Fires in the West

[Finding God in the garden]

when people abuse the environment (use it in an unsustainable manner) you can be sure eventually it's going to catch up to them somehow... there is no such thing as a free lunch.

the farmers who overpumped their groundwater, that is the fault of them and them alone. you want to blame it on "evironmentalists" but they are just standing up for what little is left of the wild world which is what sustains all life on this planet. keep abusing it and you'll not only lose $ you'll lose your life (or your children or grandchildren). put your own greed above the common sense of living within what is sustainable and then don't cry when those dead chickens come home to roost.

Environmentalists aren't always looking out for what is even best for the environment though. Just like you said in your previous post that controlled burns need to be allowed to happen. Who do you think influenced the policies of no controlled burns? Environmentalists.

Some environmentalists oppose all hunting, but when hunting is managed well it is actually quite beneficial to the environment. It keeps the animals from reproducing to a point where there is not a huge scarcity of food and then causing a major decline in populations of animals.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

The fire continues to burn - slow, steady. Its been 22 days so far. The fire has reached the Rogue River in the Hellgate area, so its put a huge crimp on the tourism industry in our community of Grants Pass.

They've allowed some of the Level 3 folks back in to their neighborhood due to the fire being OUT. No structures have been lost in this 22 day fire. The ppl returning to their home found their homes looted. Why oh Why? The National Guard was called in two weeks ago to set up road blocks for the streets that were on Level 3. This means that you needed to have an ID in order to return to the streets affected. Sadly, some of the neighborhood, rural you understand, was hit or miss in the populations. Yes, there were some shady properties with appropriately shady characters. The ID would get them into the neighborhoods, where this pond scum looted. broke windows, cased the joint, caused random havoc within the home, all under the auspices of the NG who let them in. Remember, the NG is not protecting individual homes. They are there to stop the flow of lookie loos and the unauthorized from getting into the area. I have no idea if they are armed.

Being staged and ready at level 1 and then even more so at Level 2 gives you an oppty to get some things out of your home. Those folks who were smart, had friends to help them load up cars, trucks, flat bed trailers, etc with precious antiques, or other important large items that were moveable. Fire safes, gun safes, your grandmother's china, your kids paper drawings, maybe an antique piano. There was time to accomplish these tasks. You can rent a UHaul and then bite the financial bullet to rent it for the entire time you needed it, while it was parked at a friend's home. Be sure its all chained down though, or the locals will vandalize it. Note, that the Carr Fire in Redding never had very many "Levels". It was a fire storm. Raged, twirled, ran and overcame 100's of homes. Same with the fire last fall in Wine Country - It leveled homes within two days. They were lucky to flee with their lives. And some didn't make it.

Our plan was to have the 33 ft 5th wheel ready to back out of our property. Its always loaded for camping, and if I had gotten to a Level 1, I'd of packed it even more tightly. Food, linens, animal food, and more. Our 24' Cargo Mate trailer is also staged for backing down the driveway. Its got some furniture in it that won't fit in this house, and while reorganizing it last week, I gave some, non essential to me anymore, things away and took some larger items to the thrift store. Urgency is a terrific motivator. I'm the backer upper in this partnership (28 years last weekend) and I was ready to roll. The 5th wheel was going to be moved to our Realtor's large 7 acre property about 6 miles due east. The Cargo Mate would also go there. Just to park them.

You may wonder...what about renting a storage unit? Of the storage units that are located in our communities, all are 100% full. And that was before the fire threat! That is a nod towards the amount of possessions that the collective we own and feel the need to hang onto. Let see, I have a house, and my excess must be stored at a cost per month in order for me to hang onto my 'stuff'.

For 5 days, hubs and a $20 an hour helper friend, lifted trees (trimmed lower branches), raked up 2.6 acres of our property, cleaned gutters and blew off roofs. They piled two HUGE brush piles way out front of our property, as far away as they could get from our regal old oak trees. We can't move those piles, but they can stay until the winter comes and we can burn them. Hubs got the two trailers in place on the driveway. Old lumber and old debris was taken to the transfer station - several loads on the friend's flat bed trailer. Wood debris is free to dump, but anything else costs money

In the meantime, the smoke continues. The Rogue Valley, in two parts, is truly a valley. There are deep pockets surrounded by tall mountains (not Colorado tall) which really does a good job keeping the smoke intact in our lives. It was so bad two weeks ago, that any one sensitive to respiratory issues was advised to use an N95 mask. We've had one clear day. Last Friday wind came up and blew from east to west, so it pushed the smoke out over the mountain to the coast. An inversion came back in and we're back to smoke. I usually hang my laundry out to dry year round (saves money), but I've had to have hubs hook up the dryer so that at least I could get the smoke out of the clothes. I'm not a user of dryer sheets, but I had to buy a box to be able to reduce the camp fire smell.

Two weeks ago, the temps were in the 100's. Those poor fireighters - I never want to walk a mile in their boots. Then for 6 days we've been in the low 90s. But tomorrow back up to 100 and then 103. Temps like this with very low humidity, is not good for firefighting!

More later.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I was in the army when on field exercises I was required to back my trailer into the parking spot so all I had to do to leave was pull out. That could save time if you have to leave in a hurry.

 

[baymule]

I sure hope you and many others come through this unscathed. I’ll take a hurricane any day over a fire. I couldn’t like your early posts. I couldn’t like running from a fire and the possibility of losing your home.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Ridge: You made me look. One is the right way and the other is not. I cannot turn the 5th around. I've got three inches on each side of the gate and the two gate pads to contend with. Backing it down is the only way for me. Thank you for the education tho.

 

[flowerbug]

Environmentalists aren't always looking out for what is even best for the environment though. Just like you said in your previous post that controlled burns need to be allowed to happen. Who do you think influenced the policies of no controlled burns? Environmentalists.

Some environmentalists oppose all hunting, but when hunting is managed well it is actually quite beneficial to the environment. It keeps the animals from reproducing to a point where there is not a huge scarcity of food and then causing a major decline in populations of animals.

not this one, i say let it burn...

 

[flowerbug]

look at it this way ... your city puts in water line in your town, you put in your garden and some fruit trees since now you can grow your own. Suddenly the city says you can not water your garden and your trees that you rely upon to feed you and yours for some vague reason. Just would you do ???? Some people have foot in mouth disease. The project that created the water storage lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains as well as the water delivery canals made millions of acres bloom and provided employment and affordable food to millions of people that boosted the economy of Cal. to be the 6th largest economy in the world. Look at the remains of this environmental disaster that was the result of this lawsuit now. Dead and dieing orchards and vinyards, now fallow vegetable fields that are returning to tumbleweeds, erosion of topsoil, lack of river, lake and stream water to fight raging forest and grass land range fires ( both naturally caused as well as many firebugs as well as eco- terrorists ). The lands that created employment to many people has dried up and most of them are collecting welfare checks that come out of ever increasing tax bills to the rest of the population . Peaple are moving out of Cal. in droves. It is high time to stand up to the so called and misguided " environmentalists " that advocate a world order that only exists in their own minds but not in the real world of 2018.

morons planted trees in a desert... i can't cry for them.

you've misplaced common sense and want to fawn that off on some mysterious "environmentalist" baloney...

the drought you folks had was real and people conserved but if you look at the statistics the majority of farmers didn't do much of anything to note. a few did, but not to the same extent as the people in the cities.

 

[thistlebloom]

not this one, i say let it burn...

If that had been the case from the beginning we wouldn't be having most of these large out of control catastrophic fires.

Easy to say let it burn when you aren't the one living it.

 

[flowerbug]

If that had been the case from the beginning we wouldn't be having most of these large out of control catastrophic fires.

Easy to say let it burn when you aren't the one living it.

well of course, that's my point. let this one burn too. get people out to be safe but let it go. why put fire-fighter's lives at risk when the need is there for getting it all burnt anyways?

i wouldn't live out there. too arid.

we get tornadoes here, i'll take those over wild-fires any time. you don't even have to worry for me. if a tornado gets me it's my time to go. yeehaa. heck of a ride. been nice knowing ya's etc, etc.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Some environmentalists oppose all hunting, but when hunting is managed well it is actually quite beneficial to the environment. It keeps the animals from reproducing to a point where there is not a huge scarcity of food and then causing a major decline in populations of animals.

the only thing needed in wild lands to control herbivores are wolves. hunting around here may thin out some of them but it doesn't really improve the actual population when it comes down to diseases and culling out the weaklings. the hunters go after the trophies, etc.