Smoke and fire in Oregon
 

Cycle Oregon was cancelled, I woke up to a layer of ash on my pickup this morning. Air quality is ugh. Lots of fires in the PNW right now. Luckily I'm flying down to the Bay Area tonight for a conference, seems that air in the South Bay isn't affected right now, but that can change.

Lots of people here are hoping for rain later in the week.

Multnohma Falls is on fire... :(


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...e51a9e90_b.jpg21314392_1439202056172493_1824875230746818576_n by K Farm, on Flickr

Oneonta Falls tunnel
 

The fire jumped the river from Oregon last night and is burning Washington.... :(


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4424/...4b623cb7_b.jpg21317567_10213723412176820_761407856530143074_n by K Farm, on Flickr

Wow - hope it rains - stay safe out there!

Grey skies here in the north bay...we are getting so much particulate from the fires, it's gloomy.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. We rode as far south as Castro Valley yesterday. Visibility was poor and a lovely scent of burnt wood wafted through the air. It does seem to be gradually clearing up compared to a few days ago but there aren't going to be any clear vistas for a while.

Man that sucks. Beautiful country up there.

My car has a layer of ash on it, collected since 9:00 last night. I'm one of the Cycle Oregon "all dressed up and no place to go" folk. Rode a century Sunday but did it never going fast or breathing deeply. Very disciplined slow! Kinda weird but also kinda fun. The ash hadn't hit yet but I could look right at the 9am sun, just a big orange ball in grey.

Ben

What a funny year of natural conditions in Portland. Wondering what winter will have in store for us.

As a southern California native, been there ... done that a few times, including the huge Bel Air - Brentwood fire of 1961 and the big San Diego County fires of 2003 and 2007. Even when one's own house is not threatened, as in the 2003 and 2007 events for me, that smoky air is worse than miserable.

Scary stuff.

Was that the Columbia? That is a big river!!!

I left Portland a couple of days ago, and am back down in Eugene. Whew... the HAZE. Like bad fog, but it is smoke. I have about 1/4 mile visibility, and can't see the houses across the valley.

I went out for a bike ride Sunday. It wasn't bad, but not good either. I think the smoke is worse now.

I'm looking forward to the predicted rain Thursday :) Hopefully.

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Isn't this an oxymoron? How can a falls be on fire? :foo:

But then there is always the Cuyahoga river...


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The worst part is reports have the origin of the fire as being a complete idiot using fireworks on a hiking trail. About 150 hikers were trapped overnight before they could get out.

We're dealing with much of the same in central Washington and after 3 rides outside last week I'm relegated back to the indoor trainer for the time being due to the unhealthy air. I sometimes think I could go out for a ride and then take a look at the ash on my vehicles and quickly change my mind.

Up here in Port Angeles, we just got buried under a high layer of smoke last night some time. Got that eerie orange glow going again. I don't know if it's coming form Scozim's way, Canada or our own local fires (which thankfully, have been few and small this year).

Ouch...
Reports say they have a teenage "suspect", but no arrests have been made.

Apparently the fire is closer to Cascade Locks than Multnomah Falls, but is still expanding.

It is hard to say what to do with an "accident", but perhaps this is one of those things that it is time to just throw the kids under the bus, and perhaps some others will think twice. Fine the kid for $100 Million for fire fighting, property damage, detours, asthma, lost work, lost time, lost wages, lost tourism, ... Say take 70% of his wages for the rest of his life, with minimum income requirements, plus go after the parents if under 18, and their insurance, and all of their assets. Also if the fireworks were sold in Washington, go after the vendors for selling to out of state customers. Washington can "card" their customers.

Got done volunteering at The American Car Museum in Tacoma to come out and find a fine coat of ash over my Miata (don't brush this off as it can work like a fine/course sanding grit) so I'll wash it away and then keep the cars indoors.

Haven't seen anything like this since they stopped field burning in the Willamette Valley (used to burn the Rye grass fields this time of year, ash everywhere).

Now the question: how bad is the air and what risk to me breathing it? Hard choices.

Well, there was Mt. St. Helens... Ash everywhere, but I don't remember smoke.

wow, it's already cold in massachusetts ...

Huh? 86 in Boston today.

The smoke here in Boulder is as bad as I've ever seen in 30+ years. Last night I was out hiking with my wife and you could see sunspots on the sun (through a camera). Never experienced that before or the color of the sun at sunset (pink).

I imagine you may under the same blanket that has hit us up here in Vancouver - my understanding is the whole region here (Victoria is bad, for sure) is getting hit with smoke from both Eastern Washington and the BC interior right now.

Flamingo-pink setting sun as I ducked out the back at work with my bike to head back home...

A lot burning up in the Cariboo (central interior).

My lungs don't like the particulate, and the eerie haze is unsettling, but I'm thankful not to be among the tens of thousands directly affected by close proximity to out-of-control fires this season. Can't imagine what it's like for folks with homes, farms, animals (not to mention family and friends) in the path of the wildfires.

The most forehead-slapping story I've heard with reference to the wildfires this season is that of a man who decided, after a not inconsiderable number of 'so-glad-to-be-safe-and-back-at-home' beverages, to celebrate his return after being evacuated due to raging wildfires near Williams Lake, BC, by...well, you can probably guess at this point. :twitchy:

B.C. man fined after celebrating return from fire evacuation with fireworks | CTV News

Landed tonight, dark out, but seemed a lot better than at PDX when we took off.

I didn't have my portable AC out and running yesterday/Monday evening, and was really warm after putting around the apartment and doing some bike stuff. Haze didn't seem too bad then (heh) and I rolled out with my Masi for a meandering evening ride. Definitely enjoyed it. Sun went from yellow to orange to orange-red (almost ok to look at directly with no ill effect) and finally to red/red with a dash of pink, which was fine to look at. Brilliant colors--certainly beautiful amidst a slightly odd/eerie atmospheric coloring.

Ash this morning and orange/sepia tone colors all day. Eventually smelled like a camp fire, and about 75-100 yards to see a blue haze when looking down the street. Yeesh. I drove to Bike Works to do volunteering tonight instead of riding the six miles. Both to and from work commutes (2 miles, thankfully) were done at measured pace, 95%+ nose breathing. I like that we have dry weather, but man, this is the second bout of haze we've had this summer and it's killing long ride days.

We will get rain on Thursday, which will help tamp down the ash and smoke. I hope so, so we can get back to our normally scheduled Seattle summer weather bliss.

Here's some perspective from the first week of August when the Canadian fires were causing problems

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...cb87bb6b_b.jpg

And now with fires in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and in Canada still

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...82cf3070_b.jpg

Whether it's hurricanes or this - stay safe.