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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Aug 11, 2021 0:50:33 GMT
There seems to be a heat wave every where this year Marianne Marlow. Seattle had days last month in the 90s(F) - unheard of for them. Interesting tidbit, I was listening to a webinar by an avian vet who lives in a part of the US with hot summers. He said birds in the parrot family adjust to cold weather better than hot. He said to make sure your birds are hydrated and a fan blowing over a bowl of ice near them helps. Has anybody else heard this?
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Post by Morgan on Aug 30, 2021 6:24:05 GMT
So, we’ve had fires in our area for quite a bit, happens every summer. The nearest was about 20 miles east, often making the air pretty smoky, but just today a new one cropped up just a mile down the road! It burned its way through forest service lands and is now coming down the hillside directly opposite us. Luckily the wind is blowing away from us, and it’s actually no more smoky than usual, and it’s a slow moving fire that is unlikely to reach us because there is a big gulch between us and the mountainside. It was very exciting to watch the helicopters going back and forth overhead (I think I counted six or so in total) filling up with water at the river and dumping it on the blaze. Couldn’t see too much during the day, but I watched a single tree go up and burn out in less than 15 seconds! At night it’s hard to make out detail in the photo, but it looks like a bunch of backlit Christmas trees - actually very pretty! Anywho, the birdies are all safe in their cages and ready to leave at a moments notice. My OH converted the back of his pickup into a giant cage to load the chickens into if necessary, and our two dogs can go with either of us but they’ll probably want to be with him in the cab haha! I’ve got everything else remotely important packed up in my van (with plenty of space for the birds’ cages) just in case. Probably won’t sleep much tonight just in case the CHP we spoke to was wrong, or the winds change, etc. We can sleep in shifts anyway. But so far so good - at least I feel prepared. I should have taken a “before” photo to share on here earlier! But I’ll post another in the morning of the likely charred toothpick hillside I’m pretty sure I’ll wake up to tomorrow morning!
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,765
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Aug 30, 2021 8:18:35 GMT
Morgan The fires sound very scary
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Post by ffiscool on Aug 30, 2021 8:19:57 GMT
Wow. It’s so scary for you/everyone. I hope you don’t have to make a quick exit.
Keep safe
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Post by Morgan on Aug 30, 2021 9:26:23 GMT
My only concern is the lives of our animals. Well, and ourselves of course but it’s easy enough for us to depart!
All physical objects that I really need or care about most are already in the car, and stuff can be replaced. There are a few sentimental items that just wouldn’t be feasible to take,like a handmade coffee table and rocking chair, but at the end of the day they’re still just things.
I’m just glad we made it home in time to prepare! We were running errands on the coast when we found out and had to rush (safely) back home. 😅
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Post by Shirls on Aug 30, 2021 9:46:54 GMT
Oh Morgan my heart goes out to you. Hope you all manage to keep safe, I couldn't possibly imagine what it must be like or how you feel. Take good care of yourselves and your animals.
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Post by Morgan on Aug 30, 2021 9:53:02 GMT
Thanks everyone! Currently just watching it out my kitchen window. Staying calm. Not much else to do, ho hum…
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Post by Morgan on Aug 30, 2021 14:05:02 GMT
It’s close but looks like it’s going to bypass our house still. It’s crawling slowly along the ridge-line but hasn’t come down the hillside too much more than what we could see last night. It looks like it did burn into areas with homes last night 🥺 but there’s not much to see today - just thick white smoke.
OH went to see if he could get a better angle from up the way, but not sure they’re letting people travel in and out of this area at all. If you leave you have to stay gone - mainly to prevent looting of emptied homes. 😒
It’s actually harder to tell what’s happening on the ground during the day because the daylight reflecting on the thick smoke makes it harder to see the glow of the flames through it.
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Post by ariella on Aug 30, 2021 14:15:09 GMT
What a horrendous experience for you Morgan. Not being able to predict what direction the winds might change and how quickly the fire can move must be nerve-wracking. You sound very calm and prepared however. Really hope it bypasses you and nothing changes.
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Post by Morgan on Aug 30, 2021 14:34:26 GMT
It helps that there are emergency vehicles stationed at the end of our road so we can get direct and active updates whenever they pass by. (Well not every time, we aren’t trying to distract them). We’re just on the border of the mandatory evacuations section and the evacuation warning section of the community, but as long as the emergency personnel aren’t too concerned I won’t be either. Our escape route is luckily opposite the direction of fire growth as well. And my OH has experience creating fire breaks himself, having worked on various emergency crews in the past, so I feel pretty safe with him in general.
If everything hadn’t lined up so we’ll I’d probably be much more concerned!
More good news is that these forests actually do require burning every so often to remain healthy. But we have suppressed fire historically to save property (without understanding modern day forest management) that this sort of thing is really overdue for our area. When fires are supressed for too long fuels build up, and then when it does finally burn the fires can burn so hot hat they even kill the older trees by climbing up the “ladder” of shrubs into lower branches (that shouldn’t be on the tree, if previous fires had caught them) and this way they do more damage than more frequent, but resultantly smaller fires would do. But once burned, it’s much less likely to burn again (badly at least) within the next ten years or so now. Most of the fires this time of year are started by dry lightning strikes anyway, part of the natural cycle, but this one was probably human-caused.
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Post by ariella on Aug 30, 2021 15:07:23 GMT
At least it’s as well-managed as a wildfire can be and having the fire crew nearby must be reassuring. The forestry area near where I used to live was carefully managed and they purposely cut down some trees and set fires to regenerate natural heathland. Hopefully this will go to plan and you won’t have to worry about fires for a decade.
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Post by suesbird on Aug 30, 2021 15:26:29 GMT
Gosh, take care and hope it doesn't come anywhere nearer. Thinking of you. xxx
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Post by willowsmum on Aug 31, 2021 0:22:38 GMT
Goodness, that is very, very scary stuff @morgan. Fingers crossed that you don't need to evacuate and that the damage isn't too extensive. Take care x
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Aug 31, 2021 16:11:53 GMT
Good the fires don't look like they are moving in your direction. I live close to the coast and every year we get the smoke from fires burning, luckily usually not too bad. There is a residential area near me that is a wooded hill (Palos Verdes). They are always on alert this time of year for fires which would be devastating if one caught and got going. The weather forecast this morning shows isolated showers which should help with the fires. Fingers crossed that the fires near you are under control/out soon and you and the critters will be safe.
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Post by Morgan on Sept 1, 2021 6:09:15 GMT
My mom lives in a heavy fire zone in Southern California, quite near you I think tweetiepiesmom. And she’s halfway up a canyon also with only one exit route. Forest fires are so much different! If it was a blazing inferno with winds in our direction I’d be concerned, but everything beside the existence of the fire itself seems to be in our favor. So no worries everyone! I just wanted to share the exciting photos (more to come when I have a bit of time) and the “after” photos eventually. I’ll have to search my photo library on my laptop to see if I have any “before” photos
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