There are over 40 wildfires currently burning in my local state of Oregon and Ive seen estimates that we have over 300,000 acres of fires going right now, but Ive seen reports putting that in the upper 400's. We've lost 5 towns completely to the fires and 10's of thousands of people have been evacuated in the paths of the fires.
This time of year (the last week before school starts) we are normally out and about, my family of 4 here. We normally go so somewhere familiar, but this time decided to go further south to somewhere the kids had not been to yet. Thankfully we did, as the town where we normally go (and were at a few weeks ago) is completely destroyed. The town of Detroit Oregon is no more and is one of the 5 towns destroyed by the fires. Its very sad.
High winds and dry conditions have spread the fires quickly and firefighters on several of the big fires are no longer able to fight the fires due to the dangers and are only able to rescue as many people as possible in the fires path.
Here is a story of the people that were at the State Park where we often go.
Thankfully we were not one of those 70 people backed up to the docks.
This image was sent to me by a friend I near the Santiam fire.
So I personally was much further south where we were being covered in ash and smoke from the fires. We drove 3.5 hours north to get home and had fires in all directions. No blue skies anywhere, just smoke.
My pic (from Florence Oregon) where the air is listed as hazardous and ash covers everything. The pic at the top of the article was about 15 minutes from where I was at since Monday.
In some areas you cannot even see the sun or it is a strange orange or red color. Now that I am home the air is much better but our skies are orange with wildfire smoke.
So I envy everyone that has those beautiful blue skies. Missing them dearly.
If you are in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or Northern California, I hope you are safe. Please take heed of any evacuation notices and be ready to go at a moments notice.
The Red Cross is taking donations to those in need right now and who have lost everything they have to the fires. Able to help? Here is a link to get started to find your local specific donation areas.
