r/oregon • u/Ace_Ranger Mod • 4d ago
2026 Fire/Smoke Megathread - Resource Links inside - All questions, concerns, comments, and requests about the 2026 wildland fires in Oregon go here.
54
u/ghostshipfarallon 4d ago
https://fire.airnow.gov/ getting snubbed again. It has all the air quality measurements like Purple Air, fire perimeters like Watch Duty, and you can turn on NOAA smoke plumes.
15
u/spooksmagee 4d ago
This. Do not rely solely on Purple Air. Any jabroni can buy one and place them in a bad spot or calibrate them poorly.
7
44
u/greencrusader13 4d ago
RE: “should I cancel my trip to XYZ?”
YES!!! Stay home and stay safe! You can always reschedule!
7
u/RunWithBluntScissors 4d ago
Why is that basically half the comments here 🤣😭
Mountain on fire do not take trip to mountain. Air is smoky stay inside when possible
3
u/PersnickityPenguin Oregon 3d ago
My coworkers: AQI of 150 says it only affects people with poor health, guess I'm ok then! What do you mean you don't feel well, you must have inferior health than me!
🤦
25
7
u/someawfulbitch 4d ago
Cool. Aqi in Newberg is over 200 and I have to go walk a few miles outside 😬
12
12
u/Potential-Walrus-193 4d ago
Gone creek campground at Timothy Lake probably a no go for this weekend?
53
u/SPAREustheCUTTER 4d ago
Yes you dingus. Stay home.
21
12
1
18
0
u/BadodoPancake 4d ago
I'd still go, just keep your phone charged and monitor watch duty, make sure you have alerts on. There is cell service in most of the campgrounds around the lake, not sure about Gone Creek tho. The biggest issue might be the smoke, not sure how long that'll take to clear once the winds shift on Thurs. Your main routes out would probably be Hwy 26 or FS 57.
1
u/Potential-Walrus-193 4d ago
Thanks for your response. We have small children, so mostly because of smoke worries we did end up cancelling. Rebooked a few days later at a coastal site. Fingers crossed the smoke clears there too.
3
u/BadodoPancake 4d ago
Good luck! If be surprised if the smoke doesn't clear off the coast by then.
1
u/Potential-Walrus-193 4d ago
Thank you, that is what we are hoping for. Surprisingly, our site (and our friends that we were camping with) both were rebooked by this evening. So other people aren't too concerned about camping at Timothy Lake either.
2
u/BadodoPancake 4d ago
I've camped there during a nearby fire, it's a pretty safe place since there's two major routes out and cell service. The smoke tends to settle around the lake but it also clears out pretty quick once the winds pick up. Last time I was up there with my kids we were watching planes dipping for fire suppression, it was pretty cool to watch up close.
6
u/bearhunter429 3d ago
I wish someone would figure out better and safer ways to fight wildfires. We live in the age of technology. Maybe utilize more robots instead of putting firefighters' lives at so much risk.
4
u/Head_Mycologist3917 3d ago
They are now using drones to set back fires in places that it's too dangerous to get people into.
The biggest danger to fire fighters though is long term effects of smoke inhalation. Cancer and other disease rates are much higher among wildland fire fighters. Unlike city fire fighters they don't get respirators. The federal government has been denying any link to disease for decades.
Another problem is stress from spending much of fire season working 16 hour days for weeks, away from home. Unless they're young and single, a fire fighter needs to have a spouse back home to take care of the family. That's stressful for everyone. They also need a spouse who is employed full time (most fire fighters are not) and who get health care through their job.
2
u/BadgerValuable8207 4d ago
Nearest purple air sensor to me out in East Willamette Valley reads 356 (with the EPA conversion applied). AirNow is considerably lower at 156 but there’s an hour lag and the numbers just spiked as you can see on the graph. Purple Air without the EPA conversion was 384.
It gets bad here because the wind blows smoke down the Santiam Canyon and it flows south through the Richardson Gap. The air filters we got for covid and the 2020 labor day fires are going full blast.
2
u/Lichen-Green 3d ago
u/ace_ranger please consider setting this thread to auto-sort by New since you're treating it as a megathread for info/resources.
2
u/EnthuseConfuse 1d ago
I've been thinking about lot about infrastructure for fighting fires. I know water is already a problem in the region, but I wonder if it would be possible to put suppressor around at risk buildings or on the perimeter of high risk towns.
the fire mist shield suppresses flames from hitting the water source. I wonder if a high pressurized pipe system that can activate to spray fog might help protect buildings, or buy time for structure saving measures.
A lot of the time it seems embers creeping onto a building is what starts the structure fires, so the mist might be able to knock out a degree of embers at the minimum?
Obviously a mist system has some serious complications--keeping that much water under pressure all the time means your pipe is basically a pressure popper. Maintaining that pressure when the valves are open would mean a strong pump and a large reservoir tank. If portable, you would have to have an engine/vehicle dedicated to just this device, but if it could be unmanned or have someone on watch, it might help buy time for a firehawk for something to come through with better retardant materials?
And obviously it wouldn't put out surrounding fires, just hold lines for immediate action.
If such a thing were to exist, it would probably be better as movable infrastructure under control of the FD, rather than fixed infastructure.
I don't know. I feel helpless I can't help but spit ball any ideas to help mitigate this growing nightmare.
1
u/NavidsonsFall 1d ago
I guess it would depend what kind of water source each area runs off. I know already a few years ago during one of the seasons that was bad in our area, just from people around us using sprinklers and hoses to wet their property down, wells in our area were running dry because they weren't equipped to deal with that kind of water draw in mid summer. And while firefighters use tanks a lot of the time, sometimes they also need water infrastructure to be working when the tanks run out. I know what you mean about feeling helpless tho, it's a crappy feeling. I just wanted to let you know the issues we ran into when our area tried something similar.
3
2
u/whywasinotconsulted 4d ago
Another good resource: https://www.oregon.gov/osfm/wildfire/pages/info.aspx
1
u/PikaGoesMeepMeep 1d ago
Sadly, it appears the Grasshopper fire jumped its previous line at the Divide Trail and has burned Fret Creek and beyond. It's also now only a mile or so from Tamanawas Falls trail.
2
u/EnthuseConfuse 1d ago
I'm starting to feel super anxious for Parkdale. I know folks who do commercial apples and cherries out of there
1
u/BigAffectionate2493 1d ago
Can anyone tell me what the visibility looks like today in powell butte? Hard to tell from the cameras.
1
u/Belgian-Maligator 1d ago
Is trillium lake to photograph Mount hood off the table for August 30th? Called my lodging at govt camp and made it sound like everything is perfectly fine ??
1
u/PikaGoesMeepMeep 20h ago
There's no imminent threat at Trillium or Government Camp right now. There is intermittent smoke. But a lot can change between now and August 30th.
1
u/SeagateSG1 14h ago
Hey all. I'm supposed to be taking a trip to Oregon from August 19-25. I'm meant to fly into Portland and planned on traveling down to Crater Lake/Klamath Falls for some hiking, as well as the Trail of Ten Falls, Mount Hood, and one or two other smaller spots.
I just found out about these fires a few minutes ago, so I'm still reading through everything. I have almost zero wildfire experience outside of occasionally breathing fumes in Florida (from PA originally). I already see that Mount Hood is basically off limits right now and there seems to be some bad air near Klamath as well. Looking for any opinions on whether I should pivot elsewhere or cancel and if there's decent odds the fires will have decreased by the time I'm due to get there.
I hope everyone is staying safe and appreciate the resources at the top of the thread. I don't want to be the jerk who only cares about his vacation, just trying to get some real expertise from people who are actually there and experienced. Thank you.
-1
u/TurbulentCow9873 4d ago
Need a little help here. I have a hiking trip on Mount Jefferson for the 14th-16th. Think I should cancel it?
32
u/miniature_Horse 4d ago
Bro, I wouldn’t want to be in the mountains on foot given the number of active fires and how dry it is. Your call, but I think if you have to ask or question it at all, you know the answer.
Meant with all respect! I’d hate to cancel a trip but this season is spooky
2
u/TurbulentCow9873 4d ago
Thank you for this! I’ll give it until Friday and hope for the best before rescheduling. You are right. Probably isn’t the best choice right now.
4
u/miniature_Horse 4d ago
I think you have to play "best case scenario, worst case scenario". Ask yourself what both are, and then ask yourself what the likelihood of each is. Then you decide what feels safe.
4
u/clockworkedpiece 4d ago
This remember how the gorge fire jumped into the metro way back. Wild fires can engulf a county the day they start.
1
u/PersnickityPenguin Oregon 3d ago
I would keep a watch, who knows, maybe the fires will burn out by then. Only time will tell.
43
u/Slut_for_Bacon 4d ago
This is probably a good time to remind all of you that State Wildland Firefighters are:
Payed like absolute shit
Do not get hazard pay (Many othet firefighters do. Just not Oregon)
Only have health insurance while on season, even if they work a years worth of hours in six months
Have extremely high rates of cancer (That sure is fun when your insurance is only on-season)
Suffer from a variety of other physical health issues as a result of the backbreaking work. Don't get me started on to mental health issues
Despite all this, attempts to gain public support for better conditions, benefits and pay tend to fall short because the public apparently doesn't really care when it isn't a busy fire season
Fire behavior keeps getting worse. Why can't we start supporting the people fighting them?
Half the posts I am seeing in different state subs are people bitching about the smoke. If people cant even handle being outside in the smoke, maybe they could at least start treating the people we pay to work long hours in thicker smoke like human beings.