That's Gneiss! #198 ~ Smoke Season is Here

Let's hope it's short.

The moment we now dread every year has arrived.

Smoke season.

We were having a good run and the air currents have been in our favor until now. A few days ago the forecast indicated smoke moving into the area, so we were ready. As foretold, the skies started hazing over yesterday.

This morning, the conditions deteriorated rapidly, as you can see from the photo above, which was taken after the dog walk. I didn’t make it far before deciding to put on the N95 mask I had in my bag. I saw a lot of people out and about - walking dogs, playing pickle ball at the park, or working in their yards. I was the only person wearing a mask of any sort.

Turns out somebody threw a wobbler into the works in the form of a new fire just 50 miles to the east of us on the west side of the Cascades. Big fires are still rare on the west side, but the risk is there and especially bad right now. The Bolt Creek Fire grew from nothing to 2,000+ acres in just a few hours. Several hundred homes are in the evacuation area and HWY 2 is closed for travel at milepost 31.7 other than evacuation or firefighting activities.

The swoop of smoke to the left in the photo below is what’s traveling in our direction.

Chelsea @chelc_sea

From Snoqualmie Ridge 😔😔 #boltcreekfire

Here’s the satellite view.

Charlie Phillips @WeatherPhillips

Smoke from #doublecreekfire lifting over Portland, smoke from #boltcreekfire bringing falling ash to parts of Snohomish County. Smoke will fill into the rest of Western WA throughout day as closed low offshore drifts north, bringing smoke with it.

Yikes. We’ve barely had any rain for two months, and the temperatures in the foothills have been above average for an extended time. The forests are full of tinder-dry fuels, and I’m afraid Western Washington is joining the ranks of places where fire is an expectation, not a rarity. While we are safe from wildfire where we live, this is still too close for comfort. It’s so dry everywhere that grass fires are a hazard at any time.

A few days ago I found two burnt bottle rockets on the street around the corner from our house. Who is shooting these off? Last year every morning I’d hear one go off - this went on for weeks. Aside from the fire danger - why? What’s the point? Everyone’s yards are tiny grass fires waiting to happen.

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I was sitting here minding my own business, keeping an eye on fire updates and trying to decide what to write about next when my phone blared with this alert.

It was mistakenly sent to an unnecessarily large area - the entire county (and beyond) - and as you can imagine much confusion ensued for a few minutes. I’ve been watching the #BoltCreekFire hashtag on Twitter, several folks posted about it. Not much later they sent an update…

I really feel for the people working at the different agencies dealing with the situation on the ground and the need for getting information out to people. It’s an eye-opener how difficult it is to find information from accurate sources that isn’t just posts on Twitter. I recently quit Twitter and am grateful that I can see the information posted to the fire hashtag without annoying suggestions to sign in or create an account. There’s a county information page, but the only reason I know is I saw the link on Twitter - there’s no mention of it on the county’s home page.

Because of my interest in wildfires and the human and ecological impacts, I have a pretty good grasp of where to find information. I understand there’s bound to be a lag as the situation changes quickly and the focus is on getting people evacuated from the area. I’m sitting safe at home and other than the impact from the smoke I don’t need to know information about where to go or what resources are available for evacuees. I’m curious as an information professional to see how this is unfolding and trying to think from the point of view of an average information consumer. It’s not great. The Seattle Times website has an update stream, including a post about getting help with livestock - useful! But not everyone has access to the internet, or time to search around when they’re under pressure to prepare to evacuate - or when they get an alert to GO NOW. What other ways can people seek for and find information?

Mostly, I’m thinking about what this means for other types of emergencies, such as a major earthquake.

I’m finally starting to see information about shelters for the folks displaced by the fires. People were leaving their homes hours ago. I can’t imagine how stressful this must be for them.

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Just took the dog on another quick walk. The ash is still falling, and can be seen collecting on surfaces. A car drove by and ash on the newly paved street swirled like dry snow.

Unlike this morning there were very few people outside. One woman in her garden, a couple of others talking and laughing loudly in an open garage. The park was deserted. It was very quiet and had an eerie feeling.

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I saw this acorn, which looked pretty in the smoky light.

Air quality is supposed to be bad through tomorrow, then clear up again as the winds change direction and the onshore flow gets stronger. People will get back to their busy lives and unless the smoke comes back they’ll soon mostly forget about the fire. For some though, this will be a life-changing event. High winds are expected in the area through tomorrow as well, which could cause the fire to grow considerably. More people may have to evacuate, and some may lose their homes depending on where the fire goes. I wish safety for all people and animals, and hope this is over soon.

Take care my friends.