For the past 3-4 weeks, southern Oregon has been socked in with wildfire smoke from a lot of fires nearby. It wasn’t too bad at first as the smoke would clear out with nightly winds. The past week, though, has seen Medford and the rest of the Rogue Valley where I live tread into unhealthy to hazardous air quality. You literally can’t do anything outside and not feel shitty.
You might actually be able to see the sun in that second photo, and even just a few minutes later, it disappeared, completely blotted out by the haze. It feels like being in the middle of a smoldering cigarette butt.
I’ve lived here now for ten years, and last year was the worst fire season I’d seen up to that point. This year has a great potential to beat that, as they’re predicting smoke to some extent until late October into November. Three of the last four summers have reached very poor air quality here. It’s slowly becoming the new reality of the forests of the west coast. My wife, who is more sensitive than most to the smoke, has said if it keeps happening like this every year, she doesn’t know if she can handle it. I initially balked at the idea of moving since we both generally love it here, but the more this goes on, the more it might be the right move. Even aside from the health effects, it’s such a downer to look outside at bleak dreariness.
And then there’s the off chance of a fire sweeping through the town here. Last year it was Santa Rosa. This year it was Redding, CA where the Carr Fire has destroyed nearly 1,200 homes. How long till it comes our turn? Granted, it’s still highly unlikely, but there’s still that chance. It’s certainly made my wife and I think about how to best prepare for such an event and what we would grab and get out with if it occurs.