Woke up to Orange Sun, Raining Ash & No Power

[Chainbreaker]

OK, so that gives me an idea... Lets say Its hot and dry out with an approaching fire and utility power is suddenly cut off. So, as a last ditch effort before evacuating property, I turn OFF all the house circuits except well pump and activate sprinklers all around the house with perhaps some on top of house.

Then...I'm gonna run my genset like the Scoobyshep's big boy "cold air cooled motors" and put the biggest ice chest that will fit filled with block ice right below and in front of the cooling blower intake and hope for the best as I vacate the property!

Cold humid air I think my genset will like as I bid it farewell and wish it luck!

 

[Scoobyshep]

OK, so that gives me an idea... Lets say Its hot and dry out with an approaching fire and utility power is suddenly cut off. So, as a last ditch effort before evacuating property, I turn OFF all the house circuits except well pump and activate sprinklers all around the house with perhaps some on top of house.

Then...I'm gonna run my genset like the Scoobyshep's big boy "cold air cooled motors" and put the biggest ice chest that will fit filled with block ice right below and in front of the cooling blower intake and hope for the best as I vacate the property!

Cold humid air I think my genset will like as I bid it farewell and wish it luck!

If you are gonna run a last ditch effort, why not bypass the safety circuits as well? Fire pumps are setup like this.

 

[JD4044M]

OK, so that gives me an idea... Lets say Its hot and dry out with an approaching fire and utility power is suddenly cut off. So, as a last ditch effort before evacuating property, I turn OFF all the house circuits except well pump and activate sprinklers all around the house with perhaps some on top of house.

Then...I'm gonna run my genset like the Scoobyshep's big boy "cold air cooled motors" and put the biggest ice chest that will fit filled with block ice right below and in front of the cooling blower intake and hope for the best as I vacate the property!

Cold humid air I think my genset will like as I bid it farewell and wish it luck!

Unless you have a high pressure well with high volume it probley won't save the place unless your mowed clean out 200 ft from the buildings. The wind from the fire will blow the water away and dry it out on the buildings. I used 4,000 gals of water out of my fire tank and was running 2- 6.5 hp high pressure gasoline pumps and 6 large sprinklers with 1 1/2 hose and 1" hose for 20 mins. I Had to wait till the fire was 20 ft from the place and then drowned it fast. I was having 60 MPH wind and 30 ft flame length. A water hose would be like pissing at it in those winds. My sprinklers were 1 -60 GPM, 2-30 GPM, 3-20 GPM along with the hoses. I had 700 ft of fire hose laid out for fighting our fire.

 

[Wolfen]

The smoke is so thick here today. I can only see the length of two power poles. Fortunately, the power has stayed on and no evacuation notice has been issued for my area. I found out yesterday, that Oregon's incompetent government, knew about the fire in the Santiam canyon last month and failed to do anything about even though high winds were forecast!

 

[Chainbreaker]

Looks like you were successful in protecting the property!

I completely agree with your assessment that garden hoses with sprinklers wouldn't fight or stop a fire. I do have everything mowed where it can be mowed. However we have Douglas Fir and Oak trees within 50 yards of house. My thoughts were it might make the home space a bit more defendable by at least dampening down grass, bushes & trees near the house beforehand. That way "if" the fire fighting crews that are assigned to protect structures come in with their tanker trucks they might stand a better chance of stopping the fire around the house. Currently our fire does not have enough manpower for fire crews and no air support due to dense smoke so there really are not any fire lines on the fire slowly headed our way last I heard.

Last week structure protection was pretty much all the fire crews were doing in addition to some mop up efforts as they could not actually fight the fire in the wild on its terms. Our nearest fire, called the "Holiday Farm Fire" is currently 161, 872 acres with a 190 mile perimeter & still 0% contained. The only good news is that its growing more slowly now that humidity is up and winds are down. We "might" get some much needed rain next week.

Latest I heard, is most of the large fires in Oregon will continue to burn until October when rains hopefully become more prevalent.

 

[Chainbreaker]

The smoke is so thick here today. I can only see the length of two power poles. Fortunately, the power has stayed on and no evacuation notice has been issued for my area. I found out yesterday, that Oregon's incompetent government, knew about the fire in the Santiam canyon last month and failed to do anything about even though high winds were forecast!

Yes smoke is really bad here as well. We are going on our 5th day of smoke filled air but not as bad as the first day with falling ash. Still its bad for health there is only so much a mask can do. I've gone through 5 N95 masks so far & come into house smelling like a campfire pit and have to take a shower before bed and I cant even wear a work shirt twice, so its fresh clothes daily that smell good until I go outside.

Right now, we have 8 horses on the property & keeping them well fed & calm to minimize their air intake as much as possible. Its not good for any animals kept outside when exposed to this much smoke for this long. Our air is rated at the worst end of the air quality scale right now.

Anyway, I'm glad my gensets are standing by should we lose power again. I can't fathom having to deal with this type of event without power.

 

[JD4044M]

We have had no power or phones for 6 days now and they think it will take another 4 plus weeks to get most the power back up!! All kinds of poles are burned. The flame length in our fire was to long for fighting a front so the firefighters left us to be on our own just us two and we were under evacuation level 3. They told us to leave 3 times but once you leave you can't come back so we stayed. They said we were to low on priority and were needed in town? One reason I am prepared myself, not the first time they left us and just watched!! I had 2 short showers last one cold in 6 days and every thing inside and out smells of smoke. My COPD is getting worst and nothing I can do about it till all this clears up Can't leave to many animal for just my wife and daughter to deal with. I got 2 generators running and a new one coming on the 15th it is 12,000 watt to power up our 14 freezers full of stuff!

 

[Chainbreaker]

Yes these type of events certainly get your attention and are definitely a wake up call!

I have now reassessed our position on being prepared for these types of mega-events. I plan on doing more fire mitigation efforts like taking out trees too close to house and possible installing a series of water holding tanks to fill with collected rainwater during rainy season. As well as buying a gas powered pump & fire hose in addition to reviewing our earthquake preparedness since we are considered to be in a potential earthquake affected area.

There is the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of WA, OR & Northern CA, that they say could trigger up to a 9.0 earthquake. That would take out all kinds of infrastructure on the coast and possibly inland for months. However there is good news/bad news on the probably of such an event:

"In 2009, some geologists predicted a 10% to 14% probability that the Cascadia Subduction Zone will produce an event of magnitude 9.0 or higher in the next 50 years. In 2010, studies suggested that the risk could be as high as 37% for earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher.

Geologists and civil engineers have broadly determined that the Pacific Northwest region is not well prepared for such a colossal earthquake. The earthquake is expected to be similar to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, because the rupture is expected to be as long as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. The resulting tsunami might reach heights of approximately 30 meters (100 ft). FEMA estimates some 13,000 fatalities from such an event, with another 27,000 injured. It predicts that a million people will be displaced, with yet another 2.5 million requiring food and water. An estimated 1/3 of public safety workers will not respond to the disaster due to a collapse in infrastructure and a desire to ensure the safety of themselves and their loved ones.

Other analyses predict that even a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Seattle would result in 7,700 dead and injured, $33 billion in damage, 39,000 buildings severely damaged or destroyed, and 130 simultaneous fires."

So...my take away is, when your left on your own you are truly on your own and better be "prepared and able" to handle it.

 

[Mullaney]

We have had no power or phones for 6 days now and they think it will take another 4 plus weeks to get most the power back up!! All kinds of poles are burned. The flame length in our fire was to long for fighting a front so the firefighters left us to be on our own just us two and we were under evacuation level 3. They told us to leave 3 times but once you leave you can't come back so we stayed. They said we were to low on priority and were needed in town? One reason I am prepared myself, not the first time they left us and just watched!! I had 2 short showers last one cold in 6 days and every thing inside and out smells of smoke. My COPD is getting worst and nothing I can do about it till all this clears up Can't leave to many animal for just my wife and daughter to deal with. I got 2 generators running and a new one coming on the 15th it is 12,000 watt to power up our 14 freezers full of stuff!

So.... We all know that cold showers are no fun. We also know that a water heater draws a lot of current... With all the stuff you have around the farm - is there any chance you have an old plastic drum that could be lifted higher than the bathroom window? With a hose connected to it, you could at least have warm water to wash in. Getting rid of the smoke smell on you would definitely improve the COPD situation.

Maybe possibly? And if so, maybe a can of black spray paint to help heat it up?

 

[JD4044M]

We have no sun shine the smoke blocked it out. I have made Solar Hot Water Heaters before but with all the stuff to do I don't have time nor energy. In a couple days the bigger Gen Set will be here that can run the water heater.

 

[peapvp]

What is your elevation?

 

[Karl kostman]

We had a very cloudy day in ND from the CA fires! The powers to be mobilized fire departments from both Fargo and Grand forks and other cities in MN they all left this afternoon heading to CA to help with the fires, first time in 30 years that this happened!

 

[Chainbreaker]

What is your elevation?

Not sure if that is directed to me, nevertheless I am at 500 ft.

 

[Chainbreaker]

We had a very cloudy day in ND from the CA fires! The powers to be mobilized fire departments from both Fargo and Grand forks and other cities in MN they all left this afternoon heading to CA to help with the fires, first time in 30 years that this happened!

When our fires suddenly hit here some local firefighters had deployed to CA as well. Typically working fires across state lines only strengthens the efforts all the way around. What goes around comes around, however when every state on the West Coast is ablaze there is going to be a shortage of fire fighters no matter what.

Biggest problem now, in our location, is hazardous air quality. On Sunday we had an AQI of 457, worst ever recorded here.

 

[frank8003]

AQI only goes up to 500
457 is way hazardous as you well know

http://sparetheair.com/publications/PM25%20AQI%20Lookup%20Tables_0708.pdf

I have found only one mask better than the normal N95 but that is for welding
It is North 7190N99, If I had any I would send to you.

 

[Chainbreaker]

I looked at Grainger and Fastenal for those masks, out of stock. All sold out probably due to the run on them for Covid protection.

The 95 masks I have seem to be doing a pretty good job, but I have to change them often.

AQI today is 228 so that is better...

 

[peapvp]

Not sure if that is directed to me, nevertheless I am at 500 ft.

Yes it was, sometimes with wildfires there is a small chance of oxygen levels dropping because the fire needs it as fuel. This problem would intensify in higher altitudes like in the Rockies and could cause the generator to have oxygen starvation which will lead to a much reduced hp and kw rating - it is also possible to experience oxygen starvation in very low altitudes with very very large wildfires

 

[peapvp]

One more thing, oxygen starvation when it occurs is not spread evenly in an area. One genset may die of oxygen starvation while another one just a few hundred feet away runs fine - the science behind this phenomenon is quite complex

 

[Chainbreaker]

It was quite smokey and the winds were easterly winds blowing from the direction of the fire towards us, so there certainly could have been less oxygen content in the air. However, my #2 generator just 10' ft away started up right after #1 suddenly quit, and it ran just fine in that environment. However I was no longer running the well pump continuously then, so it was not under as much load and thus requiring less oxygen and also producing less heat.

Had the smoke gotten much worse I might as well have just shut off the diesel fuel and let the genset run on "wood gas"! With all the falling ash in the air, the air quality on Tuesday the 8th was truly not fit for man, beast nor machine!

 

[Chainbreaker]

Well some good news...the Westerly winds coming off the ocean picked up and blew into our area around 6:00 pm this Wednesday evening and have pushed out all the smoke FINALLY! I was even able to go outside w/o a mask and open windows in house and let some fresh air in. To think I took all this for granted prior to these mega-fires!

Looks like we will get some rain/thunder tomorrow evening with 80% chance of rain on Friday! I may just have to strip down and run a naked wet lap around the house in honor of the rain gods!