Tedly Nightshade Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 What a singular annoyance, the biggest forest blaze in Oregon history (like we've been keeping track for very long) about twenty miles from the house here. about 500 square miles worth! I ought to be chopping and cutting wood, but between the heat and the smoke, I have to wait until the early morning to get outside. Don't you hate it when that happens? A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Sound Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 This fire season is just scary.... We have a dry canyon behind our house that hasn't burned in at least 20-30 years... All we need is one idiot throw a cigarette out their car window... Valky Valkyrie Sound: http://www.vsoundinc.com Now at TSUTAYA USA: http://www.tsutayausa.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 I don't know, but it seems like somebody could have invented some kind of [b]HUGE[/b] contraption to dump a million gallons of water on a fire at once. Just a thought I always had. Sly :cool: Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 I'm sorry to hear this, Ted. If it gets too hot you'll have to come up north to Portland and grab a beer with me :D . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 Double post. Sly :cool: Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wewus432 Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 It has been proven that trying to control forest fires is a mistake. If the thatch and undergrowth in a forest is not cleared out by fire intermittently it can grow to dangerous levels. During a regular fire this thatch will be burned off and most of the trees will survive. If it not allowed to burn off then when it does burn the resulting fire can destroy all the trees. Fire is nature's way of grooming itself. I guess that's no consolation when your house is about to burn down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenElevenShadows Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 [quote]Originally posted by Groovepusher Sly: [b]I don't know, but it seems like somebody could have invented some kind of [b]HUGE[/b] contraption to dump a million gallons of water on a fire at once. Just a thought I always had. Sly :cool: [/b][/quote]Yeah, or a giant damp blanket to throw over the whole thing... Ken Lee Photography - photos and books Eleven Shadows ambient music The Mercury Seven-cool spacey music Linktree to various sites Instagram Nightaxians Video Podcast Eleven Shadows website Ken Lee Photography Pinterest Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meccajay Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 20 miles away did you say??? Damn Ted, I hope nothing happens to your home dude!! TROLL . . . ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 [quote]Originally posted by Ken/Eleven Shadows:[b][QUOTE]Yeah, or a giant damp blanket to throw over the whole thing...[/b][/quote]Yeah, something like that, float it in with four gigantic blimps, then drop it and go get another. I'm not joking. Something seems like it would be possible. Sly :cool: Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedly Nightshade Posted August 9, 2002 Author Share Posted August 9, 2002 My home is in real theoretical danger, but the homes of 17,000 impoverished bikers and hippies with no insurance are within just a few miles of the fire, and under 30 minute evacuation notice. That's scary, indeed. Did our Portland correspondent catch the Oregonian article a few days ago about the hippies of Takilma? Nothing but praise all around, these are great people- the kind that, rather than leaving when threatened with fire, return from the corners of the earth to make sure everybody gets fed and everyone's horse is safe somewhere. Bless 'em. :wave: There's only one reasonable way to control these fires, and that's hitting them right away. The 500 square mile one burned for days with nobody fighting it. At one point after three days or so it was 37 acres, and nobody fighting it. That's not exactly reassuring. "It has been proven that trying to control forest fires is a mistake. If the thatch and undergrowth in a forest is not cleared out by fire intermittently it can grow to dangerous levels. During a regular fire this thatch will be burned off and most of the trees will survive. If it not allowed to burn off then when it does burn the resulting fire can destroy all the trees. Fire is nature's way of grooming itself. I guess that's no consolation when your house is about to burn down." This is absolutely true. It's because of a century of fire suppression that the undergrowth is dense enough to burn hot enough to threaten the bigger trees. A ground fire is OK, but when it gets up in the canopy, it travels fast- last week one day the fire was moving from 6000 to 8000 feet an hour, and spot fires 2 miles ahead of that. It went from 70,000 to 140,000 acres in a single day! Now it's up to 300,000 acres. Which 300,000 acres? The Kalmiopsis Wilderness, the biggest wilderness area in Oregon. It unnerves me that I don't see that information in the news- I'm concerned they're letting it burn as an excuse to build roads and log the place. Who can argue with fire safety? It's like homeland security... It does all have to burn sooner or later though. I've spent thousands this last winter clearing out just an acre or less around the house, and along the driveway, burn piles going all day four days a week and more. It's not a profitable activity by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly solves the problem of legions of unemployed loggers, if the gov't wanted to do a little FDR and pay them (a fraction of the big timber corporate welfare money) to clear it all out. The trouble is because there's no money in it, and the mills are always hungry (the ones left in business that is), the big trees that wouldn't burn, that need fire to reproduce, get cut, and piles of slash left everywhere. My logged over old property is no exception. Thanks so much for everyone's kind wishes and concern. Valky's situation is just as scary as mine. Ample fire insurance is recommended. I'm in the market myself. The good news- the wind is going to the west for the evening, so I can chop some wood without asphyxiating. Chop wood, carry water, try to stay sane! A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 Yeah, I guess it's just not valuable enough to the powers that be, to justify the creation of fantastic machines or schemes to actually [b]conserve & preserve[/b] these forests. Good luck. Sly :cool: Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedly Nightshade Posted August 9, 2002 Author Share Posted August 9, 2002 Makes you wonder why they call them selves conservatives- what's so conservative about liquidating all our resources as fast as possible? A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wewus432 Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 Hey Ted: You haven't given us a fire update. Do you need the MusicPlayer volunteer fire dept. to fly in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roto Posted August 9, 2002 Share Posted August 9, 2002 I think you shouldn't chop wood so close to the fire...It might hear you! :freak: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedly Nightshade Posted August 10, 2002 Author Share Posted August 10, 2002 it does seem a bit bizarre, to be preparing to burn things all winter long- but that's the time for it! The fire already knows I'm here. And the woodchopping is the only way I stay any fraction of halfway sane, so I'm grateful for it. Wewus I'd love to give you an update- I'd love to get an update! When the fires are really bad, you tend not to get them for a few days... What's most unnerving is waking up in the morning with thick smoke everywhere, and not knowing whether this is still a distant fire, or a new one right near by... :eek: A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryrobinett Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 I always thought someone should invent a big bag that could go over your house, like a big poofy rubber thing filled with fire retardant liquid. Have you seen those bags that go over homes that need to be fumigated? It seemed that someone could invent an attachment on the roof that with a bit of preparation could work. I'm no engineer, just a day dreamer. So I don't know how semi-ridiculous this may sound. Several years ago during the Oakland Hills fire there was a house that was saved RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL OF IT. It was the strangest site. Their automatic water sprinklers came on and saved their property. Tednightshade-man. I hope all's well. All the best, Henry Robinett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 My buddy's son is up there fighting the fires. He's with the Army, one of the guys from Ft. Riley, KS. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedly Nightshade Posted August 10, 2002 Author Share Posted August 10, 2002 I had a conversation with my great aunt just before she died, in the middle of the Oakland fire... she was very very old, and the fire never reached her, but she died before she found that out. Imagine.... We've done a tremendous amount of work establishing a green zone around the house, thinning the trees, burning the brush, in hopes of being that one house that survives. The scariest thing is flying embers, that can fly for miles- one local friend, an engineer, described fielding cinders the size of cigarette packs landing in his tall dry grassy yard, dousing each one as it landed. Woo boy... but he saved his house, this was back in '93. The people fighting the local fire are sure busting ass, axes and chainsaws all day long in the thick of it. There's been more than a hundred firefighters hospitalized from the poison oak, and scorpions and black bears are another occupational hazard. No human lives lost according to the officials, but I hear differently- a couple helicopters lost, a rolled firetruck, and there must be thousands and thousands of roasted animals... ouch~! A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitecrawler47 Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 Ted: My thoughts are with you on this one. We, here in Colorado, have certainly had our share of burns this summer as well. The largest in our state, the Hayman fire, came close to suburbs south west of Denver. It came closer to causing real problems than most of us realize. Even so, we have lost lives, homes, animals and will probably have watershed runoff problems later on. Keep the brush and other fuel away from your house. Best of luck! -nitecrawler "Time to head down that old Colorado highway pardner." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GZsound Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 Man oh man, Ted is in the area of the largest forest fire in Oregon written history and still some of you find time to blame it on the government and the timber company. We have farmers in eastern Oregon that have lost a quarter of a million dollars in crops and land because the fire started on BLM land and they would not fight it until it crossed onto his private land. He gets no restitution from the government whereas if the fire had started on his land and burned BLM land he would have had to pay. Is it the greedy corporate timber company that stopped building roads into these areas? Is it the greedy corporate timber company that has been stopped from thinning the forests? Is it the greedy timber company that has killed the logging business in Oregon? One interesting side note is that our most ultra liberal left wing college, the University of Oregon enjoys their new sports center created and named after my uncle who donated ten million dollars to it's creation.....from his lumber business. Go figger Mark G. "A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs "I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedly Nightshade Posted August 10, 2002 Author Share Posted August 10, 2002 "Is it the greedy corporate timber company that stopped building roads into these areas?" No, they built hundreds of thousands of roads, at the public expense, without which corporate welfare they wouldn't have made a nickel. The vast network of untended roads is responsible for the catastrophic floods and landslides that Oregon suffers from between fires, and all the silt is killing the salmon, another dying industry. "Is it the greedy corporate timber company that has been stopped from thinning the forests?" They're out there all the time cutting and cutting. If they weren't cutting the big trees that would never have burned, and piling the slash up, fire conditions would be much more moderate, like Wewus says. There's no money in the type of thinning that moderates fires if it's not big timber harvest, and where there is no money you will not find the timber barons. "Is it the greedy timber company that has killed the logging business in Oregon? " It certainly is. Big mechanization replacing human jobs, no benefits for injured workers, sending whole logs out of the country for cheap instead of milling them here in Oregon, and moving most of the operations to Mexico. Judy Bari was so successful at reaching loggers with the message that big timber was screwing them over that the FBI planted a bomb in her car, and then blamed it on her. Also being in such a damned hurry to cut the 90% of mature forest in the state that is long since cut killed the industry dead. Those trees were worth a whole hell of a lot more money than they were sold for, and very little of that money went into the pockets of the people doing the incredibly dangerous and demanding work. Believe me, I know a lot of timber workers. Many of my best friends have worked in the woods for decades. We're all in this together, that is those of us who are being ripped off so a very few can get rich. Not many of these loggers ever saw $100,000 at once, let alone being able to spare $10,000,000. That should tell you something. Here in the thick of it, one doesn't have many illusions about the discrepancy between big timber and BLM (who seem to exist exclusively for big timber) and their rhetoric. A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark V Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 We cobbled together some help from downunder! The ANZACs are comming.I heard a news item the other day that about 40 Aussies and dozen Kiwi volunteer firefighters are heading your way. You know we do think about you guys up there sometimes.. I once had a quasi-religious experience..then I realised I'd turned up the volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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