andyg5056

It is beyond bad, it's terrible...

California and Oregon 2020 wildfires in maps, graphics and images

jeffergray

Thanks for posting this! It's appalling,but very informative.

tomfuller

Thank you for posting this. As a lookout that saw the massive smoke plumes from 3 of the fires that went over 100K acres on September 8, I can tell you that forest management had nothing to do with how large those fires became. Every day I or my relief weigh fuel moisture sticks at 2PM. In the days before Labor Day, the sticks weighed under 104.0 grams which is a 4% fuel moisture. Combined with a strong east wind late in the day Labor day, the stage was set for several massive fires. Several of the fires were sparked by trees taken down by wind into power lines.
Do not believe any posts about arsonists with political motivations.
Chief Rainbow was on scene at the Holiday Farm Fire when it was less than a half acre. She and her crew could not stop it. She and all of her crew lost their houses. As of this Monday, there are fire crews from 18 states plus National Guard working on that fire. There are over 100 Canadians working on the fire. They landed on Sunday at Redmond OR and were bused to the fire.
One day last week one of my fellow lookouts was evacuated from his lookout tower by helicopter. He just finished his season at another lookout on the Willamette NF.

Cherthor

My heart is deeply saddened with the devastation Of the West Coast fire - pray for it to be over soon.

5alive

The thing that is hard to explain is the massive size of the Oregon fires. On those maps, those flame areas are not just emojis, they are true to scale.

Thanks for your comments, Tom. And for serving as a lookout.

Sadly we went on the highway past Detroit Lake four days before the fire. So beautiful that afternoon. Hard to believe it is all gone.