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Greetings from my Oregon Wildfires personal report and update!
Thank you for your notes and prayers and highest thoughts of love and concern.
Our house is packed with people, dogs and cats as we fit in extra people and beds to help others we love and care about.
Evacuees came in on Monday as trees and burning houses from miles away shook the air, the earth, and the trees up on mountain ridges 1/2 mile or less from many, many homes of our immediate family members and extended family on my husband's Oregon side.
About 35 of them plus lots of friends of either us or them went from barely a warning of "look out for air quality" to unbelievable winds (up to 75 m.p.h fanning the flames of Central Oregon that suddenly charge into western valleys and canyon with 2 major fires now merged into one deemed "massive" Santiam Valley Fire".
Trees and shrubs whipping around. Tall old growth forests trees breaking off at the top of mountain like hills "ridges" and creating resounding crashes.
Sending before losing. Will continue in new screen if i can. (Only 1/2 bar of cell coverage)
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Checking phones to find out what was happening to messages of "Get Out Now! Many, many grabbing only car keys and cellphones leaving with the clothes on their backs.
Some in pjs grabbing few clothes all bringing pets but some unable to get terrified cats to come having to tearfully leave them behind.
My kids were among those realizing winds and smell and yellow skies meant fire near and get out now. Some sent some family members and children in one car immediately "out now" while one member tried to catch livestock and here them into horse trailers etc. or domestic smaller animals (cats dogs chickens rabbits birds etc) into pickups and telling wives they'd bring clothes, papers with them but having to give up on that plan and rush out not thinking to close open for cooler night air windows fanning flames and letting fire or ash into homes.
3. In our own and extended towns upctge Santiam Canyon (towns in news are Lyons, Idanha, Mill City, Detroit and now Sweet Home, Lebanon and others
Merging major fires now massive trapped families in their homes or cabins on fallen roads unreachable for exiting or easy fire trucks/emergency vehicles.
Families trying to flee often not surviving but yet to be ascertained or validated as deaths
One terrified and distraught father racing from work far away to get his wife, 12 year old son and the grandmother bedridden with a broken leg. The wife had struggled valiantly to get her mother into the family car but it was so challenging she told her son to run, run,
Stories vary as even fathers awareness of events and timeline update. But brave son ran long ways probably into more fire and returned towards home trapped and not surviving possibly into car with grandmother who also died. Mother wearing her underwear ran and ran for help for her trapped family in car. Burnt, black with burns or ash and her husband was unknown to either heading towards his family.
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Passing a desperate pleading man he utter terror for his family had to tell him he was heading in and towards fire not out.
Later he sees a burnt womanin underwear telling her I have to save my wife. She tells him "I am your wife.
could not even recognize his own wife.
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These are our daily stories from our nearest wild fire and homes of our families coming in over word of mouth or texts or family members or friends all online or sheltering in safe family homes like ours
Now we know the the Santiam fire crossed from one side of the area and towns to the others fed by vegeatation often deterred by something as simple as better vegetatation feeding on one side of the road not the other.
Logging mills, lots and lumber companies usually but not always feeding the flames to larger intensity or even altering direction of fires and the same with changes in the wind.
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in our own big extended families many factors played into their own or their homes survival. Fires swept through central areas of towns but left farther out of direct path homes alone. So some residents and their homes still remain but town stores or hair salons or tiny eateries locals are dependent on are gone-- burned to the grown. Many churches as well
My own families as well as friends phoning us to say don't know where to evacuate to, of course were welcomed into our home. Some into our spare bedroom or my sewing/ crafting room. Others are in our garage where we had stored a bed (20-years ago already made up with clean bedding
My garage shelves storing lots of my emergency or extra goods. Years of stockpiling for the Cascadia Sub-induction Fault potential earthquakes long predicted to be bigger than California's when (if please please) hits
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We are all well though our air quality is now deemed the worst in the world and major fires burn every where in Oregon. We currenljy have 37 fires many have merged with smaller ones. Half a million Oregonians have bern told to evacuate. But many refuse and stay to do all they can to try to save all they have
More and more Californians have moved to escape California fires in years past are now in others ones facing 2nd potential losses of all they own.
It is beyond terrifying for many and there is rampant anxiety, fear, plunging into immediate depressive states but also rising to their highest and most resilient selves
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My family is safe and filled with hope all week long. Our guests well fed and cared for and latching onto our hope and optimism but needing constant emotional support. The multiple cats and dogs not only getting along and interacting even playfully.
We have not faced powers outages thank heaven as temperatures were quite higher part of the recipe of factors that trigger the entire perfect storm of events here.
We have our garden and fruit trees produce and frozen berries, our canned applesauce and so on all from this summer
My heart is breaking for you and everyone in the path of those wildfires as I read your first-hand account and see the news stories about both the fires and the horrendous air quality. Thinking of you all and praying for rain.