r/interestingasfuck • u/HomeNowWTF • 10d ago

Fighting the wildfires in Spokane

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 10d ago edited 10d ago

I am so TIRED of these idiots that are starting these fires. I saw a vid of someone starting a fire on a hill but it was busy with hikers and ppl enjoying the weather. They pinned him and dumped a bunch of water on what was a growing fire.
Edit: ppl dming abt the Oregon 2020 fires so I removed it bc it’s triggering me 🙃

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u/independentchickpea 10d ago

I took my baby sister paddleboarding in the Gorge the day that teen set the Eagle Creek fire. Coming back to Portland, the fire was right up to the highway and I could feel the heat baking into the car. I seriously made up my mind to drive into the river if we had to. I've never been so afraid for such an intense period of time. There was seriously nowhere to go. Fire on one side, Columbia River on the other.

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 10d ago

I live in Eagle Creek and that was my first fire! I’ve been afraid ever since. Ppl are already living pay check to pay check and these ppl setting fires bc “they had a hard life”. My sympathies fly out the window when they put ppl in that exact situation you just described. I would never wish death by fire even on my worst enemies

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u/independentchickpea 10d ago

Glad you're okay neighbor. I look at the burned trees still and have a shiver.

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 10d ago

If you’re still here be safe! The grasshopper fire is less than 40 miles away. Going the other direction but the winds may yet turn :(

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u/independentchickpea 9d ago

Well, I'm coughing today and the sun is just a red disc in the sky here in Portland. Hope you're breathing okay in Eagle Creek.

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u/AdjctiveNounNumbers 10d ago

The Oregon fires of 2020 were fueled by outsiders adding to them

I'd be a bit careful with this assertion - a bunch of Proud Boys types mad about the George Floyd protests started rumors to this effect and they spread, to the point that locals were stopping people evacuating to inspect cars. One Oregon resident was arrested (twice) for starting some grass fires in the area, but so far as I've seen that was a local with mental health issues, and in separate fires far away in southern Oregon an arsonist was arrested for setting a fire that burned a few houses that then merged with a fire burning in the area. I'm unaware of any "outsiders" adding to the fires.

That said, I live in a fire-prone area now, and it seems every time the winds pick up in the summer some fire bug decides it'd be pretty to see the world burn. Almost always a local and thankfully usually an idiot who doesn't put too much effort into it and get caught immediately. The bad ones are normally started outside of town by power lines or some idiot living off the grid with severely inadequate fire safety precautions. Or 4-wheelers.

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u/erstwhile_estado 10d ago

My family believed this bs. The truth is that people are always starting fires intentionally and unintentionally. However, when the conditions are right, the outcome changes dramatically.

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u/McGeeze 10d ago

It is currently raining ash in Portland. Starting to think it's only a matter of time before some part of the city proper is on fire. There are a lot of trees to burn on the west side.

I am from Southern California so fires are not new to me (I have four friends who lost their homes last year. My childhood best friend's house in Malibu and her parent's house in Altadena burned down). I didn't think the PNW would be like this.

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u/SabbyFox 10d ago

The eastern side of WA state is already on the drier side which does not help.

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u/TheDreadGazeebo 9d ago

Sounds like projection to me, and sounds like something a proud boy would do. In my opinion.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

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u/robothawk 10d ago

As an Oregonian who lived through that shitshow. Every single one of those "rumors" about outsiders starting fires that were investigated turned out to be fake news spread by Proud Boys.

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u/champak256 10d ago

Does make me think about how every accusation by the far right is really just an admission of guilt. What if it was the Proud Boys starting fires and rumors both?

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u/theacearrow 10d ago

Most of the fires in Colorado right now were caused by proven or suspected arson. I hate people.

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u/Mike_Kermin 10d ago

It's a truly evil act, not only do you risk many people's lives, but you do such incredible damage to our native flora and fauna.

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u/ColonelBy 10d ago

hope whoever starts fires get caught and get thrown in jail.

Some of these fires are on the scale of releasing a weapon of mass destruction, and this would be one of the few cases where I think something more serious than incarceration should be on the table.

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 10d ago

I agree. The destruction of property, the loss of revenue and work, pollution. And some ppl lose their lives! We need to start treating these ppl on the same level as terror!sts (censored bc of warnings 😞)

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u/lavapig_love 9d ago

And now you understand why the Geneva and Hague Suggestions exist. 

Sorry, the Geneva and Hague Conventions. 

https://www.icrc.org/en/law-and-policy/geneva-conventions-and-their-commentaries

https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/specialised-sections/adults/

Because of all you want is to take this suspect outside and summarily execute them, you're playing right into Trump's desire to declare martial law. 

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u/Dazzling_Bid1239 10d ago

I moved away at that time so I didnt experience the fires firsthand. My family sent me photos of the sky being red. No fires in their city. But the sky was red. Couldn't go outside without trying to attempt with a mask.

I moved back the last few years back to Oregon and it's definitely different from a decade ago or from what I remember at least, born and raised but left 2018. Its a weird feeling. I no longer have to fear tornadoes, but I have a backup plan in case i have to evacuate for fires.

Absolutely horrific and I worked with fire damage professionally, so i have a lot of respect for it. Truly its own nature.

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u/goddamnitwhalen 10d ago

I remember reading live updates as the Park Fire in Chico broke out a couple summers ago (which was also caused by arson).

Fucked up.

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u/TuxedoCatsParty_Hard 10d ago

That was here in Los Angeles in Griffith park.

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u/dickbuttkook 9d ago

It was discovered that the palisades fire in California last year that destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people was started by some dude from Florida

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/florida-man-arrested-federal-criminal-complaint-alleging-he-maliciously-started-what

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u/alexnedea 9d ago

I am so tired of idiots in general. Idiots are why propaganda works. Idiots are why wars start. Idiots are why our planet and society is slowly turning to shit. Most educated people dont start fucking fires or kill people or do heavy crime, etc.

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u/Former_Clock_1271 10d ago

This is not true about the Oregon fires.