Looking to escape the wild fires in Oregon (Seattle, Tacoma: live in, move to)

[tsigon]

Greetings,

I moved to Grants Pass OR in 2018 from the the North East in order to get away from the cold winters there. I've loved the climate here in Southern Oregon, however I haven't been able to get used to the smoke and wildfires. They seem to be getting worse and so I'm looking to relocate once again. I am considering the Willamette Valley (Eugene, Corvallis, Albany, Salem) and also expanding my search to include WA from Vancouver to Olympia. I'm not particularly interested in Portland and Tacoma-Seattle.

My concerns are about the homelessness which is a ubiquitous problem all over the West Coast and even here in Grants Pass.

How bad is it in Olympia? How have the fire seasons been there? Do you get a lot of smoke from fires from elsewhere?

Thank you

[Diana Holbrook]

I'll copy my post from the other thread here


I'm just south of Olympia and we don't have seasonal fires here, but in past years, we've had days or weeks with smoke from elsewhere.

This year, (knock on wood) we haven't had any of those days. Small local grass fires because I live on the prairie down here, but those are relatively speaking, small and short lived. It's been a very good summer. "smoke from fires" has never been something that was a chronic issue, it is mostly something that happens with very particular weather phenomenon.

[leastprime]

In Oregon, stay in the coast river valleys closer to the coast than the higher inlands.
The afternoon marine layer is pulled into the valleys and will scour the smoke. This is why you have smoke in the Medford Basin

However when there is air flow from the central state towards the coast, the coastal areas may, i say may, get some smoke. Coos, Florence, Newport, Siletz, Lincoln City, Pacific City, Tillamook are fine. Tillamook has a big dairy industry and you will get a different type of air pollution. But these areas are without year round jobs and housing is very scarce.

[Willamette City]

We live in Oakridge, Oregon. We've been dealing with extreme smoke conditions, at times exceeding 400 ppm since early September. The Cedar Creek fire is responsible and it's only 5 miles from town. We desperately need wind, rain and anything else that will stir the air and put some water on this fire. Oakridge Air is giving away air purifiers. We got one today for free and we can keep it. The money comes from an EPA grant. Thank you EPA!

Anyone else dealing with smoke like this? Please share your story.

[leastprime]

AQI ~190-150, Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Issahuah WA. Bolt Creek fire, West side of Cascades.
Visibility ~2 miles, to discern geographical features
Temp mid 70's by 3pm.
We've had a 7+ days of this.

[nadnerb]

Western Washington has had awful air quality for the last few weeks. Much worse than Oregon or California (besides the areas around Cedar Creek fire). Unfortunately, wildfire smoke can impact anywhere on the west coast.

[Diana Holbrook]

We’ve had the smoke here from distant fires for maybe the past week… Worse on some days than others but today is probably as bad as I’ve seen it.

Rain should come any time and knock this out but it seems to be delayed.

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

We’ve had the smoke here from distant fires for maybe the past week… Worse on some days than others but today is probably as bad as I’ve seen it.

Rain should come any time and knock this out but it seems to be delayed.

It feels like it’s been weeks tbh. The rain (supposedly coming) on Friday can’t come soon enough.

[509]

Originally Posted by tsigon

Greetings,

I moved to Grants Pass OR in 2018 from the the North East in order to get away from the cold winters there. I've loved the climate here in Southern Oregon, however I haven't been able to get used to the smoke and wildfires. They seem to be getting worse and so I'm looking to relocate once again. I am considering the Willamette Valley (Eugene, Corvallis, Albany, Salem) and also expanding my search to include WA from Vancouver to Olympia. I'm not particularly interested in Portland and Tacoma-Seattle.

My concerns are about the homelessness which is a ubiquitous problem all over the West Coast and even here in Grants Pass.

How bad is it in Olympia? How have the fire seasons been there? Do you get a lot of smoke from fires from elsewhere?

Thank you

The smoke and wildfires will last for another 30 to 40 years in the western US.

We will have to burn down the same areas TWICE that will remove enough soil that trees will be unable to grow for centuries, and where the fire isn't fatally hot the large areas burned will remove a seed sources. The conversion of our National Forests to National Brush Fields will be complete at the point and burning brush puts up significantly less smoke than burning trees!!!

Here is a map that shows the fires since 2000.

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=42.7...8&b=mbt&a=fire

As you zoom in on the data set it will show the fire name and year of the fire. You can then scroll all the up into Oregon and Washington to get a sense of burned and yet, to burn areas.

I have set the initial map for the area around Grants Pass. You can easily see why Grants Pass and Medford gets all that smoke.

The good news is that the forest types change as you move north of Roseburg. The bad news is that you move to significantly wetter and cloudier weather compared to Grants Pass.

The worst fires in Oregon and Washington have all been in WESTERN OREGON AND WASHINGTON. Until recently, they have also been the largest fires in the two states.

The 2020 fires in western Oregon are typical of fire behavior in this forest type. The tend to happen in September and October during periods of east winds. They are MASSIVE fires. There is really no defense except to wait for rain.

The good news is they are relative short duration since the fire runs are pretty much dependent on those east winds.

Strictly from a fire and smoke concern I would look at Gray's Harbor County in Washington. But any place from Eugene north in the I-5 corridor and coastal areas will be better than most of the western US, with the exception of the southern Arizona desert.

Here is a paper on what we need to do to solve the wildland fire and smoke problem in the west:

https://californiasaf.org/2022/03/24...paper-camp-70/

It is written by professional foresters each with over 50 years of forest managment experience. Once you read the paper you can forward it to your elected officials and demand that they implement the recommendations.

[mayfair]

Right now if you look at airnow.gov for the air quality numbers, it looks like out at the coast in southern WA has the best air quality. That's where I'd look if you want to have the best chance of being out of the smoke in WA.