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[echoshifting]

I thought we should have a thread for the Eagle Creek wildfire in Oregon and Washington that started over the weekend.

First, evacuation orders have gone out in these areas (story linked below):
Edit: I've replaced the following with an updated list.

Level 3 evacuation orders, meaning residents should leave immediately, have been ordered for the following communities:

Oregon (About 400 homes)

Warrendale
Dodson
Larch Mountain
Latourell
Bridal Veil
Corbett (East of the 38700 block of Columbia River Highway)

Washington

Archer Mt. Road
Franz Road
Smith Cripe Road
Kellet Road
Victoria Lane

Level 2 evacuation orders, meaning residents should be ready to leave at a moment's notice, have been issued for the following communities:

Oregon (About 850 homes)

Parts of Cascade Locks
Corbett/Springdale (West of 37800 block of the Columbia River Highway to the Sandy River)

Level 1 evacuation orders, meaning people should get ready for a potential evacuation, have been issued for:

Oregon (About 3,400 homes)

East Troutdale (East of 257th Avenue, north of Stark Street and west of the Sandy River)

It was my wife who first pointed out to me that it wasn't pollen falling from the sky yesterday, but ash. I caught a piece and it came apart like ash out of a fireplace. I posted about it in the Portland thread (I am in Vancouver WA, just across the Columbia) and other gaffers reported the same thing. News stories have popped up as well (you can see several pictures of the ash in the news story below). I have been around wildfires before, and am familiar with some of the things that can happen to areas nearby: the orange-red sun, the smell, the cloud, haze, etc. But I have never seen ash. I'm sure it happens, but I think it's uncommon in a major city like Portland.

It seems this was caused by the Eagle Creek wildfire:

TROUTDALE, Ore. -- Miles of interstate highway east of Portland remain closed as crews are battling the growing Eagle Creek wildfire that has caused evacuations and sparked blazes across the Columbia River in Washington state.

Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate because of a seven-square mile fire that started Saturday. The blaze, which officials think may have been caused by fireworks, forced the shutdown of more than 30 miles of Interstate 84 east of Portland through the scenic Columbia River Gorge. Trucks heading westbound are being detoured off the highway at The Dalles.

Authorities said Tuesday embers from the fire caused a new blaze across the Columbia River in Washington state. Evacuation orders remained in place in and around Cascade Locks, Oregon, for dozens of structures and businesses.

Yep, fireworks:

On Sunday, Oregon State Police said the fire appeared to be human-caused, likely by the misuse of fireworks. They said a suspect has been identified.

The fire stranded over 150 hikers on Saturday.

More than 150 hikers were forced to spend the night in the mountains east of Portland made it down the trail to safety on Sunday.

Portland is expecting a high of 97F today.

 

[Stinkles]

Raining ash here in Seattle, lots of wildfires in the mountains and east. Red sun. Weird yellow sky. Thin coating of powder on cars.

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

It's been awful down here in Eugene. You basically can't go outside.

 

[MilShap]

I haven't noticed ashy rain in Portland, but it sure does look like it could happen.

 

[echoshifting]

I haven't noticed ashy rain in Portland, but it sure does look like it could happen.

It isn't like that weird ashy rain that fell in the Pacific Northwest a couple of years ago, it's tiny flakes of ash that float like pollen or light snow. It's very faint, but it's been accumulating somewhat. My wife's car was covered with it this morning.

 

[HTupolev]

Raining ash here in Seattle, lots of wildfires in the mountains and east. Red sun. Weird yellow sky.

Yep.

 

[traveler]

Man, Eagle Creek is a beautiful area. Hope both the environment and the people in it make it out of this with minimal injuries.

 

[fluffydelusions]

Is that why it is yellowish outside? Olympia here btw

 

[Stinkles]

Yep.

Nice meeting you last night!


(Everyone in seattle knows each other)

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The commute in this morning was sorta surreal. It smelled like the 80s. Like old overfilled mall ashtrays on a hot summer day. Nobody was out except for the joggers and dog walkers, who seemed to be trying to defy the sky and the grey air you had to basically push through in order to get where you were going. Buses & trucks would kick up little tiny swirls of grey that turned your next few steps into this dirty little snowglobe existence.

Eventually a muted orange sun poked through the clouds.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

A few friends were apparently camping up there and had to bike their way out. I guess they got caught up in a lot of closed paths and had to turn around. They're home safely now though.

Scary shit.

 

[xxracerxx]

It is so sad to see this area burn. Stupid kids and their fireworks.

Also it was a bad idea to wear a white shirt yesterday for a BBQ with all the ash.

 

[Stinkles]

The commute in this morning was sorta surreal. It smelled like the 80s. Like old overfilled mall ashtrays on a hot summer day. Nobody was out except for the joggers and dog walkers, who seemed to be trying to defy the sky and the grey air you had to basically push through in order to get where you were going. Buses & trucks would kick up little tiny swirls of grey that turned your next few steps into this dirty little snowglobe existence.

Eventually a muted orange sun poked through the clouds.

Put a beat to this

 

[Dishwalla]

Saw pictures of a fire near Multnomah Falls from a Facebook friend, looked pretty crazy.

 

[Kalnoky]

The whole "ash rain" thing was happening where I'm at here in NorCal the other day with all the fires nearby. It's also been super, super smoky everyday since then. Aaaaand I've had a cold the last couple weeks, so that plus fog-like smoke plus 110+ degree heat has been pretty miserable. Ready for fall (and some rain).

Stay safe out there, Oregon bros.

 

[echoshifting]

I just read that the historic Multnomah Falls Lodge is in danger...

Firefighters battled through the night to save the historic Multnomah Falls Lodge as the Eagle Creek Fire raced westward overnight.

The falls' iconic lodge, built in 1925, is still standing—but the fire keeps burning nearby. The flames came close to the lodge as the fire burned above and below the falls. From the road, where the Multnomah Falls is usually visible, only smoke and a few remaining flames can be seen.

It would be incredibly sad to see that burn.

 

[Damaniel]

I haven't noticed ashy rain in Portland, but it sure does look like it could happen.

It's easiest to see when it piles up on cars. My car had a bunch of ash all over it, and coworkers as far away as Sherwood had the same issue. Even in Beaverton this morning I can see little flecks of ash floating around.

And to think that all of this is the result of some idiot kid messing around with fireworks near a forest during the hottest, driest summer in decades.

 

[GameAddict411]

I can barely breath outside here in Eugene Oregon. Never seen anything like this before.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

Salem here and yea this has been utter shite for the last 2 days now. I woke up this morning felt like I had been in a smoker all night. It's not like ash from the sky or anything but it's fuckin permeating through everything in my house and it's driving me insane.

My dogs hate it too. Been acting weird as hell since halfway through yesterday.

Eventually a muted orange sun poked through the clouds.

my office window points west and this acrid, garbage, deadlight orange sun is the strangest thing.

 

[Stormwatch]

My friends stayed in Bend, OR this past weekend for Labor Day. We ended up being stuck inside the whole time. My rental car was completely covered in ash this morning before I drove to PDX to fly back home. It is nuts here!

 

[Izayoi]

It's like the end times outside of my office window (downtown Seattle). I work really early and it was surreal when the sun was first coming up, this strange orange/yellow haze. It looked like the Matrix.

When I got up this morning I thought it was snowing, but then I realized how fucking stupid that thought was given it was nearly 70 degrees.

Insanity.

 

[Darth Pinche]

Yup, in Kirkland, WA this morning, there was ash on the inside of my window sill that made it through my screen.

We are sealed in today, you can taste the air outside.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Put a beat to this

I'm listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack at work because the light is coming through the windows like its the Tyrell building right now and looking outside is beautiful and disgusting at the same time.

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

Vancouver, WA Looks all hazy/smokey and ash has been falling off and on.

 

[Fragamemnon]

I don't have a sense of smell, but it's certainly no ash bath in redmond or woodinville this morning. I'm just happy the stupid sun isn't blazing down on the world for a change.

 

[lord pie]

The air quality index got to 780 here last week due to the CO/CA fires. It was awful.

My friends stayed in Bend, OR this past weekend for Labor Day. We ended up being stuck inside the whole time. My rental car was completely covered in ash this morning before I drove to PDX to fly back home. It is nuts here!

Funny, this weekend was dramatically better than last week.

 

[Tigress]

I live north of Seattle and I swear there was ash all over my car this morning. I've never experienced that where I live (or maybe just not noticed). Not even when the Vancouver Canada fires were around earlier this year (im not even sure they've stopped those).

 

[Izayoi]

.

 

[Stormwatch]

The air quality index got to 780 here last week due to the CO/CA fires. It was awful.



Funny, this weekend was dramatically better than last week.

I believe Bend got to 806 on Sunday overnight. We did the Little Woody beer and whiskey festival on Saturday and there weren't many people there. On Sunday we went to a pool and the outdoor portion was closed. We ended up playing frisbee golf and by the 18th hole we were all winded from lack of "good" air.

 

[Walter White Walker]

I live north of Seattle and I swear there was ash all over my car this morning. I've never experienced that where I live (or maybe just not noticed). Not even when the Vancouver Canada fires were around earlier this year (im not even sure they've stopped those).

There was. I'm north of Seattle as well and my car was covered in it. I still went for a walk this morning but I'm done with going outside for the rest of the day. I'm looking at my back window now and it looks like fog.

 

[fluffydelusions]

I just read that the historic Multnomah Falls Lodge is in danger...



It would be incredibly sad to see that burn.

I ate there last year I was surprised it was so cheap tbh (and good!)

 

[JeTmAn81]

Apparently the Eagle Creek fire was started by teenagers with firecrackers. They've been arrested.

 

[GameAddict411]

Apparently the Eagle Creek fire was started by teenagers with firecrackers. They've been arrested.

People like that should be thrown in prison for years.

 

[SynthFetish]

Thankfully, I have lots of masks so I don't breathe this crap in.

 

[stressboy]

There are flakes of ash falling both where I live in Salem and where I work in Hillsboro. And the smell.. ugh. Glad they caught the little fucks that did this.

 

[adj_noun]

All the haze and smoke from the fires made the world yellow today.

Felt like an alien planet.

 

[HTupolev]

Even in Beaverton this morning I can see little flecks of ash floating around.

Yeah, we've got a bit of that north of Seattle. Little white particles drifting around like snowflakes. Fortunately pretty sparse.

Nice meeting you last night!


(Everyone in seattle knows each other)

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I still don't get fireworks as a thing that's still even a thing in the 21st century. The quality of audio/visual stimulus in 2017 is such that I don't even understand the reptilian-brained appeal of lighting an M80 under a coffee can in your driveway and scrambling back to the safety of your garage like a scared neanderthal. Like, just go inside and play a video game or watch one of the countless hundred-million-dollar blockbusters available for streaming at the push of a button on your giant flatscreen TV or whatever.

The economy of selling dimbulb yokels cardboard tubes filled with screeching black powder for the purpose of setting whole forests on fire and scaring dogs and veterans seems like a really shitty business plan, but what the fuck do I know.

If Governor Brown announced a re-election platform built on the outlawing of fireworks, the muffling of street bikes, and the death of Daylight Savings, I would dedicate every spare minute of my life to her campaign.

 

[bennywhatever]

This is so terrible. Reminds me of the Smoky Mountain fires last year started by a bunch of dickweeds lighting matches and throwing them on the side of trails.

My wife and I planned on flying out to Portland later this week, driving up to Mt St Helens and hiking to the top. Looks like that trip might not be happening.

 

[woahitsreeo]

Posted this time-lapse in the Portland OT.

https://youtu.be/XR2DhoWsxo4

I heard the fire crossed the Columbia into Washington. It's going to be sad to see the state of the trails once it's all put out.

 

[Poppy]

ashy smoky day in corvallis, but we dont seem to have the worst of it like others. still odd for me to experience as a transplant here

 

[Debirudog]

Can't take it here anymore in Eugene. Have to wear a mask outside...

 

[Izayoi]

Our building has the worst fucking HVAC system, you can practically taste the air from outside. I'm guess I'm going to have to get an air filter for my office...

 

[Atenhaus]

Puget Sounder here,

We've got our own wildfires raging up here in the Cascades. The air quality is just... I can't describe it. It's beyond terrible. My brain couldn't initially comprehend that I was looking at the sun this morning completely unaided.

 

[fluffydelusions]

Puget Sounder here,

We've got our own wildfires raging up here in the Cascades. The air quality is just... I can't describe it. It's beyond terrible. My brain couldn't initially comprehend that I was looking at the sun this morning completely unaided.

Looking out my window right now....it just looks yellow...no sun...no nothing just yellow

 

[jb1234]

Puget Sounder here,

We've got our own wildfires raging up here in the Cascades. The air quality is just... I can't describe it. It's beyond terrible. My brain couldn't initially comprehend that I was looking at the sun this morning completely unaided.

It's eerie, much worse than the smoke from a few weeks ago.

 

[Ourobolus]

Nice meeting you last night!


(Everyone in seattle knows each other)

I don't know you

But yeah, there's ash everywhere out here

 

[psyfi]

This is so terrible. I've spent my whole life going to the Gorge, I hate to think of it being nothing but ash.

 

[Dazzler]

Pretty smokey in Vancouver, BC. Looked like someone had put an instagram filter on the sky this morning

 

[HTupolev]

It's eerie, much worse than the smoke from a few weeks ago.

Yep. The smoke from the BC fire was dense at ground level, but it was shallow enough that the sun was still sharp when it was high in the sky, and there weren't ash snowflakes.