummer, Bill. I have a feeling this year is going to be a bad one for wildfires in a lot of places.

 

[Paul Douglass]

Down here in the SE Wa, we can't even see across the river, the smoke is so thick.

 

[Dave Hoskins]

With this heat wave, it is drier than a popcorn fart. We've been putting out wildfires all over the state for over a month now. No fun at all.

 

[Bill Satko]

Yesterday morning our power went out. The local electric co-op disables their reclosers during extreme fire danger. They then require crews to go out and inspect all the affected lines before manual reclosing the system. Reclosers will attempt to close 3 times after a fault before staying open forcing the power to stay shut down. During extreme fire danger that could be a problem. This policy is a good one around here but it does mean we have longer power outages due to required inspection by crews.

After sitting around the house looking at each other while the smoke began to seep into the house due to the fact we couldn't run the air purifiers we decided to head into the town and hit the farmer's market and then have lunch. My wife had been in the middle of baking some cookies when the power went off. As we headed out the door, a two man crew from the electric co-op rolled up to hike over to where the power lines were near us. Happy to see them as it meant the co-op already had crews out checking out the problem. We gave them a small bag of fresh cookies to reward them. They seemed happy to have them. When we got back the power was restored and baking of cookies could continue.

We have had very high temps for the past weeks and now are forecasted to have very nice weather (low 80's). We won't be enjoyed that much as the smoke will remain keeping us from opening up windows and enjoying the normally sweet mountain air. Things could be worse and we feel lucky as other parts of the area is burning up, especially up in British Columbia. I am sad about a local fire near us just west of Washington Pass in the North Cascades. It is right where I did a hike last year up the Copper Creek drainage to Copper Pass. A beautiful but tough hike not that far from home.

Stay cool especially those of you in the Midwest. I hear it is going to heat up again there.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Smoke ain't to bad here. You can still see across the street anyway. Can't see across two streets of course, but as far as it goes that's about as good as it gets nowadays I suppose.

 

[glenn bradley]

Yesterday morning our power went out. The local electric co-op disables their reclosers during extreme fire danger. They then require crews to go out and inspect all the affected lines before manual reclosing the system. Reclosers will attempt to close 3 times after a fault before staying open forcing the power to stay shut down. During extreme fire danger that could be a problem. This policy is a good one around here but it does mean we have longer power outages due to required inspection by crews.

Similar situation down here. With the unusual weather coming through our part of California right now, the power is been shut down as we are surrounded by nature preserve area. Nature preserve in this part of California means dry, scrub, hills that look more like fire tinder, then hill sides.

 

[Chuck Ellis]

No power outages here, no wild fires yet either... Tuesday we did have a frog strangler storm with high winds that down 4 trees... one across each road we would take to go most anywhere... I was scheduled at the hospital for a 5 am appointment for my TAVR procedure... Ed and I drove from 3:30 am to almost 4 am and never got over 5 miles from the house... every road we could take had a tree across the road..... I did get losts of practice with the 3 point turn around.

 

[Bill Satko]

Similar situation down here. With the unusual weather coming through our part of California right now, the power is been shut down as we are surrounded by nature preserve area. Nature preserve in this part of California means dry, scrub, hills that look more like fire tinder, then hill sides.

Although SoCal will bear the brunt of the coming storm, many here are hoping that some of that moisture will make its way north to us. Spring and early summer we had a decent amount of rain that triggered a lot of growth and now like you it is all tinder dry ready for a spark. Hoping for some fall rain to dampen the fire danger so that we can enjoy the normally cool autumn before the snow starts to fall. The big problem will be the fires in the mountains which will require snow to put them out. Smoke will be a problem until then.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

a frog strangler storm

Well there's a descriptive turn of phrase I haven't heard before. I'll be stealing that one.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

I remember them well. The year before we left Idaho we had a fire to the south of us that destroyed an area larger than the NJ county I grew up in.

Stay safe.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Purple is good right? Everyone loves purple...

 

[Tom Niemi]

Purple is good right? Everyone loves purple...


Well, at least Vaughn does

 

[Bill Satko]

Something tells me I will be missing the usual Monday morning golf game with some friends.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

As I mentioned to a friend of mine from Moorpark CA, who's had over 6" of rain and an earthquake in the last 24 hours, I'd say the usual "stay safe", but that's just idle talk. Nobody needs to be reminded to stay safe when they're in the middle of some type of turmoil (rain, fire, earthquake, etc.). I'll just say I'm wishing the best for you.