|
Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
|
|
Fires Raging In 6 Western States
FOREST FIRES
There are over 3,000 acres lost so far this summer across six western states due to wild fires. Two firefighters have died when their plane crashed in Arizona. These fires are raging on as record heat waves continue to plummet the west. The largest, the so-called Bootleg Fire, burned across 143,607 acres in Oregon and was 0% contained. Officials in neighboring state California asked all residents to reduce power consumption quickly after the fire knocked out interstate power lines, preventing up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity from flowing into the state. The areas are at a level 3 which means get ready to go now! More than 580 firefighters are working the fire, including 10 helicopters as well as other fixed-wing aircraft. Firefighters have focused their suppression efforts on residents and communities along the south and western areas of the fire. Additional firefighting resources have been ordered and are on the way “Oregon’s The Bootleg Fire will see the potential for extreme growth in the coming days. the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, said the fire is fueled by extreme drought and temperatures near 100 that aren't expected to subside until midweek. The fire behavior we are seeing on the Bootleg Fire is among the most extreme you can find and firefighters are seeing conditions they have never seen before. Oregon had the driest spring on record. This fire is still under investigation on how it started. In Southern Oregon, the Jack Fire east of Roseburg was burning about 14 square miles. Forest Service campgrounds were also under mandatory evacuations, including Apple Creek, Horseshoe Bend and Eagle Rock. This summer, with its record-breaking temperatures, heat waves have already killed 78 people since late June in Washington State, and another 116 people in Oregon. Homeless people and those who were sick or older make up a significant portion of the death toll. And summer has a long way to go. Further south, the equally formidable Beckwourth Complex Fire measured 83,926 acres and was 8% contained in California, edging along the border with Nevada. Started by lightening. It's the largest wildfire of the year in the state. The fire is composed of the Dotta and Sugar fires. The Dotta Fire is approximately 670 acres and 99% contained. The Sugar Fire is 83,256 acres and 8% contained. It jumped a major highway, U.S. 395 Saturday night, and threatened homes in Nevada's Washoe County. Excessive heat warnings were in place in both Nevada and California as firefighters worked in searing drought weather. NV Energy, Nevada’s largest power provider, also urged customers to conserve electricity Saturday and Sunday evenings. Western heat wave: Las Vegas tied all-time high of 117; Palm Springs hits 120 Death Valley in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s reading at Furnace Creek. The shockingly high temperature was actually lower than the previous day, when the location reached 130, The 130-degree reading, if confirmed, would be the hottest high recorded there since July 1913, when Furnace Creek desert hit 134, considered the highest measured temperature on Earth. Palm Springs in Southern California hit a record high temperature of 120 Saturday. It was the fourth time temperatures have reached 120 degrees so far this year, the Desert Sun reported. In California’s agricultural Central Valley, 100-degree temperatures blanketed the region, with Fresno reaching 111 degrees, just one degree short of the all-time high for the date. Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon tied the all-time high of 117, the National Weather Service said. The city has recorded that record-high temperature four other times, most recently in June 2017. Two Arizona firefighters died after a plane responding to a wildfire in the state crashed on Saturday afternoon, according to the federal Bureau of Land Management. They were “performing aerial reconnaissance and command and control” over the Cedar Basin fire, The Cedar Story Basin Fire was 700 acres and was 0% contained. At least four wildfires were burning in southeast Washington, the largest of which was 46,352 acres, as record-breaking temperatures over the past week left the state very dry, according to Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little declared a wildfire emergency Friday and mobilized the state’s National Guard to help fight fires sparked after lightning storms swept across the drought-stricken region. The wildfires there had burned a combined 39,000 acres as of Sunday. Wildfires are a natural occurrence in Oregon’s forests, especially in the state’s “dry forests,” where periodic burns actually contribute to overall forest health. Many plants and trees have adapted to wildfires, and some species can’t survive without them. For example, a lodgepole pine needs heat from wildfires for its cones to open and release seeds. In central and eastern Oregon, periodic low-intensity wildfires burn away smaller trees and brush. This fosters the regrowth of new trees and plants. But fire suppression practices over the past 100 years have created overly dense forests, fueling bigger and more destructive wildfires. Climate change may be another reason Oregon’s wildfire seasons are getting longer. People start a large number of wildfires in Oregon. Major culprits include backyard burn piles and unattended campfires. Closer to the coast where the forests are wetter there is possible hope. In the wet Douglas-fir forests on the west side of the Cascades and in the Coast Range, fire in any given stand is much less frequent, once every 200 to several hundred years. The historic record shows numerous instances of large, intense fires that killed most of the forest. Unfortunately, with the change in the climate, fires will be a problem to the coast range. Anyone remember the Tillamook Burn? The cost over the past decade, Oregon has spent more than $226 million fighting forest fires on state-protected lands. Fire suppression, while beneficial in the short term, can have long-term negative effects. The exclusion of natural wildfire can, over decades, result in dense, overstocked forests with an overabundance of understory that would normally be removed by natural fires. These forests will inevitably experience fire, but with potentially much more devastating results. With so much fuel on the ground and so little space between trees in these unnaturally dense forests, fires are more destructive than the frequent low-intensity wildfires that once naturally thinned out smaller trees and underbrush. When dry brush and shrubs aren’t cleared away, they can become “ladder fuels” that make it possible for fire to reach the top of the forest canopy, which can kill entire trees. The state and federal government, as well as local stakeholders, are working together with logging contractors to accelerate the restoration of central and eastern Oregon federal forests back to the conditions they were in before wildfire suppression allowed them to become unnaturally dense and prone to destructive fires. These restoration projects involve active forest management, including thinning trees, mowing dry brush and prescribed burning, to improve forest health and fire resiliency. Restoring more open forest conditions through thinning makes it harder for wildfires to become large, catastrophic fires. Thinning also decreases the competition among the remaining trees, allowing them to grow larger, healthier and more fire-resistant. Prescribed burns mimic the natural role fires play in forests by clearing away brush and having a rejuvenating effect on plants and trees. As climate change rages on with no immediate change in sight or if ever. We will see forest fires as the norm for our region. From late spring to late fall. What is t going to take to get people to understand that we must make changes in the way we live, the way we used fuels. And the importance of getting away from fossil fuels which has devastated our climate. While we can’t control Mother Nature and lightning strikes, we can control our own behavior. And how we live.
Tammy
|