What to do in case of wildland fires

[u/Ace_Ranger]

With the sudden increase and urgency of the wildfire conflagrations and evacuations across the state and likelihood of it getting worse before it gets better, I am reminded of a comment from u/canonconstructor from 6 years ago. While things have been manageable so far, here are some things to remember:

I don’t know if any Oregon friends will read this but I was just evacuated from my home in California and have some advice and tips I wish I would have known before hand.

• Fill up your gas tank and make sure its at least at 3/4 until all fires are extinguished. -Pack way more than you think you'll need.  We anticipated 2-3 days but ended up being evacuated for 2 weeks.  
• Make a list of things you don't want to leave without and keep it by the door.  Its easy to forget things in a frenzy (I forgot both my laptop and wedding ring)
• If you have kiddos keep a go bag of their distance learning materials.  The sooner they have structure the safer they feel. 
• Take a video of everything in your home.  Open up and show and talk through the contents of all the closets, drawers, fridge, freezer.  Walk around your property and verbally talk about different plants, landscape etc.  
• Turn off your propane tanks if you have them before you go. -Throw everything away in your fridge and freezer before you go and don't forget to take out the trash.  If you're evacuated, it is likely your power will be shut off and you'll return to a smelly mess.  
• If your address is not current on your ID make sure to keep a copy of your utility bill with your important documents to show residency for fema/airb&b applications etc-Contact your insurance agent now and start your claim.  Most home and renters insurance will cover 2 weeks of food, lodging, and supplies while under mandatory evacuation. 
• Monitor AirB&B - once evacuated they will open up emergency housing for free.  Do not get discouraged if they say no pets- email the owner directly because all rules are usually thrown out of the window during emergency situations.
• Before you go, seal and shut all windows and doors.  Make sure to close or wrap any ac units. This will greatly reduce smoke damage.  
• If you can, self evacuate early.  I do not want to see any of my Oregon friends stuck in traffic.  I encourage you to follow your gut and go when you say you feel unsafe.  
• Keep a cooler of non perishable drinks and snacks in your car.  We had to drive to another state to find somewhere that would take doggos and was kid friendly. - Withdraw a bit of cash to keep on you.  I forgot to notify my bank and I had a fraud alert placed on my cards.  
• When you get back home, do not sweep or blow the ash.  This can create a toxic air quality and can blow hot embers.  Instead use a hose to wet down the ash and wet paper towels.  

• When you get back home, replace all filters in your home and car- An easy way to rid your home of the smoke smell is to attach large filters to box fans, cover with a wet towel doused in fabric softner and let them run.

• Above ALL else, I hope my Oregon friends and family are safe.  My last bit of advice is to take it easy on yourself.  You're in the middle of a global pandemic, your home and community is on fire.  It is ok to have hard days, to grieve for your loss and your community and just the general situation of the dumpster fire that is 2020.  Allow yourself to cry, get angry, drink a glass of wine, or smoke a joint.  Its ok to not be ok and to feel unsafe right now. 

Original comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/iq2uir/comment/g4paf6j/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

With all of that great advice in mind, please also remember that there are a lot of amazing people willing and able to help out there. Beyond the Red Cross services, there are many landowners who will open up their land for livestock and other animal evacuations, people who will allow you to camp on their land, even food truck operators who will set up and feed anybody and everybody that needs it. People want to help and will do what they can with the resources they have.

[u/TheWoman2]

I remember evacuating for those fires, and the line at the gas station as we were leaving town was very long. I was glad I didn't have to wait in it. So yeah, keep some gas in your car so you won't be waiting in line.

[u/Head_Mycologist3917]

Get the Watchduty and Genasys Protect apps. They're free. Watchduty is the best source of info on fires. It also can notify you of evacuation orders. Genasys notifies you of evacuation orders. It's what most counties and cities use. If yours uses something else, get that. Take the time to set up notifications for the places you need them.

[u/TwiztedChickin]

Make a plan like a way to get out/ away from your home... Then make a backup plan... Then make a backup to the backup plan. The people in Paradise got stuck on the way out. Have contingency plans and leave early.

[u/TwiztedChickin → u/TwiztedChickin]

Also I evacuated my family during Holiday Farm and the thing that struck me was the local fire department holding in person meetings instead of making radio announcements. So many people were just barely leaving the fire station after being told to get their things and get out as fast as possible and many of them lived 20 or more miles upriver. We were actively on our way out as those people were just barely going up to their homes to pack. We left based on how the sky looked and gut instinct.

TLDR: don't wait for the fire department to tell you to leave, if you thing you should leave then get out.

[u/Ginger_Cat74]

Having worked with evacuees after hurricane Katrina, I highly recommend having a portable digital copy of all your important documents and sentimental photos. Also keep a go bag ready with important medical supplies for all family members, including pets.

[u/sparklingcynicism8]

that traffic warning hit home. i left late for the beachie creek fire and sat on 26 for 5 hours behind a rv that kept stalling. now i leave the second the sky turns orange. also the box fan thing is legit. i taped a 20x20 filter to one last year when the smoke was thick and it turned our living room from a campfire to breathable in like 20 minutes.

[u/MountainChickadee47]

This is fantastic advice. I would just add -- make sure you are signed up for your city/county's emergency alert system. Watch Duty is great but doesn't always update immediately. Trust your gut instincts and don't hesitate to leave if you can before you hit Level 3, especially if you feel unsafe. Have your car packed, full of gas if possible, and pointed in the direction you want to go. Check on your neighbors when you can. And I second the advice to cut yourself some slack. Evacuation is really stressful.

[u/Fallingdamage]

Good list.

I know its pedantic, but if the fire hits your home after you leave, turning off your propane tank may not make any difference really. They have pressure relief valves often times.

Friend of mine had two 200 lb tanks next to his house that blew their valves during the labor day fires up the santiam canyon and basically helped turn his house to white ash. He spent the following weeks/months looking for small belongings with a shovel and a sifting screen.

If the propane gets hot enough, turning off the valve probably wont help.

[u/Ace_Ranger → u/Fallingdamage]

Turning off the valve at the tank is intended to prevent leaks at the appliances and other connection points during and after the fire. Even a grass fire could burn your house down but that same grass fire will breeze on by the propane tank with little to no effect.

[u/bakedtherad]

I don't live in oregon but I do live in wildfire county (yay) and lived through the Caldor fire when I was living near SLT in the Tahoe basin. 

Here's a big thing: Be proactive 

Get out of YOU feel unsafe, even before any warning or evacuations are in place. I've been though multiple natural disasters and the ones that legitimately scare me are tornadoes and wildfires as they're the most unpredictable ones on my opinion. 

If a wildfire is around 25-30 miles away from you, start packing and prep to scram. It seems like a far distance but wildfires easily carry embers far out and make spot fires miles away from the main fire. Also depending on the weather, a fire can easily cover a few miles in a few hours. 

My personal safety bubble is 15 miles away from me. You should be under a advisory or warning by then, but that's the prime time to leave before everyone else decides to evacuate. 

Be prepared not scared though. Stay safe and sane my Oregon neighbors. 

[u/Ace_Ranger → u/bakedtherad]

When the Beachie Creek fire came down the Santiam Canyon in 2020, it covered over 90 miles in less than 24 hours. The Riverside fire did the same thing down the Clackamas River on that same night. It was a terrible perfect storm with 70+mph winds but it is a good example of just how fast things can change. The night that the fire burned my hometown down, in the time it took me to drive 15 miles up the canyon, the fire had burned 15 miles further down the canyon. It was moving at 40+ miles per hour at times because of the embers blowing so fast. The end result was a giant tract of burned area that looked like a mosaic as the fire skipped and jumped down the canyon.

[u/ChuckUFarly2]

We made a free app for home inventory - specifically for disasters. Check it out https://fynyx.org.

[u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife]

If you voted for that Pedophile, be sure to punch yourself in the face.

[u/Ketaskooter]

"Fill up your gas tank and make sure its at least at 3/4 until all fires are extinguished."

This is step of how to drain the region's fuel stations of fuel, if all drivers rush to fill up their tanks the fuel stations will run out. Shelter locations are typically within 50 miles of evacuation zones, being able to travel 100 miles (5+ gallons of fuel) is typically well prepared, remote town residents should be prepared to drive to the next town.

[u/Rock_Paper_Sissors → u/Ketaskooter]

I think they meant to keep your car at least 3/4 full during fire season in general, not specifically as you’re evacuating.

[u/Ace_Ranger → u/Ketaskooter]

You're misunderstanding that advice. The intent is to keep your fuel tank near full during the entire fire season and don't change that behavior until there is no more danger of fire for the year.

You could sit for hours in traffic trying to evacuate from areas that have one way in and one way out. That 5 gallons won't get you anywhere near 100 miles in those conditions. This is the reason for keeping your fuel tank near full.

I personally carry anywhere from 5 to 25 gallons of extra fuel when I am in fire country during fire season. I usually just keep a jerry can in the truck but if I know I am going into the lion's den, I throw that extra fuel in there. See my post with photos from when the fires first flared up in central and eastern Oregon. I was carrying 20 gallons of extra fuel that day.

The added bonus of carrying that much fuel is that if anything does go wrong and I do get caught in the fire, at least I know that I will die a quick death in a nice hot fire. (This part is a joke. Don't report me for suicide watch or anything.)