Nah, that's the Willamette Valley of Salem, Portland and such. I live further south below the dividing line between "wet" and "dry" Oregon. Our rainfall average is more like parts of California and much less than anywhere between Eugene and Seattle.
How vastly the climate differs from coastal to inland on the west coast is quite extreme. You go from summer highs in the '60s-'70s to scorching 95-100+, rainforest to deserts within as little as 50 miles in some areas.
If it were a true old-fashioned Christmas movie, McClane's one liners would be in the language of King James or Latin. As it is, let's call it a New English Revised Christmas movie with Apocrypha.
Powerful image from Australia -- from what I've gathered coastal town was trapped by rapidly expanding fires and only evac option was the ocean. Beyond Thunderdome in real life.
Since this is the only thread that comes up with a search for Australian fires (Really?), I'll post this here. This is a high severity burn from Australia. What you're looking at is destroyed habitat and the aftermath of a huge carbon release.
I try to stay out of there since I got older, have to watch my blood pressure, and developed a lesser tolerance for nonsense.
Yesterday was another tough fire day in Australia. They may yet again break some heat records today. Still two more months of traditional fire season there. Recent rain helped, but if it is similar to our forests, it takes 1/3-1/2 an inch of rain to make a difference (knock it down, not put it out) for an active fire and a decent rain with rising humidity levels over the course of a day or two might reduce potential for new large fires for up to two weeks. That's about where we are now.
Not over there. I’m now retired so not a Fed and thus not eligible to go under the treaty in play. Still get called for domestic incidents though.
OK. I just spent 16 days working in a state emergency operations center on the Covid-19 response. Ask me anything.
Were you guys supposed to stay longer, but you didn’t prep the operations center with enough supplies?
I was what is called a single resource. Just me filling a position so the folks who had been working for a few weeks could get some rest. I was not involved directly in the supply chain issues, but of course, the basic mission was acquiring and distributing resources--stuff and people--for the care of the state's citizens.
Everyone was (is) spooked. When I go on a fire, I don't have any worries except what is in front of me. For this one, you're constantly worrying about your family. You become paranoid about every little cough. You continuously put your hand to your neck to check for fever. You wonder if you're an asymptomatic spreader and about to bring the entire state-level emergency operation down. You wonder what happens if you do get sick and have to go to a hospital far away from home and the people you love. You worry about dying alone. And it's not just me. Everyone else was (is) having similar thoughts. We did have good protocols though. We answered health screening questions upon arrival every morning, had temps taken twice a day, regular breaks to wipe every work surface down, regular hand-washing, only box lunches from monitored restaurants, and at least 6 feet distance between each person at all times. People would yell at you if you started to cluster up at all. Still, lots of people doing lots of things and interacting with lots of other folks. We were able to reduce the number of on-site folks while I was there, but running emergency operations virtually is not ideal.
Also, 14-21 days is about the limit you can ask anyone to go without a break. You absolutely do not want people getting fatigued or to be put in a position where there is no relief for the stress. Those are bad for the immune system.
