Another wildfire. Starting to rethink living here.

Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson

Well-known Member
Location
Nampa,Idaho
I`m sure many of you have seen on the news that Northern California has another big wildfire. This is the the 6th big one here in our county in 3 years. It is on the other side of the county from us,so we are safe. In fact, they are allowing people back into the evacuated neighborhoods this afternoon as it is moving even farther away from us-thankfully to a very sparsely populated area. Once again,an area I know very well from having done property inspections there,will be forever changed.

So,we live in just that type of tinderbox. Surrounded by dry grass. We keep it cleared to within 300 feet of our house but not everyone else does. Our neighborhood burned to the ground in `82. So I know it`s only a matter of time. I`m starting to feel a little uncomfortable when we leave the house and are not close by. My animals would be helpless,unless a neighbor helped them. Not much you can do about kitties. They take off and some survive,some don`t. Thinking about making a big move. Southern Oregon,maybe? Although they had their share of fires last summer as well. I refuse to think about moving into town. Of course,in the Santa Rosa fires last Fall,even the in town homes burned. Need to go somewhere green-but not too far from the kids and grands.
 

Fire would be my last choice of a way to perish. Horrific as it was I understand why some of those poor souls jumped from skyscrapers on September 11th. :(

Tough decisions, Mrs. R.
 
Don't trust to good luck Mrs. R. You've been lucky so far. You should be thinking about moving to a safer place that isn't so

prone to catching on fire. Take another look at Applecruncher's post (Above #4).
 
I hear you Mrs. Robinson. Now they are saying instead of California having a fire season, it's just always going to be fire season. We've got a 25 acre fire that started an hour or so ago about 12 miles away. They are calling for more aircraft so hopefully they'll get it stopped before it really takes off.

Its so dry all over up here and there aren't that many roads to get to safety if we have to evacuate. I can see why southern Oregon looks good to you. A family from across the street moved up there close to Coos Bay a couple years ago and they are sure happy they did.

Stay safe!
 
I have never lived in a fire risk area and never want to; although I do live in a fire risk country - at our ages - safety first and families first including the four legged ones!
 
RadishRose said:
Linda, keep me posted!
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RadishRose, it'll probably be like this for a few months now. Yesterday a road going up to my grandson's was shut down for awhile due to a fire up there. Mrs. Robinson is in northern California and I'm in central California, its just something we have to live with or move. I'm going to southern California tomorrow and just hope there isn't a wildfire on the grapevine, which happens fairly often.
 
I`ve been coming to this lake since I was 2 years old. Every weekend year round. Then moved here 26 years ago. I never remember there being any fires when I was a kid. I`m sure there were but nothing spectacular. An,in fact,there were never any until we had the Forks Fire here. Can`t remember exactly what year that was but probably around 2000. But these last few years have been unbelievable-at least one every year. Only one was proven to be arson and that guy was caught and is in prison. And some are known to have not been arson for sure.

We sold our house several years ago and were lucky to get a good price for it considering it was a bad market at that time. We couldn`t find anything we liked and weren`t positive that we wanted to stay here even back then,so we rented. We have the best landlord in the world and now he wants us to buy this place. But we just don`
 
ooops-hit the wrong "button". don`t want to now. And I know for sure that we could never get fire insurance-unless we wanted to sign over our firstborn kid lol. So now is the time to make a move-or soon anyway.
 
Hey, Mrs. R - I live a few hundred miles north of you, on the Oregon coast. We survived the Chetco Bar Fire last year (192,000 acres), and I really feel your anxiety!
One afternoon, high winds caused it to double in size within a few hours and then it just took off from there. :(
Closest it got to my street was about 5 miles, and we were under possible immediate evacuation status for an entire month. Ugh!
Then there were other wildfires in the area east and south of us too. Things didn't calm down until September.
One good result: there was quite a lot of boisterous conversation here in the last month or so, about returning to better forest management (the kind that used to be in place before spotted owls and the like.)
We shall see...
 
Every year I read with horror the reports of Wild Fires
in America, Australia and a few other places.

Yesterday a Wild Fire started on Saddleworth Moor, which
is near Manchester in the North of England, the fire service
attended and did what they could, but it is difficult as they
don't have aircraft to help.

Mike.
 
I don't blame you Mrs. R, you've had a lot of fires in your area, but there's no guarantee you will distance yourself from wildfires even if you move to Oregon. Oregon is a pretty state though, and more moisture and humidity than Ca. Here in Colorado it's been bone dry, and a lot of big wildfires this year and previous years, thankfully not close to my home. Hope you and Linda stay safe, and best of luck in whatever you decide to do.
 
JFBev said:
Hey, Mrs. R - I live a few hundred miles north of you, on the Oregon coast. We survived the Chetco Bar Fire last year (192,000 acres), and I really feel your anxiety!
One afternoon, high winds caused it to double in size within a few hours and then it just took off from there. :(
Closest it got to my street was about 5 miles, and we were under possible immediate evacuation status for an entire month. Ugh!
Then there were other wildfires in the area east and south of us too. Things didn't calm down until September.
One good result: there was quite a lot of boisterous conversation here in the last month or so, about returning to better forest management (the kind that used to be in place before spotted owls and the like.)
We shall see...
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We were actually in Oregon during the Chetco fire. Stayed in Gold Beach for a couple of days,then drove to Sisters and stayed there for several days. Never saw the sun,the smoke was so thick. Got back home just in time for the big fires here and lived with the smoke for another month. Not fun. Anxious to go back to Oregon when there isn`t a fire burning lol.
 
Well, there's another option other than moving depending on how badly you want to stay near the grandchildren. You can move all your

treasured items and memorabilia...NOW...into a storage facility OR, better yet, a cute/fun "Tiny House" (or Pod) in your back yard which

wouldn't be attractive cause their so cute.


When the Governor says "evacuate" then GO (don't forget to hook up the "Tiny House" to your car first). Your insurance will pay for your

primary house and you won't miss whatever was in it...you'll already be packed and ready to go with all your treasures. Plus you'll have a

temporary place to live while rebuild and wait for the snake to subside.


Example: This one is in San Marcos, California and the seller is taking offers. Offer as low as you want...you never know. But even if you offered $20,000,

it's still a pricey solution to your dilemma. Actually, selling and moving costs to Oregon would be a lot more.

Scroll down for details:
https://tinyhouselistings.com/listi...very-spacious-full-amenities-ready-to-move-in

Full_Size_Render_1_small_kufsaj.jpg
 
Lara said:
Well, there's another option other than moving depending on how badly you want to stay near the grandchildren. You can move all your

treasured items and memorabilia...NOW...into a storage facility OR, better yet, a cute/fun "Tiny House" (or Pod) in your back yard which

wouldn't be attractive cause their so cute.


When the Governor says "evacuate" then GO (don't forget to hook up the "Tiny House" to your car first). Your insurance will pay for your

primary house and you won't miss whatever was in it...you'll already be packed and ready to go with all your treasures. Plus you'll have a

temporary place to live while rebuild and wait for the snake to subside.


Example: This one is in San Marcos, California and the seller is taking offers. Offer as low as you want...you never know. But even if you offered $20,000,

it's still a pricey solution to your dilemma. Actually, selling and moving costs to Oregon would be a lot more.

Scroll down for details:
https://tinyhouselistings.com/listi...very-spacious-full-amenities-ready-to-move-in

Full_Size_Render_1_small_kufsaj.jpg
Click to expand...

This WOULD be an option,however,(for instance) with the fire that started last Saturday,my husband was at work and I had gone to a town an hour away to meet my friend for a birthday lunch. The people who had to evacuate for that fire were given only 5 minutes to get out. In the Santa Rosa fires last year,many people weren`t even given that long (which was the main reason there were so many lives lost). So having a tiny home-or even a trailer-hooked up and filled with your treasures,would be useless if you weren`t at home when the fire started. And my biggest concern is for my animals. Even if I were at home,I would have to depend on someone else to get my donkey out. Thankfully,we have a wonderful organization here called LEAP,that goes in to fire areas and rescues any and all animals that they can get to. Just the fact that we have such an organiztion tells you what we deal with here every year. And this year promises to be especially bad-it`s only June and the fires have already started. Usually it`s late summer when they start.
 
The trouble with "hooking up" that particularly tiny home is that you can't just hook it up to a car and toodle off. Being a triple-axle, it's a heavy dude and would take at the very least a 350 dually to even budge it. They usually have to be moved by a commercial truck. Even getting it jacked up and hooked up is going to take time.

When we spent the summer out traveling in California a few years ago, we spent a fair amount of time in areas with wildfires breaking out in the vicinity. It was a bad summer for the forest. Even though we could have our rig hooked up and on the way in 20 minutes or less, with just abandoning all the sewer hoses, etc., even that could be the difference between life and death. And, as Mrs. R said, that would do us no good if we were 50 miles away sightseeing.

We had what we called our "evacuation bag" packed at all times with paperwork, both personal and vehicular, our laptops, cash, passports, prescription medicine, etc. That went with us in the truck anytime we left the trailer. We always had a couple changes of clothing in the truck, too. If the campground burned down while we were gone, we hadn't lost important papers. If we lost the camper, well that's what insurance is for. We made the determination that if there was any indication that there would be any trouble evacuating, we'd take off without the camper. There were a lot of roads we could take in the truck that we couldn't take pulling the trailer.
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
This WOULD be an option,however,(for instance) with the fire that started last Saturday,my husband was at work and I had gone to a town an hour away to meet my friend for a birthday lunch. The people who had to evacuate for that fire were given only 5 minutes to get out. In the Santa Rosa fires last year,many people weren`t even given that long (which was the main reason there were so many lives lost). So having a tiny home-or even a trailer-hooked up and filled with your treasures,would be useless if you weren`t at home when the fire started. And my biggest concern is for my animals. Even if I were at home,I would have to depend on someone else to get my donkey out. Thankfully,we have a wonderful organization here called LEAP,that goes in to fire areas and rescues any and all animals that they can get to. Just the fact that we have such an organiztion tells you what we deal with here every year. And this year promises to be especially bad-it`s only June and the fires have already started. Usually it`s late summer when they start.
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Yes, I forgot about those people who were given such short notice and didn't know about all of your precious animals.

Plus jujube posted some good information from experience. I have no experience with fires or RVs.

Sometimes I want to be helpful with only common sense but lack hands-on experience.
Sometimes I hit a home run, sometimes I not...this time...not. I try :love_heart: :).

One thing I'm good at is prayer. I'll be praying for you both when making this huge decision. It's a tough one but sounds like a move is imminent.
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
We were actually in Oregon during the Chetco fire. Stayed in Gold Beach for a couple of days,then drove to Sisters and stayed there for several days. Never saw the sun,the smoke was so thick. Got back home just in time for the big fires here and lived with the smoke for another month. Not fun. Anxious to go back to Oregon when there isn`t a fire burning lol.
Click to expand...

October is the best month for visiting -- the tourists (and we do love them, I must say) are gone for the most part and the rainy season isn't in full swing yet. We have pastel-colored sunsets in the Fall -- beautiful! From November to March many inlanders do come over to watch the winter gales, which can be vigorous!!! :eek:nthego: Full rain gear is recommended :D Spring is okay, but unpredictable as it is anywhere else. Summer -- sans wildfires -- is temperate and truly gorgeous.
I grew up in the Willamette Valley, and remember the cyclical nature of fire years. But one thing we know about living out West is that the car is packed with the basics year round, especially when getting out on the road, right? :cool:
Stay safe!
 

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