FYI: West Coast US fires

[Arcadia]

Park Fire, Chico, California https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/park-fire-butte-county-updates/

“As of Thursday evening, Cal Fire reported that the fire had burned more than 120,000 acres -- about twice the size of Sacramento. Containment stands at 3%.

Location of the Park Fire (left) in relation to the 2018 Camp Fire and 2021 Dixie Fire in Butte County”

Durkee Fire, Oregon https://www.opb.org/article/2024/07/25/eastern-oregon-durkee-fire-largest-nation-keeps-growing/?outputType=amp

“The Durkee Fire, which started last week in Baker County, grew to nearly 270,000 acres by Thursday morning, and its perimeter is now 20% contained

…

More than 60 significant fires are burning in Oregon and Washington alone, and Oregon has been plagued with hundreds of lightning strikes from thunderstorms in recent days that have started new blazes in bone-dry vegetation.”

https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-maps-gallery/orvad-durkee-fire

[prairiewindmomma]

Oregon has had 950,000 acres burn so far this year. I-84, the main interstate running east-west, has had to close at times in eastern Oregon.

Edited July 26 by prairiewindmomma

[Arcadia]

Current fire map https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:24hrs;@-103.8,51.2,4.0z

[prairiewindmomma]

Fire.airnow.gov offers a nice map where you can click on the flame symbol of each fire to check growth and containment %.

[Arcadia]

Park fire CA update 

https://www.kcra.com/article/park-fire-arrest-made-man-pushed-burning-car/61701168
“The Butte County District Attorney's Office said Ronnie Dean Stout II was arrested after he was seen pushing a car that was on fire into a gully near the Alligator Hole in upper Bidwell Park shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday. That was around the same time the Park Fire sparked.”

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/california-wildfires/park-fire-out-of-control/3604138/?amp=1
“The Park Fire in Butte and Tehama counties grew to more than 164,000 acres by early Friday morning, with no containment, and had destroyed 134 structures, according to Cal Fire.

The fire forced widespread evacuation orders and warnings and destroyed multiple homes in areas north of Chico, Cal Fire said. 

More than 4,000 homes are threatened by the blaze as of Friday morning, the agency said.“

[prairiewindmomma]

The firefighting plane that went missing last night in eastern Oregon has been found; the pilot is deceased. 😞 

[Arcadia]

 

[prairiewindmomma]

Oregon’s Wildfire status report:

7/30/24:

36 current large fires

1261 fires so far this year

1,248,414 acres burned so far in 2024

Durkee is our current biggest fire at 293,390 acres. Battle Mountain Complex and the Falls fire are our next biggest.

 

 

[Arcadia]

18 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Durkee is our current biggest fire at 293,390 acres

Thankfully it is 51% contained compared to Park fire which is currently 18% contained. 

[prairiewindmomma]

15 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Thankfully it is 51% contained compared to Park fire which is currently 18% contained. 

Yes, we caught a break in the weather this past week, including a rare summer rain.

[MEmama]

We were just in the Sierras visiting my brothers mountain cabin and we could easily see the smoke from the Park fire, and the lighting through the Central Valley had that weird smoke-specific coloration. 
 

I wanted to remind everyone about air filtration and masking during fire season. My brother's best and lifelong friend has spent his career in the Forest Service; now in his late 50's he is strong and fit from good physical work, and by all accounts healthy. As part of his job he has, of course, worked on and in fire areas, unmasked and unprotected. After experiencing worsening back pain recently, he was diagnosed with a late stage lung cancer that has spread to his brain. As he never smoked and led a healthy lifestyle, this can only be attributed to wildfire smoke exposure. 
 

My brother is likely to lose his lifelong friend due to fire smoke. Please, please take it seriously and make sure your loved ones know how to keep themselves safe. I've been begging my family to take better care--largely thanks to the information shared here; I hope it doesn't take N's death for them to listen.

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, MEmama said:

As he never smoked and led a healthy lifestyle, this can only be attributed to wildfire smoke exposure. 

Look into California’s presumptive cancer law for firefighters. There are many research studies on firefighters facing higher cancer risks due to their work.