It looks like the fires are still raging. Is anything getting better? Is everything getting worse?
Happy to see this headline – calling it like it is – at the Washington Post.
Blazes fueled by climate change engulf vast region in crisis
Please let us know how you’re doing. Stay safe.
Evacuation Levels
- Level 1: READY – Level 1 evacuations are an Alert. Residents should be aware of a danger that exists. …
- Level 2: SET – Level 2 evacuations indicate there is a significant risk to your area. Now is the time to be set for immediate evacuation. …
- Level 3: GO! – Level 3 means there is immediate danger.
Aziz, light!
I’m safe as long as I don’t open the door and step outside. On a positive note, I think the smoke is probably killing all the virions.
ETA: Yes, I know that isn’t true. Portland air is no better today. I don’t think relief will come until we get rain Monday night and Tuesday.
Annie
Ocean Beach, San Francisco here. The air quality today is now Unhealthy as opposed to Very Unhealthy yesterday. The morning paper says there’s so much smoke coming from the fires that even if the winds push the present smoke load away, more smoke will flow in. Some of the fires do seem to be getting contained. What we really need is some rain but there is none forecast.
Sigh.
Jerzy Russian
The Valley fire East of San Diego seems to be better under control. The skies are still Smokey, but not as bad as the last few days.
Ruckus
In socal the Bobcat fire is still burning, 6% contained at least 26,000 acres burned. The smoke is not as thick but the low winds that help with the fire keep the sky from clearing at all and of course the fire is still going so new smoke is still continuing. Not as much ash is falling, but my car is still ash covered and looks abandoned, as do most everyone else’s cars. The smoke is not sitting right on the ground so while breathing is not bad it isn’t great either. AQI is 155 this morning, considered unhealthy.
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: I imagine there’s no way to wash the ash off the cars without having a wet surface for the continually falling ash to stick to.
Roger Moore
Things are pretty dicey here in SoCal. The Bobcat Fire is spewing ash and smoke everywhere, and it’s just about reached the northernmost part of Monrovia. The closest bit of fire is only about 3.5-4 miles from me.
w3ski
I’m in the: Gold Country” of Ca. and in spite of being in a tinder pile there is no local fire. We sleep with a go-bag packed but so far so good. Hoping it stays this way. Heard it’s a La-ninya year which usually means bountiful rain here. We do need it now.
w3ski
Kent
Cold dense fog settled over us here in Camas (across the Columbia from Portland) but the air is still smoky. Its’ only 55 degrees right now in Camas. I have discovered that the disposable paper masks from Costco do a better job of filtering out the smoke when I walk the dog than the cloth masks do.
I expect the still winds should greatly help containment and help keep the fires spreading any closer to Portland. They are calling for offshore winds out of the west by the end of the weekend along with rain, which is the best possible news in terms of weather. So maybe the worst is behind us, at least here.
Our AQI is still a horrific 292 but that seems to be the same number for everywhere I check in the Portland metro and I don’t think it is quite that bad right here where we live on the edge of a hillside in sort of a protected ravine on the edge of the gorge
sukabi
70 miles north of Portland the air quality sucks.
OregonLive has a good rundown of the situation, it’s better than yesterday in that the fires aren’t growing as uncontrollably… horrible situation though.
https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/09/oregon-wildfires-clackamas-marion-county-blazes-remain-separate-evacuation-orders-persist-live-updates.html
soup time
South Puget Sound AQI bouncing around 200 yesterday and today. Ugly. Forecast improves Monday and Tuesday.
Friends in Salem and Eugene are in the deep end. AQI there 350-400. Darkness.
The orange turd says it’s because we don’t rake the forest.
Scout211
@Ruckus: Re: wild fire ash on vehicles:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/wildfire-ash-could-ruin-your-cars-paint-job-heres-what-you-should-do/2403859/
Haydnseek
@Roger Moore: That’s bad news. Last night it sounded like the fire was moving away from Monrovia. I’m farther southwest so all I get is smoke and ash. Bobcat fire still visible from my kitchen window when the smoke allows. I’ve seen a number of fires in the San Gabriel’s. The one that came very close to Mt. Wilson observatory some years back was terrible. I was standing outside with some neighbors and we were scared to death that the observatory might burn. Fortunately it made it through okay.
Kilgore Trout
About 10 miles north of Seattle here. Air quality yesterday was terrible, supposedly at one point during the day it was the worst of any city in the world until Portland took that honor back. Just an ugly, orange haze. This morning seems worse than yesterday morning, we’re keeping the house closed down tightly and will likely only go out very briefly for groceries. Tomorrow sounds like it will be just as bad, maybe some improvement by Monday.
TheOtherHank
Pacifica, CA is smoky/foggy, but no fires near by. Purpleair on my street has us at 182/152 (without and with the LRAPA fudge factor).
JDM
We’ve been riding out the last six months in an RV in Oregon. The air quality, and were on the coast right now, fairly far from most of the fires, is at about AQI 250+. That’s actually good, since the park we’d been staying in for five months is at around AQI 590 (and ready for evacuation at any moment due to a big fire about 10 miles off).
Those numbers are really awful; we sometimes go to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand during the “cool” winter weather, but always leave before the early spring burning season when the air gets really bad. And in that case”really bad” is between AQI 200-300.
JDM
We’ve been riding out the last six months in an RV in Oregon. The air quality, and were on the coast right now, fairly far from most of the fires, is at about AQI 250+. That’s actually good, since the park we’d been staying in for five months is at around AQI 590 (and ready for evacuation at any moment due to a big fire about 10 miles off).
Those numbers are really awful; as a comparison we sometimes go to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand during the “cool” winter weather, but always leave before the early spring burning season when the air gets really bad. And in that case “really bad” is between AQI 200-300.
Sloane Peterson's knee therapist
NorCal; 10 miles from coast as Poe’s Raven flies. Yesterday and today have been an improvement. Actual dew on ground and (metal) roof eaves dripping yesterday, less today. Smokey but bearable. There were evacuation warnings just 15 miles north and 20 miles east up to yesterday. Those have been relaxed with the arrival of light on-shore (sw breezes) yesterday. There might even be rain starting Monday night thru Thursday next week. I’ll believe it when I see it. Go bags packed, dog and cat food in car w/extra can-opener.
Yesterday saw 4 huge firetrucks and a smaller one with Texas plates in town getting breakfast at outdoor cafe. All trucks looked like they had seen action. Probably these guys.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/more-north-texas-fire-crews-deployed-to-help-california-wildfires/2442400/
JustRuss
Corvallis, OR here. Yesterday had condensation on the car for the first time since the fires started, so at least there’s some moisture in the air. Smoke is still bad. I had to work all day, mostly inside, and was pretty exhausted and a little loopy by 5:00. Today looks about the same, at least I can take it easy.
JaneE
Bishop here. Air is better today, AQI 87 = moderate. Last night about 11 pm was 597, so very much improved. Good slant visibility, but grey-brown haze on the horizon. Mountains are visible in the haze, as opposed to just the outline against the sky.
Louise B.
Here in Oregon, the fires are still burning, and the authorities say it will take months to put the largest ones out. The winds that drove the explosive growth of the fires have completely died down, and here in Portland, the air has been pretty much completely still for the last two days. There are still evacuation orders in place, but my impression is that the firefighters have gained a bit of an upper hand in protecting homes and other structures against the fires now. Air quality is still horrible, even indoors, and will remain so at least until tomorrow afternoon or Monday. Rain is expected next week, which is a blessing.
Many of the residents of the communities that burned here were poor and working class folks, lots of seniors living on a combination of small social security checks and minimum wage jobs. It will be really challenging for them to rebuild. It will be a horrible situation for many for a long time to come.
Pragmatic Idealist
Our usually pristine air along the Strait of Juan de Fuca is inundated with thick smoke, in the 300+ hazardous range. My weather app is showing drizzle because of particulates collecting in rain gauges. The saving grace is that the smoke is keeping the temperature in the high 50’s, low 60’s so that with the house buttoned up it is comfortable.
Sister Golden Bear
SF Peninsula here. Just got some actual sunlight as the morning marine (fog) layer burns off, as it does in normal times. (During the past days the smoke was so heavily that it prevented this from happening.) I’m really hoping it continues—several days of perpetual gloom have really screwed up my circadian rhythms.
Unfortunately, the air quality still sucks, it’s in the AQI 150-160 range, which is “very unhealthy.” Still having throat irritation and a little trouble breathing, so no walks today, but I’ll probably still go for a drive just to get out of the house for a bit. Need to get the car washed to get rid of the ash.
My thoughts go out to those in worse circumstances.
worn
Reporting from inner NE Portland here: haven’t been outside yet but today appears to be a continuation of the last few day’s smoky haziness. Honestly the entire world just smells like a Boy Scout campout to me right now. Looks like another day of *inside* projects.
The other thing that’s weird is all the birds seem to have gone into hiding. I haven’t heard the awful squawk of the scrub jays for days now.
Like everyone else, I am ready for this mess to be over.
CaseyL
Seattle: Air much worse than yesterday, color of a golden shroud. Like an amber-tinted thick fog. It doesn’t smell as bad or as noticeable as last week, but that might just mean I’m getting used to it. Keeping the cats indoors so I can keep all the doors closed has not made them happy.
Zzyzx
Seattle: this morning it was a weird mixture of fog and smoke. Saturday is usually my long run day but I decided to compromise and do a short-ish walk. Halfway through, the fog was starting to lift and the smoke was getting worse so I headed back home and did what exercise I could do here.
We’re getting back to where we were last night which is not good.
surfk9
Lodi here. it’s still hazy here. Air quality is unhealthy now forecast to be very unhealthy later. Grumble…
cain
Hillsboro, west suburb of Portland – it’s a sienna color sky – but no wind – parts of my house smell of smoke. I still need to do a thorough cleaning. It seems all the filters are out at Home Depot. I still don’t have air conditioning as I’ve been for it to be replaced for the past month or so but.. contractors.
I have no intention of going out – but this continuous yellow-brown sky is fueling anxiety with everyone here – if you have depression make sure you seek health. Mental health people are being slammed here from what I can tell.
Kim Walker
I just wanted to share some happy news. My sister and BIL’s place in Otis (near the Echo Mountain fire), was spared. They still can’t get back to their house – the road is closed – but the sheriff (possible deputy?) has been feeding and watering all the animals up and down their road, since the owners can’t get back in yet. Even the house animals (with permission). There was a flock of chickens at one house that weren’t doing so well, so he took them to his own backyard to care for. Sister and husband are going up to town to get hay and chicken feed today, as sheriff was getting low on supplies.
CaseyL
@Kim Walker: That is good news! It’s nice to see LEOs doing something positive for their community, too.
MazeDancer
@Kim Walker: How heartening to hear.
CaseyL
Oh, Jeez. I just looked at an AQI map of Washington state, and it makes no sense, with a couple of “extremely hazardous” spots being right on the coast of the Strait of Juan Defuca, and the “good” air snuggled up against the west slope of the Cascade Mountains, which is (to me, at least) completely counterintuitive.
ETA: Maybe the good air by the mountains does make sense, as the mountains are blocking smoke coming from the east and south.
hitchhiker
First Hill Seattle, from inside a tiny apartment on the 13th floor.
As others have said, our city is unrecognizable and ugly, and we’re told it will stay that way through the weekend. No going out without the N95, and then just to give the dog time to do his thing.
The feeling of dread and sorrow is just overwhelming sometimes — imagining all those people in lovely Oregon towns confronting their worst nightmares, and having this happen in the context of years of trump and a pandemic, knowing that this aspect of global warming is here to stay …. yeah.
Can’t dwell there for long. Our daughter is having twins in January. Our pets are healthy and sweet. We have options and reasons to be hopeful. The smoke will clear eventually. The election is coming fast. That’s my mantra.
Louise B.
@CaseyL: Inversions are common here, where cold (and in this case very smokey) air gets trapped below a warmer layer of air above when wind conditions are calm. Better air conditions are probably at higher elevations in the foothills of the mountains, above the cold, smokey layer.
wmd
CZU is slowly moving to 100% contained – currently 86%. Personnel has dropped from a peak of over 2500 to 783 currently. I’ve not seen a perimeter/containment map, but repopulation is still not complete and many repopulated areas are still under evacuation warning. Still checking the CalFireCZU twitter feed daily, less diligent about monitoring National Fire Situational Awareness maps for hot spots (I did today in response to a friend in Oregon and zoomed out to show the whole continental US – Texas looks bad too). The twitter feed had a USGS map for landslide/erosion preliminary assessment looks like I’m lucky on that front.
I’m not under warning personally – I’ve been clear to be home for 13 days. I rescheduled annual physical and optometry visits to local providers and both will be done next week. No problem rescheduling local vet appointment that also was delayed by evacuation.
I did some fire mitigation a bit more urgently than usual after some high winds – roof had 5 cubic yards of dry redwood duff removed. I’m likely to remove a pair of redwoods this autumn that are close to my garage and office. Thinking about landscaping and fire safety a lot for things to work on in the coming year.
WaterGirl
@Sloane Peterson’s knee therapist:
I wanted to let you know that an apostrophe in your nym throws every comment into moderation until it is manually approved.
It’s a WordPress thing, and we have no control over it.
MazeDancer
You sound well equipped to make it until tomorrow. Which, day after day, takes courage, in these times. And is all anyone could ask.
Kelly
We’re still at level 2 “be ready” near Oregon City. Fire crews have good lines between here and the Riverside fire that was threatening 2 days ago, comforting news. Air quality stinks. The inversion layer that is holding the smoke down is also slowing the fire down and keeping air tankers down.
Email from the power company informs us our power is restored at home. Hundreds, maybe thousands of linemen out working hard in hazardous air. My brother is an IBEW retiree so I know some of those crews. Friends near the evacuation zone report roadblocks are now staffed and impassable. Comforting to know there are a lot of cops keeping an eye on things and our friends are wonderful but I really want to go home.
trollhattan
Will helpfully note there are no “new fires” to report in Calif. The story on air quality remains the same–we’re stuck at around AQI 200–while some locations in the region are exceeding 300. It’s midday but the sun intensity seems more like 7:30 in the morning. At least it’s not hot.
NoraLenderbee
San Jose, CA. The sky is gray, not yellow, which is an improvement. AQI is firmly in the red zone, however. There go our weekend plans for riding and hiking. Even garden work has to be limited. I feel like a bored kid on a rainy day. Minor inconveniences compared to what other ppl are dealing with, I know.
trollhattan
What in the actual hell?
scott (the other one)
@worn: Also NE Portland here. Our birds were also pretty scarce, until we dug out an old electric birdbath and filled it up. We’ve always heard that running water attracts far more birds than non-running, which makes sense. But there was definitely a party going on at our birdbath yesterday from what I’m guessing were some pretty parched little birdies.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Nope.
The amount of ash falling has cut back a quite a bit from the earlier part of the week and the fire is not growing as fast as it was, but is still only 6% contained so it will be a while before it’s contained or out. The terrain is very steep and rugged and overgrown. It’s been 60 yrs since the area has burned so a lot of fuel there. It’s often forgotten that fire is natural in areas like this to clear out the old foliage and allow new growth. Of course that isn’t all that good for any animal that uses air rather than smoke as an oxygen source or has an ignition temp much more than 140 degrees but nature does have it’s little quirks.
cain
The worst part is that there was a plan in place and we couldn’t pass the law through the state house and senate because Republicans staged a walk out.
A lot of this is on them.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
You must be getting hit a lot harder than I am but I’m a bit farther away from it now. Good luck.
BTW I grew up in Monrovia, inside the evacuation zone, had friends whose house overlooked Monrovia Canyon, that house would be among the first to go.
WaterGirl
@JaneE: 597!?!
WaterGirl
@Kim Walker: That made me cry.
Ruckus
@Scout211:
The ash comes and goes here and washing the car every day doesn’t work all that well. It is what it is, there is no good solution to the problem. A lot of people, like me, live in apt complexes and have no access to exterior water, so it’s a car wash of some sort. Not really a solution to a once every 50-60 yr problem.
OR Soder
Canby, OR: The smoke seems heavier today – probably because of the increased humidity. No change from Level 2. AQI is 293. Although we changed the filters on the HVAC and have continuously run the system fan we still feel smoky. My daughter sent me this and it seems to have made an improvement.
https://youtu.be/qtaf1jTQThc
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus:
Or…you can rake.
trollhattan
Hey y’all, this will fix everything!
Will he bring the rakes this time?
Lefthanded compliment
Western Nevada County, CA here. The smoke has thickened earlier than yesterday; current Grass Valley AQI is 193. Last evening it peaked at 271. Ugh.
Villago Delenda Est
Tracktown, USA (AKA Shelby…oh, wait, Eugene OR): No one in their right mind is running/jogging in the soup that is the local air. Still light orange, with red disc. Visibility is less than one mile, and it’s all murky to begin with. The HUGE Holiday Farm fire east of Springfield is not under control, but seems to have halted its advance to the west thanks to the winds shifting from the west.
Sloane Peterson's knee therapist
@WaterGirl: Thanks. Was wondering why moderation every time.
Maybe I’ll just change nym.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
Yeah, and step on ALL OF THEM.
Cowboy Diva
Upper Olympic peninsula here (Clallam County, WA). I grew up in the midwest, so I know what a sky looks like before a tornado. It looks like that here, with the sky a gray-green color. Everything is hazy. The nearest wildfire is over 30 miles away, but the smoke from down south and back east has hidden the sun, the Olympic range, even the houses a block away.
Cowboy Diva
@Pragmatic Idealist: we may be neighbors?
Villago Delenda Est
Current AQI in Tracktown: 436.
Yuck!
Geoduck
Similar to what Cowboy Diva says, Olympia WA area has heavy smoke that blew in, but it’s not colored Apocalypse Red at least. We’re stuck with it until Monday at least, I guess.
UncleEbeneezer
I’m in Altadena. Does anyone know why Accuweather, and PurpleAir give such different readings? Accuweather on my phone has our AQI at 156 but Purple Air shows just a sea on 350+ readings. To my lungs, it is definitely the latter. Even with an N95 mask, I can feel the smoke with every breath. It is so bad that we cancelled our tennis lessons this morning (first time we have EVER cancelled for anything besides rain).
theturtlemoves
I’m west of Eugene about 3 miles or so from the Oregon Country Fairgrounds. Smoke still socking us in. No idea what the AQI is out here but I’m assuming it is ungodly. Really hoping for the winds to shift a bit in the coming few days to start clearing some of this out and bring some additional moisture from the ocean.
Mike in Oly
@Geoduck: Hello fellow Olympian! So looking forward to this smoke moving out. Just miserable having to keep everything shut up. But it could be so much worse, so trying to keep my chin up. Stay safe all!
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You aren’t raking where the Bobcat fire is. A lot of it is not even easy/possible to hike in. One reason it hasn’t burned in 60 yrs, no humans.
cain
If anything – it’s nice to know there are a lot of jackals in WA and OR. :-)
sukabi
@theturtlemoves: you can check your AQI on this site..upper right corner…enter zip code click round orange AQI button…
https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/
It’s 184 70 miles north of Portland where I’m at.
Dan B
@hitchhiker: We have friends on the 9th floor of a condo on Boren across from Virginia Mason (hospital). Haven’t heard from them for weeks.
featheredsprite
@Pragmatic Idealist: Also on the Strait. AQI is around 250. Yeah, it’s ugly here, too.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: I’ve hiked around there, I’ll bring a rake next time!
HumboldtBlue
Air quality on the coast remains poor although it’s improved a touch from the last three days. There are still major fire complexes affecting local residents to the south and east. Two evacuation centers have been established in the county and these fires will most likely burn until it rains and that could mean a few weeks.
More info here
Geoduck
@Mike in Oly: I’m actually a Tumwater-ite, but I figured to keep things simple. Maybe if restaurant dining is ever a thing again, we could have a meetup for BJuicers in the area.
juliet tango
@theturtlemoves:
Hey, we’re almost neighbors, I’m in Florence, more fog than smoke here, although we’re still in the unhealthy air category. Hopefully the marine air can push over the Coast Range to you tomorrow.
chopper
seattle here. pretty thick smog, like yesterday. think it smells worse but who knows.
supposed to be better tomorrow and then notably clearer monday.
The Lodger
Air quality is bad enough to stay in all day. The numbers don’t really matter.
WaterGirl
@Sloane Peterson’s knee therapist: Some people use an * instead of the apostrophe.
Yutsano
Eastern Washington Tri-Cities area. Hazy yellowish fog. Either we’re getting accustomed to the smell of the smoke or it’s diminished. I do have to make a store run here so can report more later.
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: Someone gave instructions on yesterday’s post for getting the Purple-Whatever to show something similar to the AQI number.
You click something and then click something else. Maybe search for the word “purple” in the post linked below and look for the instructions?
Friday’s post.
edit: comment #95 on that post:
Julie
Here on the east slope of the North Cascades it looks like we have the best air quality in the Pacific NW (AQI = 95). We just got lucky I guess, although we had a 3-day internet and phone outage earlier in the week due to the Cold Springs Fire that killed a one-year old boy.
rose weiss
Constant lurker here in southwestern Oregon. My house is less than a mile as the crow flies from the coast. Much better air today, but everyone is still staying indoors with go-bags packed. The ash seems to have stopped raining, at least at my house. I had to evacuate multiple times during the fires 3 years ago, and I wouldn’t like doing that again. My friends and I were already suffering from covid-necessitated isolation but we’d gotten creative with outdoor get-togethers. Now we can’t have those either. Sometimes it feels like everything we truly value is being taken away, one thing at a time. We’re doing our best with phone calls and zooming.
beckya57
@Kilgore Trout: Tacoma here, same. Air a sickly gray-green. We’ve shut down our house, but I have a mild headache and chest soreness. Supposed to get a little better tomorrow, but probably won’t improve much until we get rain on Tuesday.
beckya57
@Cowboy Diva: I’m also from the Midwest. Now I know what the sky here in Tacoma has been reminding me of. ?
Llelldorin
Hayward, CA here. AQI in the 200s—it’s like a smoggy day from LA when I was a kid in the 1970s.
rose weiss
Just checked the AirNow site. AQI here is 459, but it certainly smells better outside than in the past several days. A friend and I tried to visit on my deck yesterday, but even with masks on we were getting burning throats, so we had to go inside and sit across the room from each other.
HumboldtBlue
@rose weiss:
I covered those fires three years ago with a particular focus on Curry County. Here’s hoping that no evacuation order comes through.
soup time
@Geoduck:
@Mike in Oly: I’m actually a Tumwater-ite, but I figured to keep things simple. Maybe if restaurant dining is ever a thing again, we could have a meetup for BJuicers in the area.
I’m in for a meetup whenever. I’m in Lacey.
soup time
@WaterGirl:
A longer explanation:
https://thebolditalic.com/understanding-purpleair-vs-airnow-gov-measurements-of-wood-smoke-pollution-562923a55226
The better choice than LRAPA is AQandU according to the article. There are also some time-averaging selections that can improve accuracy, as conditions can change rapidly.
soup time
The BIG FIRE MAP.
https://fire.airnow.gov/
Holy crap. Gonna need more rakes.
Mike in Oly
@soup time:
@Geoduck:
I miss restaurants so much! Would love to do a meet up when it is safe to do so again.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: Thanks, I will check it out.