SWO Fires

[kadylady]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Oh my, I hope she's okay. I haven't heard anything this morning. Then again, I don't have the TV turned on at the moment. Will check the noon news. Thank you, also, for the info on what started the Oregon fire.

I talked to MIL. It's very smoky, but so far she's not in harms way. She's already been evacuated once this year. It seems to be a bad fire season everywhere.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

They were expecting it and were on top of it in an hour. They controlled the new fires while they were very small.

I drove past the fire camp in riddle this morning and saw a sign from New Mexico in front of about 40 tents. There are agencies from all over fighting this fire.

I also heard that COPR is working on repairing the rail line between Riddle and Glendale. Maybe they learned their lesson in Coos Bay, when the state took it over. I don't suppose they like paying the Port of Coos Bay for every car they haul out of Coos Bay now. If you haven't seen the pictures, all the wood ties burned out of two trestles, and there is a lot of track with no ties. Occasionally there is other damage. There are two Swanson mills in Glendale that are heavy shippers.

Swanson in Venita/Noti was the first customer restored by the Coos Rail Link. And it wasn't exactly the state hat took it over. It was the Port of Coos Bay.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Swanson in Venita/Noti was the first customer restored by the Coos Rail Link. And it wasn't exactly the state hat took it over. It was the Port of Coos Bay.

The Port of Coos Bay has it now, but the State of Oregon seized the line through eminent domain when COPR abandoned it, and a Connect Oregon grant arranged by Peter DeFazio funded the restoration. Now that DeFazio is no longer chair of the House Transportation Committee, we can expect a lot less interest in Congress for Oregon problems. I'm sure COPR would like to buy the line back, but limits on eminent domain passed a couple legislatures ago made it illegal to transfer property siezed through eminent domain to a private company.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by kadylady

I talked to MIL. It's very smoky, but so far she's not in harms way. She's already been evacuated once this year. It seems to be a bad fire season everywhere.

Definitely is a bad fire season this year. But good to know you MIL is okay. The fire is now 10% contained but it sure did travel fast through that canyon by Palm Springs. I really hope the firefighters in your area are getting a handle on the fires up there.

[Fiddlehead]

Can anyone report on the fires since the big rains the last three days?

It seems like a lot of rain was hitting Douglas County, which might have had some effect. Now we have a big marine push. All helpful in knocking them back, I would suspect.

Down here in Ashland, all we got was 0.01". Kind of disappointing. I am ready for a good, soaking rainstorm.

[kadylady]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Can anyone report on the fires since the big rains the last three days?

It seems like a lot of rain was hitting Douglas County, which might have had some effect. Now we have a big marine push. All helpful in knocking them back, I would suspect.

Down here in Ashland, all we got was 0.01". Kind of disappointing. I am ready for a good, soaking rainstorm.

We got a good soaking here, not too far from the Big Windy. It rained for about 45 minutes. Check out
https://www.facebook.com/RogueWeathe...ocation=stream
He has pretty good updates.

[JGC97]

Looking at the Courier Downtown webcam, there is much more visibility than last week. The rain had a big impact on the region and that's great news!

[Steve Pickering]

Rain also washes smoke out of the air. In fact smoke particals can cause it to rain.

[Larry Caldwell]

There has been heavy smoke north up to Roseburg the last couple of days. Word is that the smoke comes from back burns to widen the fire lines. The last I heard, the Douglas Complex was at 45,000 acres and 38% contained. Fire crews are extinguishing hot spots inside and outside the fire lines, and some fire crews are peeling off to fight other, more active fires. CORP has started replacing ties on the railroad line between Riddle and Glendale.