I can't tell you the actual mileage, from the fire we're not getting a lot of real time news from anyone at this time. thanks for asking. I've been wetting down the front and back yard as well as the wood pile that's exposed.
Well hopefully if you dont know, you're a ways away. Have you had fires this close or closer before? Do you have a wooden deck on your house?
No wooden deck, but, a brand new roof. i'm guessing we are 10 miles or so from the fire, but, at the speed they can travel who knows where it is now. The above picture is of the neighbors house across the street, it gives a better shot/idea of the smoke.
At least you dont have a deck to trap leaves underneath, and then catch an ember. Picture probably doesn't do the smoke level justice, but doesnt look too terrible (yet)... I know how it is though, I've been in enough smoke over the years...
7:02 pm just wet down the neighbors yard again, plus ours, went across the street to those neighbors, they had a lot of limbs and dried out leaves in their yard, plus of all things bark dust. NOT GOOD. So, i wet it all down really good and just came in the house after wetting ours down one more time for the night, its 67 degree's out right now, 3 degrees less than last night/ early this morning, thats a good sign. think i'll take a shower, been a long day.
Darn I'm so sorry to see this!! I remember it vividly when I went through wildfires. Take pictures of your things in every room/garage/shed on your property. Take pics of the labels with the serial numbers on all your electronics and household appliances. And in case you are evacuated get things together, medicines/clothes/other essentials (and the doggie's leash, collar, food). If you have room in your vehicle to take them with you have your computer (just the CPU if you are tight on cargo space, and photos/photo albums ready and other sentimentals ready (already packed into boxes) to throw in your vehicle and get to a safer place especially in high winds. I'm so sorry, I remember sleepless nights listening to am radio. Sign up for your local county emergency notification system if you haven't yet. Add your home phone and cell phones, and email addys. A dampened and wrung out tea towel or thin bed sheet tightly over the exhaust side of a box fan can help a bit with smoke that gets in the house. Yes take a shower! The smoke and ash (bark dust?) get stuck on our clothes and in our hair and on our skin, get it off and you will likely sleep better. I'm puzzled and dismayed with the fires in the PNW, even though things are dry there it does not appear to be a severe drought and to have fires in such a short period of time is so sad.
Thank you very much for your concern, we appreciate it!! We have done pretty much all you mentioned at this time, i have a few ''personal items'' that will go last. But, we plan on staying, i've wet down our yard, neighbors yard, neighbor across the streets yard. Lots of ash out there right now, and lots of smoke. Other neighbors are wetting down their yards as well. There is heavy fuel about 8 blocks from us, 2nd growth timber and brush. I've got 3 hoses hooked up with nozzles on them adjusted to a good pattern, and hoses will over lap each other so i can cover a big area. My wife has always hated the 100 ft hose we bought, too tough to roll up, but, now its the real deal, Its out front, so i can get our frontage, and the neighbors side yard. I have the neighbors hoses laid out about the same as ours. We'll do all we can, don't want to leave but, if we have to we will as a last measure. The high winds we had the other night have dropped off dramatically, that helped, but, the smoke lingers now and drops down lower. Its a little strange how fast these fires took off and spread. it is very dry here, the grass, was like straw stubble and crunch under foot, got it wet down enough where its softer and good and damp. We'll just stick it out and see how it goes, thanks again for the concern, we along the west coast need a lot of Prayers, Lots of them, so far, haven't heard of anyone being killed because of the fires. THAT is one big BLESSING in itself. Our grand daughter and her family lives in Wy. Glad they aren't here, she has 3 kids , they got snow, about 4'' of it yesterday,would love to have some rain, or snow, any moisture at all, right now. down this way.
Good, yes, leave if they ask you to, they turn off the electricity in large areas if the fires are bad enough to evacuate people so downed power lines don't start new fires, and resources are aimed at the fire, not helping homeowners that choose to stay. If power lines are down good chance phone lines are down too. So they are catching Antifa arsonists in Oregon, and I heard another man was caught in Washington. I'm so so sorry!!
Here is what it looks like today, notice you CANNOT see the big fir trees in the background. Now they are reporting an active fire just out of town, and its running up the hill. Should add the relative humidity right now is 74% my yard is very, very damp. thats the good news.
I assume/hope "up hill" is going away from the town? If they can control the back side, at least it will take the fuel (or at least some of the fuel) away for when/if the main fire comes that way. 74% RH is very good for being cooperative for controlling.
Its about 9 miles from this town, but close to a small farming community they released the city FD but the ODF is fighting it now, supposed to have a cat and 20 firefighters. Sure hope they can knock it down fast, its been over 5 hrs since they started fighting it.
Arson in Utah too UPDATE: 14 confirmed arson hot spots in Manti-La Sal National Forest Another resource beyond inciweb Public Information Map!
WE just got a official alert, about a downgrade on the danger of the fires . we were literally surrounded by many different fires and as of a few min ago, several area's around us were downgraded from a level 2 back to a level 1. Level 3 is the worst, it means leave NOW, Thank you again for the Prayers. NOW its time to THANK GOD for this.
the smoke from the fires in Washington and Oregon have blanketed Vancouver Island. We didn't get it until Friday afternoon. This morning is dark and thick with fog and smoke.
I live in the county just outside of Bonney lake and the sumner grade fire. Luckily we weren’t evacuated. Still Smokey but at least our power and internet is back!