Large wildfire burning in Oregon forcing evacuations

[Del91]

[URL]http://katu.com/news/local/eagle-creek-fire-explodes-forces-evacuations-i-84-closed-multnomah-falls-threatened[/URL]

[quote]The human-caused fire grew from 3,200 acres early Monday to 4,800 acres by the end of the day. It forced the Oregon Department of Transportation to close Interstate 84 in both directions between Hood River and Troutdale....
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office issued Level 3 (Go!) evacuations for a host of areas in East County. Here is the list as of about 11 p.m.
• Warrendale - Level 3 GO!
• Dodson - Level 3 GO!
• Larch Mountain - Level 3 GO!
• Latourell - Level 3 GO!
• Bridal Veil - Level 3 GO!
• East Corbett (Larch Mtn Rd and East) - Level 3 Go.
• Corbett - Level 1 Get Ready
Additionally, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office has issued Level 3 evacuations south of Interstate 84 for the Columbia River Gorge town of Cascade Locks.[/quote]
Not sure if this qualifies for sensationalist headlines but here we go

My mom lives in Troutdale and currently is not under any evacuation orders, but there's not many towns left between her and the fire at this point. This summer has been incredibly hot and dry so everything went up like a match. It's 0% contained and it's probably going to get worse through the night as the area is also known for high winds.

Some pictures that have come in
[t]https://imgur.com/R5ZMypE.jpg[/t]

[t]http://imgur.com/DGanAyO.jpg[/t]

lots of pictures posted here too:

[media]https://twitter.com/totally_grody/status/904977129497960448[/media]

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

Newsweek article:

[url]http://www.newsweek.com/oregon-fire-eagle-creek-columbia-river-gorge-wildfire-659443[/url]

[Alice]

[QUOTE=Del91;52649431]This summer has been incredibly hot and dry so everything went up like a match. It's 0% contained and it's probably going to get worse through the night as the area is also known for high winds.[/QUOTE]
From what I heard, they're suspecting fireworks were the cause too. Morons really need to learn not to be totally retarded during dry summers.

[Del91]

Some teenager with an m80 is what's been rumored.

Basically they entire gorge is on fire at this point, both sides.

[Snap]

Socal area just had a 7,000 acre fire a couple days ago. Which was the largest fire in LA history.[url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BYlMEZvAozw/]Timelapse[/url]

Hope they can contain it as quickly as possible.

[Del91]

They won't know it's size until morning, but some unofficial numbers are at nearly 10k acres

[Alice]

[QUOTE=Snapster;52649497]Socal area just had a 7,000 acre fire a couple days ago. Which was the largest fire in LA history.[url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BYlMEZvAozw/]Timelapse[/url]

Hope they can contain it as quickly as possible.[/QUOTE]
Up north they're also having record-setting fires in British Columbia too. Hopefully this fire doesn't result in Oregon and Washington following suit. We really don't need the entire damn Pacific coast burning to the freaking ground.

[Zanibar]

Sometimes I wonder if these extreme forest fires need new brutal laws against willful acts of arson setting them off. Like life or captial for fires that cause destruction above (x)acres or does x amount of damage.

[Sobotnik]

[QUOTE=nagachief;52649595]Sometimes I wonder if these extreme forest fires need new brutal laws against willful acts of arson setting them off. Like life or captial for fires that cause destruction above (x)acres or does x amount of damage.[/QUOTE]

a lot of these forest fires are actually the consequence more of people putting out fires than deliberately setting them

in natural conditions, regular (small) forest fires cleared debris and didn't grow too large (thus they are easy to put out)

if you end up trying to put out every fire, you just end up with a buildup of masses of debris that creates a huge tinderbox, at which point you won't be able to control it when it goes off. the really massive forest fires are mostly the product of human activity ironically enough

[Download]

[QUOTE=nagachief;52649595]Sometimes I wonder if these extreme forest fires need new brutal laws against willful acts of arson setting them off. Like life or captial for fires that cause destruction above (x)acres or does x amount of damage.[/QUOTE]

Places in the US have put people to death for starting fires in recent years.

[Alice]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;52649665]a lot of these forest fires are actually the consequence more of people putting out fires than deliberately setting them

in natural conditions, regular (small) forest fires cleared debris and didn't grow too large (thus they are easy to put out)

if you end up trying to put out every fire, you just end up with a buildup of masses of debris that creates a huge tinderbox, at which point you won't be able to control it when it goes off. the really massive forest fires are mostly the product of human activity ironically enough[/QUOTE]
This also, however, depends heavily on the area as well. Some places do controlled burns explicitly to avoid that issue.

[Trekintosh]

Los Angeles County has it real bad too. Here's a pic from my parents' front yard in Burbank.

[t]https://i.imgur.com/gDI4maV.jpg[/t]

That's right over the hill from them, maybe 2 miles away. It's at about 10% containment. The hill is a strong barrier, with winds going the wrong direction, so they're not evacuating yet.

[Kai-ryuu]

what's terrible about this fire is that it's threatening Multnomah Falls which is one of the most scenic/iconic places in the pacific northwest.

[img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Multnomah_Falls.jpg[/img_thumb]

lot of money comes in through international tourists and such and if the fire goes through here it'll be devastating.

[Alice]

[QUOTE=Alice3173;52649484]From what I heard, they're suspecting fireworks were the cause too. Morons really need to learn not to be totally retarded during dry summers.[/QUOTE]
So apparently it's not just "suspect" anymore. There were witnesses to it. Apparently some idiot teen was dropping M80s off a bridge while his buddy was recording it on his cellphone. People in the area reported hearing the bangs from the M80s then all of a sudden there was fire everywhere.
[QUOTE=Kai-ryuu;52650037]what's terrible about this fire is that it's threatening Multnomah Falls which is one of the most scenic/iconic places in the pacific northwest.

[img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Multnomah_Falls.jpg[/img_thumb]

lot of money comes in through international tourists and such and if the fire goes through here it'll be devastating.[/QUOTE]
Apparently it's getting really damned close now. It's already reached Horsetail Falls which is a bit past Multnomah Falls when coming from Portland. I saw a recording someone took early this morning (apparently like 3am or so) and the area on top of the cliff on the trail that runs past Horsetail was completely engulfed in flames and there were a lot of embers falling down into the forests below.

The news has shown the lodge at the foot of Multnomah several times now though and there's like a dozen or so fire trucks from various precincts spraying it down with fire retardants and spraying a fine mist into the air around it so the lodge at least should be fine.

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

[QUOTE=Fourm Shark;52650390]There are fires all about the pacific nw. The chetco bar fire rn is smoking out my town to the point where it looks like a very foggy day for the past week.[/QUOTE]
The entire Pacific coast is basically on fire right now. And there's so much smoke in the air where I live (east edge of Portland, right on the border of Gresham) that you can look right at the sun and even someone with sensitive eyes like me doesn't need to squint or anything.

Edit: Shortly after sunrise was really eerie looking actually. Everything had this sickly green tinge to it because of the smoke.

[paindoc]

It's currently just kinda orange out in Seattle because of the smoke, no real direct sunlight to speak of it seems

[Del91]

[QUOTE=Del91;52649498]They won't know it's size until morning, but some unofficial numbers are at nearly 10k acres[/QUOTE]
Yup, over 10k acres.

[url]http://katu.com/news/local/eagle-creek-fire-grows-to-10000-acres[/url]

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

[QUOTE=Kai-ryuu;52650037]what's terrible about this fire is that it's threatening Multnomah Falls which is one of the most scenic/iconic places in the pacific northwest.

[img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Multnomah_Falls.jpg[/img_thumb]

lot of money comes in through international tourists and such and if the fire goes through here it'll be devastating.[/QUOTE]

They had fire crews at the lodge there all night just hosing everything down trying to save the site while the fire burned around them

[Scoops]

We have a nice layer of ash on our car because of all this.

[TheLolrus]

Portland and Oregon City are all hazy and hellish-looking because of it. downtown is getting an ash sprinkling.

[Pretender]

The whole Pacific Northwest is on fire right now. I can hardly breathe outside, the air quality is terrible.

[Del91]

Here's a 12 hour time lapse

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR2DhoWsxo4[/media]

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

and a live stream of the same camera. Not much to see now, just thick smoke.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxV3o7upylY[/media]

[Alice]

My best friend is under a level 1 evacuation notice currently. Not being ordered to evacuate or even necessarily prepare to do so just yet but he, and his family, need to pay attention to the news in case there's an important update. And with how close he is to MHCC the shelter they've set up for evacuees may end up getting evacuated itself if he ends up having to evacuate too. Hopefully things won't get that bad.
[QUOTE=The Pretender;52650871]The whole Pacific Northwest is on fire right now. I can hardly breathe outside, the air quality is terrible.[/QUOTE]
I've been coughing since around the start of August due to the other forest fires in the area but it's getting worse since it's like right on my doorstep. Our car is covered in ash currently and my entire family has been coughing basically nonstop.

[Del91]

Their only comment on whether or not Troutdale/Gresham needs to get ready is watch the news.

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

Eastern Troutdale is now level 1

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

[quote] Level 1 Evacuation for Troutdale EAST of 257th and north of Stark to the Sandy River.[/quote]

The evacuation center at mt hood community college is included in that and my mom is literally just west of 257th, like on the corner of 257th.

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

Oh, I'm incorrcet, the MHCC evac center is just south of the intersection of 257th and stark so it's just outside the evac prep.

[Snickerdoodle]

[QUOTE=Alice3173;52649678]This also, however, depends heavily on the area as well. [B]Some places do controlled burns explicitly to avoid that issue.[/B][/QUOTE]

That's like half my dad's job, directing prescribed burns for half the state of Florida. They're hella effective and they make the forests a lot healthier as a result.

[hippowombat]

My co-worker took a picture of the Columbia Gorge, just before & just after the wildfire broke out

[t]https://i.imgur.com/ckx5FL9.jpg[/t]

Really frustrating, we've been under a near constant cloud of smoke from surrounding fires for most of the summer, sucks that stupid people seem to have been the cause for this one.

[Alice]

[QUOTE=Del91;52650916]Oh, I'm incorrcet, the MHCC evac center is just south of the intersection of 257th and stark so it's just outside the evac prep.[/QUOTE]
Still close enough that they'll need to worry though. Especially since that area right around 257th and Stark has quite a bit of trees. Since the fire managed to jump the Columbia I really wouldn't put it past it to manage to cross over 257th or Stark if it's able to reach that far. Hopefully the fire department would be capable of containing it if it gets that close though.

I have another friend who lives on 257th near RHS so he may end up having to evacuate too if he's not lucky now that I think about it. This is really horrible timing in his case because his family is working on selling their house to move elsewhere.

[Del91]

[QUOTE=hippowombat;52650997]My co-worker took a picture of the Columbia Gorge, just before & just after the wildfire broke out

[t]https://i.imgur.com/ckx5FL9.jpg[/t]

Really frustrating, we've been under a near constant cloud of smoke from surrounding fires for most of the summer, sucks that stupid people seem to have been the cause for this one.[/QUOTE]

[t]https://i.imgur.com/a1eq54K.png[/t]

hope your friend got credit lol

Is your buddy Jarom? Keep portland weird just posted his picture.

[BuffaloBill]

[QUOTE=hippowombat;52650997]My co-worker took a picture of the Columbia Gorge, just before & just after the wildfire broke out

[t]https://i.imgur.com/ckx5FL9.jpg[/t]

Really frustrating, we've been under a near constant cloud of smoke from surrounding fires for most of the summer, sucks that stupid people seem to have been the cause for this one.[/QUOTE]

The thing that gets me with massive fires like these is that before pictures look idyllic, and then you get to the after picture and it looks like hell itself.

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=UnidentifiedFlyingTard;52650652]We have a nice layer of ash on our car because of all this.[/QUOTE]

There was also ash on my car, and I can (moreso earlier) see bits of ash falling from the sky, and floating about in the air. Throat is fairly sore. Not liking that high heat, idle air, and forest fires has been the norm for the PNW the past few years. Doubt its going to get better: makes the future reality of our climate all the more tangible and terrifying.

Hope evacuations proceed well, and that all our fire bombers can get to work containing things as best as they can. Used to get to watch those things pick up water at my family's lake property: the bravery of those pilots flying old (sometimes WW2 era, with the PBY Catalina's) and usually poorly maintained aircraft into gusty, hot, unpredictable conditions filled with [I]fucking fire[/I] is insane.

[Del91]

Facebook video from last night

[url]https://www.facebook.com/doug.gross.35/videos/1899081680106256[/url]

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

Horsetail falls apparently

[editline]5th September 2017[/editline]

[t]https://i.imgur.com/ExAY4Z2.png[/t]

[t]https://i.imgur.com/Q1o3fbD.jpg[/t]

[Nahash]

The idiots who were throwing the m80s deserve serious time behind bars

[Wootmang]

Currently my favorite hiking trail :(

[img]http://imgur.com/a/xl3K4[/img]

I've mostly been browsing for years, how do you do an image link again?