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Not Wes
Sept 12, 2020 0:03:32 GMT -5
Post by Boyd Percy on Sept 12, 2020 0:03:32 GMT -5
I just received an email from Not Wes. He and his wife had been evacuated from their home by the fires in the Pacific Northwest. Their house has lost power since Tuesday but he has generators so they can run refrigerators/ freezers. He is unsure when they can return. They are staying with friends.
I'm sure you will join me in wishing them well and a speedy return home with no property damage.
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Not Wes
Sept 13, 2020 0:31:53 GMT -5
Post by Boyd Percy on Sept 13, 2020 0:31:53 GMT -5
Message from Not Wes. When I hear more from him I'll let you know.
We are in no danger and we can get to the house to check on it, which we do once a day. I'm surprised that they let us, but the authorities are overwhelmed and don't have the manpower to control all the access routes in and out so simply aren't even trying to. We go and check (always worry about looting), and start the generator to charge up the freezers and refrigerators we have and my wife waters garden and other plants-- then I have to recharge the pressure tank for the water.
I don't think our house is in any danger of burning, especially after the weather change -- mostly wind direction, but also lower temps simply because of smoke cover, and the rise in humidity -- but anything can happen. The lady we're staying with is in a yellow zone (be ready to leave), but we also think that it won't escalate to red (evacuate now like we had to do) because of the same weather change.
This is something I knew was always possible here, but not very probable. Well, now we can definitely add it to the list of dangers. Not likely to happen again soon, but can't rule it out.
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Not Wes
Sept 27, 2020 17:42:52 GMT -5
Post by Not Wes on Sept 27, 2020 17:42:52 GMT -5
Thanks, Boyd.
We actually returned home about a week ago now (on Saturday, 19th). Evacuation was still in effect for our property, but our east property line was the border between red "evacuate now" and yellow "get set to evac," so we didn't feel any great threat in violating the evac order. We were downgraded to "get set" a few days later and right now are at green "get ready." We expect to go to white "no threat" soon. It has rained here at our house three times for a total of over 2.5 inches (6.4 cm?), the first of which was what settled the smoke enough to allow us to come home. The smoke was really thick for more than 12 days.
One fire started about a quarter mile from us (400 meters), luckily downwind, so it was pushed away. That one was wind toppling a tree into a power line, which sparked and started the fire. It grew to about 500 acres (200 hectares) before the wind subsided and it quit moving. It burned one home.
The fire that chased us out was much larger, almost 140,000 acres now (56,000 hectares) and is still burning but not growing appreciably that I know of. Winds were whipping it our direction, and when they quit the flame front was about a mile and a half from us (3 km). It was jumping roads and rivers and everything, It took out lots of homes on the way, don't now how many. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than smart or rich. The smaller fire was what cut our electricity off, and we were without for two weeks and one day, but that's still three days earlier than the electric company's preliminary forecast for having us back and powered up again. Our generator kept the freezers and refrigerators cold. We didn't lose anything, but lots of people did, some almost everything. The fires aren't all out, but the ones in our area, likely not all of them over the northwest USA, are no longer threats to major population centers like they were earlier.
I was unable to work on books for much of the time we were away, but hopefully there won't be any posting delays.
Not Wes
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