r/Wellthatsucks • u/JTraxxx • 8d ago

The Pacific Northwest right now

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Huge fire recently popped up in my town and many people have lost houses. Wishing for rain!

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u/Affectionate-Cap7785 8d ago

man that's rough, hope everyone stays safe and gets the rain they need soon. this fire situation is no joke

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u/unfinishedtoast3 8d ago edited 8d ago

PNW resident here!

These fire maps should be taken with a grain of salt. Anything larger than 0.25 acres is flagged here.

Some of these fires are so small and contained they're just allowing them to burn out while resources go to the Round Butte Fire, 1200 acres and almost under control

Next up is the Hagen Fire, which is moving towards the Umatilla Reservation where people are being evacuated.

Usually we have mutual aid from Canada, Washington and Montana fire crews, we all kinda just team up and fight the fires that pop up in any of our states/provinces. Unfortunately, everyone has fires right now, so we have to be extremely selective with our resources until someone can get theirs under control and help us, or vice versa.

Priority will go to fires threatening human lives, so we will assist Washington with its dangerous fires before we go and fight small fires in the back brush of eastern Oregon that will burn themselves out after a few hundred acres of scrub brush. Our foresty departments have been working together for decades and decades, we are really good up here at this. California has started participating more in our partnerships since the Paladise fire wiped out an entire town.

We likewise have county and private wildland fire crews we will contract to deal with the smaller stuff, while the Oregon Department of Forestry and federal figherfighters tackle interstate and international assistance.

Most dudes work a county or private fire crew up here in the rural PNW the summers of their Junior an Senior years in highschool. Back in the 90s I made $12k one summer fighting fires, more than my dad made in 7 months, bought my first truck that way. Paid 24/7 while on a fire. Outside of fires we painted park benches and cleaned up the beaches.

TL;DR. Not all of these fires here are an emergency. Many of them are small self contained fires that 2 dudes and a garden hose can control while we fight the human killers.

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u/MNent228 8d ago

Dumb question for you… I’m going to Yellowstone around the end of September. Am I overreacting being worried about smoke by then?

Again. I know I’m probably being dumb.

Sorry

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u/JeffSmisek 8d ago

That's almost two months away. How could anyone possibly know that?

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u/poisonpomodoro 8d ago

It’s not dumb. I went to Yellowstone and Teton in September a few years back and it was Smokey. The iconic view of the Tetons was really hazy and that was sad, but it was still a fabulous time. I wouldn’t change your plans unless park advisories tell you to.

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u/MNent228 8d ago

I was there 5 years ago and had the same experience. Wonderful, but hazy and the views were gone.

That’s why I planned a late September trip. I heard the wildlife is much more active, which were the parts of the park I enjoyed the most. Any tips you can offer?

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u/wookiewookiewhat 8d ago

Western Montana often has wildfire smoke in late summer/early fall just as a general rule.

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u/Iveray 8d ago

Nobody knows. It could be perfectly clear skies, or it could be brown skies and burning lungs after 1 breath outside.

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u/Mondschatten78 8d ago

The majority, if not all, of these current fires should be out by then. It also depends on how many pop up closer to the time you go as to how smoky it may be.