Heartbreaking Story From Oregon Fires

[Bailey Guns]

I can't even begin to imagine what this man must be going through:

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/in-depth/news/2020/09/10/oregon-wildfires-santiam-fire-evacuations-leave-family-members-dead/5759101002/?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200914&instance_id=22169&nl=the-morning&regi_id=100030844&section_index=2&section_name=two_more_big_stories&segment_id=38010&te=1&user_id=458017fa040fd3714c52a1bffe55eba7

[encorehunter]

Wow. That was a difficult read.

It is difficult to predict wildfires. With fuel loads even in the 1000 hour size being so dry in Colorado, everyone should have an evacuation plan. If you are in a pre evacuation zone or close to a fire, think about being ready to leave, or going somewhere else for a day or two. It is hard to walk away from all of your belongings, but most can be replaced. Life can not. Fire mitigation is huge in rural areas, but even that is no guarantee.
All it takes is a wind shift or some gusty wind to change the dynamics of wildfire. Gusty wind can cause fire to jump from ridge to ridge, traveling miles in minutes with spot fires. Your stuff isn't worth the lives of you or your family. If you have a camping trailer, go park in a pull out off the road somewhere. Explain to law enforcement the situation, most will understand and say ok or find you a better place to park.
I know how hard it is to loose all your possessions. We lost it all in the 90s in a house fire. It is not pleasant being burned, as I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 24% of my body, along with broken ribs. It is a lot easier to start over when everone is healthy. I have been in fire and EMS for over 20 years now, and I try explaining to victims of fires there is still hope after, and tell them things will work out. They still cry for the time being, but after a year or two, they are usially doing well and say they appreciate life more.

[beast556]

The whole situation in Oregon is fucked up, especially since most of the fires were started on purpose by scum bag peices of shit. My parents and uncle and all there nehibors and friends lost there houses last week. My parents barely made it out, my mom said they saw the smoke and next thing they knew there house and the neighborhood was on fire. Lots of people had no insurance and have set up tents where there house used to be.

[hollohas]

Man that sucks. These fires can be so unpredictable. Trying to guess what they'll do is a losing battle.

I was camping in the woods right next to where the Hayman fire started on June 8th, 2002. Just to the northeast of it. We saw the helicopter making water drops but the smoke was minimal. We figured it was well under control since they got on top of it so quickly. We should have left immediately, but we were young and dumb.

That night I started to get worried as the fire started to climb a ridge across the way from us. It made it to the peak of the ridge and we could see the trees on top catching fire quickly. But the wind was in our favor and the fire initially stayed at the top of the ridge, not coming down towards us. The group had been drinking that evening but all stopped as soon as the flames were visible. Everyone except me went to sleep to try to sober up so we could drive out. I had stopped drinking earlier and agreed to stay awake all night to keep an eye on the fire.

It's turns out that was a good decision because early in the morning the winds shifted and smoke filled the little valley we were in. I got everyone awake, we broke camp and drove out as fast as we could back to Lake George.

We drove into Woodland Park, had breakfast and right after I headed out 67 to drop my girlfriend off at her house out near the south site. The highway was closed already. They told us there had been an evacuation ordered.

That fast. 51mph gusts from the southwest that morning pushed the fire right through where we had been camping only a couple hours earlier and was moving northwest quickly. Had everyone went to sleep that night, it's likely none of us would have gotten out.

The Hayman fire ran 19 miles, burned 60,000 acres and had 1 mile plus spotting that first day. I learned right then that you can't predict wildfires and you need to treat them with great caution.

[ray1970]

Day three here in Oregon and the fires have been crazy. Can?t hardly put the top down on the convertible because of the smoke. My first two beach front rooms I couldn?t even see the beach from the room because the smoke was so thick. I had to cancel a stay in one city because a large portion of the population had been evacuated and pretty much all of the restaurants were closed. It?s crazy.

[GilpinGuy]

That was hard to read. I can't imagine going through that.

We had one "be prepared to evacuate at any moment" call from the emergency notification center once and it was freaky.

A cabin 1/4 a mile away or so got struck by lightning and went up during one of the really dry, fire-riddled summers (aren't they all these days?) a few years ago. We smelled the smoke and heard the sirens. I was frantically packing shit up like a madman into the vehicles. Luckily the fire dept. kicked ass and put it out quickly. That was a giant wake up call.

[Bailey Guns]

I believe it was the Snaking Fire in 2002 that was so close to our house the slurry "overspray" from the tankers (whatever that's called) was all over our cars and house. We were loaded up and getting ready to head down the drive when the wind suddenly changed direction and the fire turned back on itself and pretty much burned out.

[Aloha_Shooter]

That was indeed difficult to read. It's easy to underestimate not just the speed the fire itself will travel but the effects from smoke inhalation and the fire sucking up all available oxygen. Seeing the update that the grandmother's remains were also found in the car makes me think the kid was well on his way out per his mother's instructions but then decided to go back to help get his grandmother out, knowing his mother couldn't have.

I knew the husband who died in the Black Forest Fire -- word I got was that they had their car packed and ready to go and they probably would have got out if they'd just left 5 or maybe 10 minutes earlier. He had even stopped to help a neighbor get out. It's so easy to think "just one more thing" ... 4 or 5 of those and you've burned 10 minutes or so. I think about them every time I'm tempted to move to some backwoods locations.