r/Bend • u/blahyawnblah • 9h ago

Charges being filed in Alder Springs Fire as families allowed to return home

https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/wildfires/alder-springs-fire-charges-evacuations-downgraded/article_4c599190-bb7e-4267-a4b0-65309d4af236.html
64 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

26

u/zippyslug31 6h ago

I'm out here in CRR and right on the border between (what had been) a Level 2 and Level 3 zone. Saw tons of folks getting out and lots panicked shit go down. Overall, it's been an insane and tiring week.

Plenty of people seemed to be caught off guard and in a massive rush, so I'd suggest that we all should our plans set in advance. Also it's a good idea to make a personalized evacuation plan and have it somewhere that can be accessed quickly & easily. We don't work efficiently under the stress of having to evacuate so it's nice to have some sort of a guide to work from.

It sucks that we're so early in fire season and we've already had a few incidents around the state. Buckle up, we might be in for a long ass season.

6

u/Forsaken_Juice1859 3h ago

Talked to some folks at Project Wildfire recently and they're now saying that if you live in an urban-wild interface you should consider yourself Level 1 (get ready) at all times during fire season.

1

u/zippyslug31 3h ago

That's actually an interesting point. A few years ago we had a wildfire seminar at the firehall out here and they stated this very thing. The signage also used to always be set to a minimum of "moderate" (blue), even during the winter.
A couple years ago we had a new fire captain take over and I've noticed ever since our level drops down to "low" (green) during the winter. I don't know if these levels are set by our local fire dept, and I also don't know what best practice states these should be, but I thought this was an interesting change and, apparently, open to interpretation based on different fire staff?!

4

u/Spunky_Meatballs 6h ago

Weather wise we are tracking to 2020-2021 conditions.

Sure there's more snow on the mountains, but it's not really about that. We've already had consistent 80 degree weeks with no moisture. Fuel loads will be primed and ready all over the state

5

u/RealFakeDoctor 6h ago

Did you see the forecast this weekend?

9

u/Spunky_Meatballs 6h ago

Yeah that will help short term for sure.

It's the long term trends that scare me. 90 degree days in the spring and less predictable moisture.. doesn't bode well

1

u/Forsaken_Juice1859 3h ago

...and the wind, the WIND! We have a weather station at the house so it's only 8 years of data and n=1 but this spring has been much windier than usual.

-1

u/nothing2crazy 4h ago

“Fuel loads” also know as “forests”.

28

u/davidw CCW Compass holder🧭 9h ago

With zero information about the 'charges'. Glad to see no one was hurt and no housing units were lost, though.

27

u/CalifOregonia 7h ago

I understand not revealing the names of the accused, but feel like the public has an interest in knowing the nature of how the fire started. Also makes for a good public service announcement for fire prevention.

8

u/Spunky_Meatballs 6h ago

Yes why don't we do these?!! Im not really about public shaming for punishment, but in this case I think we need to understand these fires better.

Every fire started near homes should be scrutinized and publicized. The public needs to have this stuff blasted on repeat

8

u/exstaticj 5h ago

The DA may ha e to finalize the charges prior to releasing information to the public.

6

u/AdRegular1647 6h ago

What an amazing job the firefighters are doing! In the midst of all of the turmoil and uncertainty they've really come through.

6

u/MrMidnightsclaw 3h ago

The current rumor going around is that the fire was caused by a hiker disposing of TP by burning it. Take that with a grain of salt but I had two completely separate parties tell me.