Wildfire preparedness

[bae]

My pager went off last night at 3am, and I just got back from ~12 hours of fighting a several acre wildfire here in the forest, which we contained before it decided to wipe out a good chunk of the island. Going to sleep now. But before I do:

One nice little cabin and its outbuildings were destroyed in this fire. The resultant cabin fire threw off embers that caught other nearby areas on fire and made the situation much worse. From the scene, it looked as if the cabin could have had a better job done making the grounds around it less subject to fire, and more defensible. It's a darn shame, a few hours of work before there was a fire well could have allowed this place to survive.

Please, please, please - if you live in an area where wildfire is a risk, investigate the practices recommended by the Firewise program!

http://www.firewise.org/

My evening:

http://i.imgur.com/2SeOQMm.jpg

[Yppej]

I don't live in a fireprone zone, but it does bother me that me neighbors have a huge tree tilting in the direction of my house that in a bad enough winter storm could crash down on my roof, and possibly kill me or my son. As in your case, a reckless cabin owner's property threw off embers causing damage elsewhere.

Can anything be done about this?

My neighbors are tenants, and apparently expect the tree to stay indefinitely as they attached a birdhouse to it.

After the 2008 ice storm I cut down all the trees on my property. But the monster next door is probably 100 feet tall.

[Teacher Terry]

I live on the West Coast and see that kind of thing all the time. Also people are target shooting, starting campfires where not allowed, etc all of which start fires. WE have many fires in our state and the states surrounding us are burning. The good winter was a double edged sword so yes it helped with the drought but now cheatgrass, etc has grown like crazy and is now bone dry. Our air quality has been bad a lot.

[ToomuchStuff]

Hope your able to get some rest, Bae.

Years ago, I was driving down the street and stopped at a house that had a batch of Elephant grass, starting on fire, under a dead tree that went over it and the house. It was the fourth of July and it was full of fireworks. I went to its neighbors, since they had a hose out front and yelled at them through their open door as I took their house (call 911). They were on the phone and thought I was stealing their hose, until they looked outside. (I had it out and left before the fire dept got there)
A friend owns a house, that was owned by the inventor of Neuticles. That guy completely ignored the no burning rule that was imposed, thinking he could get by with it just fine, and he hadn't mowed his grass for a while. I believe he burned somewhere between 10 and 20 acres before it was under control/out.
Take care of stuff, because that little bit of time will save you hassle later.

[Tybee]

Bae, what started the fire, lightening? I thought where you lived, on a PNW island, was much wetter than it appears to be. I guess I had your topography wrong.

[iris lilies]

Hope your able to get some rest, Bae.

Years ago, I was driving down the street and stopped at a house that had a batch of Elephant grass, starting on fire, under a dead tree that went over it and the house. It was the fourth of July and it was full of fireworks. I went to its neighbors, since they had a hose out front and yelled at them through their open door as I took their house (call 911). They were on the phone and thought I was stealing their hose, until they looked outside. (I had it out and left before the fire dept got there)
A friend owns a house, that was owned by the inventor of Neuticles. That guy completely ignored the no burning rule that was imposed, thinking he could get by with it just fine, and he hadn't mowed his grass for a while. I believe he burned somewhere between 10 and 20 acres before it was under control/out.
Take care of stuff, because that little bit of time will save you hassle later.
I didnt know that the inventor of Neuticles was from our state. How about that!

now, who knows what Neuticles are without Googling?

but back to topic, these big fires are scary.

[Mary B.]

Bae, what started the fire, lightening? I thought where you lived, on a PNW island, was much wetter than it appears to be. I guess I had your topography wrong.

the islands are really dry in the summer. I am just north of bae and we are at extreme fire hazard... no powered equipment allowed outdoors. (No lawnmowers, weed whips, excavators, etc.) this is typical for us in summer but it is early by a couple of weeks this year.

[Tybee]

the islands are really dry in the summer. I am just north of bae and we are at extreme fire hazard... no powered equipment allowed outdoors. (No lawnmowers, weed whips, excavators, etc.) this is typical for us in summer but it is early by a couple of weeks this year.
Wow, that is terrible--I did not know that, and thought this problem was limited to areas like California. I could not cope with such a dry climate.