Can you smell the smoke in your area? Do you have wildfire fears?

Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose

Location: Canadian Prairies
I live in rural and have well-treed shelter that gets us through cold windy winters but now, we all get shivers up our spine when we smell smoke in the air. We are always on the alert mode especially being in a lengthy drought at this time leaving many gaping cracks on the lawn, thus I tend to walk with head down. We do live in a windy area and do tend to smell smoke from afar.
 

We have a planning mill not far from us.
They burn scraps of wood,, so wood smoke is often in our air.
That said , I still get anxious when I smell wood smoke.

Where we used to live the older lady up street, would burn her trash outside on windy days.
Several times our other neighbors & us would be out battling the grass fires from her trash burning.
There was a small stand of larch between her house & ours.

Always afraid they would catch fire from blowing bits.
 
Sliverfox said:
We have a planning mill not far from us.
They burn scraps of wood,, so wood smoke is often in our air.
That said , I still get anxious when I smell wood smoke.

Where we used to live the older lady up street, would burn her trash outside on windy days.
Several times our other neighbors & us would be out battling the grass fires from her trash burning.
There was a small stand of larch between her house & ours.

Always afraid they would catch fire from blowing bits.
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You gotta watch those little old ladies and their trash burning! I, myself have a firm cover on the burn barrel topped up with a good-sized brick. I believe in visuals of that nature!
 

We're not "smelling" any smoke, but the sky has been hazy and light gray for the past couple of days, as the smoke from these Western wildfires floats into the upper atmosphere, and travels East. With fire season just starting in the West, and no relief forecasted for their heat and drought, I expect we will be seeing a lot of hazy days this year.
 
Ruby Rose said:
I live in rural and have well-treed shelter that gets us through cold windy winters but now, we all get shivers up our spine when we smell smoke in the air. We are always on the alert mode especially being in a lengthy drought at this time leaving many gaping cracks on the lawn, thus I tend to walk with head down. We do live in a windy area and do tend to smell smoke from afar.
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Sorry to hear of the severe drought conditions up in Canada ... like the western US, there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
And everything is tinder to the spreading flames.

Stay safe.
 
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officerripley said:
Yes and yes. 6 family members lost their homes 3 years ago in the worst wildfire in Calif. history, so it's always on my (and their!) mind.
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Oh no. It had to be the camp fire. :(

I'm getting to the point, living on the edge of town with rolling hills behind me up the road, that anything can burn down anymore. I have fire season anxiety like crazy. The drought, climate change. I'm so depressed over it.

We have haze in the distance but the skies above are clear right now and no smoke smell.
 
Remy said:
Oh no. It had to be the camp fire. :(

I'm getting to the point, living on the edge of town with rolling hills behind me up the road, that anything can burn down anymore. I have fire season anxiety like crazy. The drought, climate change. I'm so depressed over it.

We have haze in the distance but the skies above are clear right now and no smoke smell.
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I try not to get too depressed over all the potential...I do count my blessings a lot. I find living here, there is so much to be aware of always and to prepare for. I sure don't feel like a city girl anymore. I won't deny it though, there are some things that I do miss.
 
Remy said:
I have fire season anxiety like crazy. The drought, climate change.
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Good term for it.

We canā€™t be outside for more than 5 minutes because of the smoke. Weā€™re socked in, though not as bad as 2017. Weā€™re in an interior valley and we canā€™t see the hills. The smoke is shared internationally. Washington State get ours and vice versa.

Some of the fires in the western states are massive.

BC has so many fires burning and itā€™s not even fire season yet. Lytton BC burned down just a few weeks ago. Another town is under evacuation alert, large numbers of properties are under evacuation order.

Too top this off, there are pyromaniacs doing their thing.
 
As much as I miss California,I most definitely don`t miss the wildfire threat. Although my dog and my donkey are still there-and unfortunately both are in extremely vulnerable areas. I`ll be picking up my dog in a couple of weeks but sadly,my donkey is going to have to live out her life there.šŸ˜­But here in Idaho we have very hazy skies due to the smoke from California and Oregon.
 
Bonnie said:
Sorry to hear of the severe drought conditions up in Canada ... like the western US, there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
And everything is tinder to the spreading flames.

Stay safe.
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Unbelievable...another week expected in the 30s leaving me in the house once more...getting fat and lazy...not good as at my age hard to lose it.
 

Can you smell the smoke in your area? Do you have wildfire fears?​


Yeah, the Bootleg fire is a big one.
It's smoke fills the air.
Turns the sun into a creepy orange glow.

When living at our mountain cabin, every summer had wildfire issues.
Wildfire concerns were the same as snow/ice concerns...part of the deal.

This year is really something
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
As much as I miss California,I most definitely don`t miss the wildfire threat. Although my dog and my donkey are still there-and unfortunately both are in extremely vulnerable areas. I`ll be picking up my dog in a couple of weeks but sadly,my donkey is going to have to live out her life there.šŸ˜­But here in Idaho we have very hazy skies due to the smoke from California and Oregon.
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I feel so bad for all the animals in harm's way.
 
We're in Colorado, and there's been a smoky haze across the sky for the past week. Besides the wildfires in our state, they say a lot of it is coming from Oregon. With the weather here getting hotter and drier over the years, we have drought conditions which are always a bad threat for fires. I was annoyed when so many neighbors were shooting off fireworks for a week before and a week after the 4th of July. All you can do is keep the hose at the ready in case something needs to be addressed quickly. šŸ¤ž

As Bonnie mentioned, my heart also goes out to all the animals affected, and those who have breathing problems, that has to be scary.
 
Remy said:
@Mrs. Robinson You lived in Lake County right? Another beautiful area. I envy you getting the bleep out of California. I hope you love where you are.
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Yes,in Lakeport. I do like Idaho but still miss Lakeport. Miss my grandkids. Miss my kids. Just don`t miss the fire threat and and much of what has happened to California. The other day I was ready to pack up and move back lol. We are having a really hard time finding a house to buy-there just aren`t enough homes available for all the buyers. But we are very lucky to have a great place to rent in the meantime. We may just end up buying this place...
 
officerripley said:
Yes and yes. 6 family members lost their homes 3 years ago in the worst wildfire in Calif. history, so it's always on my (and their!) mind.
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I remember your extreme kindness in their time of need Officer.

I'm no where near these fires but seeing their magnitude and watching the stories about the residents who are losing their homes and what those brave firefighters have to contend with produces anxiety and fear for me. I can only begin to imagine how frightening it is to be in the midst of it all.

I pray everyone there as well as those on our forum who live in or near the area or are in some way affected by those fires (including air quality) will remain safe!
 
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The "haze" in our area has pretty much dissipated, as a warm front is coming in from the South, and pushing this smoke further North. However, the news is showing a lot of smoke in the Northern states....stretching all the way to the Atlantic.

Fire season still has months to go, and with the heat and drought being so extreme in the Western states, this year could set some new records for devastation.
 
Woke up here to a hazy yellow-orange sunrise with smoke clearly drifting towards us from the Dixie fire in Plumas Co. It has grown to 143,000 acres. We have family who have been evacuated from the surrounding area. The fire is headed their way, and they don't know when they will get to return or if there will be anything left when they do.

I'm keeping an eye on our air quality on this handy map here.

Thought I'd share a couple of awesome images of firefighters spraying water on the fire from the top of a train. I have been reading that is not uncommon. I never knew.
DixieFireTrain.jpg
DixieFireTrain2.jpg
 
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