Compared to the rest of Oregon, we live in an area that has higher than average wildfire danger. I’m talking, evacuate your neighborhood type of fire danger.
Just a few years ago, a 168-acre wildfire, ignited by a downed power line, threatened homes in our neighborhood. High wind helped spread it quickly. The fire forced an evacuation neighbors still talk about to this day. Evidence of charred ground and trees show how close the fire came to wiping out our area.
So … we take our wildfire abatement seriously in these parts.
Primarily in the spring and fall, prescribed fires are planned and implemented. These fires are supposed to reduce the severity and intensity of future wildfire. Targeted areas are usually forests surrounding communities and homes.
There is even a map illustrating planned fires. Just this spring a fire took off just miles from where we live. We assumed it was a controlled burn but found out later it wasn’t. Several homes were destroyed … so now we regularly check the controlled burn map.
Luckily for us our HOA (Home Owners Association) has scheduled a wildfire abatement crew to remove excess combustible materials in and around our neighborhood. And the local fire folks regularly send out information on how best to manage hazardous conditions on private property.
Recently we drove through a controlled burn south of Bend on Highway 97. As you can see there’s plenty of combustibles right next to the road. Kinda of scary.
Of course one of the effects of these controlled burns and wildfires is smoke. Depending on prevailing winds, the stuff moves into the area, sometimes lingering, other times moving on. We quickly realized we needed a plan to deal with the stuff.
Number one defense strategy is to control the air quality inside our home. We decided on the Molekule Air Purifier. It does a great job cleaning smoke, pollen and mold in our air.
We’ve made small adjustments to how we do things. If we can’t walk outside due to smoke, we drive someplace we can. We open windows by using the sniff test … we walk outside and test the air quality. For the most part this is a seasonal inconvenience we have learned to work around.