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#1: Teresa K (fasstar) on Sep 12, 2020

My brother and his wife and little girl had to evacuate quickly, taking only some photos and the clothes on their back. They survived, but their property was destroyed, along with the rest of the family ranch. My brother, who is a conservationist by profession, said he never thought he would be a climate change refugee. He has been spearheading fire prevention in his community. Here is a good article, if you are interested. (I combined components of a few photos to make this composite image.)

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/walbridge-fire-tests-resolve-of-mill-creek-residents-provides-vision-of-fu/

I can feel their losses up to a point because we lost our house and belongings when I was in high school. But we just lost our house. We didn't lose a whole forest.

What a horror! So sorry to hear of this happening to your brother and his family--to so many families looking at ruin now.

Conservationists are some of the heroes of our age.

Norma, that is so sad to lose everything as a teenager, when life is so difficult and challenging already. My brother says the forest will recover just fine, although they mourn the loss of their garden and orchards. It is particularly hard on my sister-in-law, a sweet lovely young woman, who was born and grew up on that ranch, as did her mother. Their family are part of the common fold who have been there for many generations, starting from scratch, and are not faring as well as the wealthy vineyard owners in the area.

Susan, thank you for your kind thoughts. Want to hear something interesting? My brother had just completed a manuscript for a book, a biography of our dad and his life as a navigator in WWII. I know you wrote one about your dad a couple of years ago. Luckily, my brother was able to save the manuscript and photos, just about the only thing he was able to save. I haven't read his book yet, but he is a good writer, as are you, so I am looking forward to it. I guess, he now has another book to write in the future.

I'm so sorry to hear this happened! This is terrible! I'm happy you told all of us with a puzzle, through. Spreading word to people you know is a good way to get their support. I will pray that your brother's family recovers from their losses.

Oh Teresa (and Norma) -- I am so sorry.

This is a frightening - and maddening - situation all around. Teresa, I'm sorry your family has this in their lives. I'm in the Pacific NW, and the sky has been orange and stinky for several days. I have a good friend in the next county, which is all under some level of evacuation alert, whom I haven't been able to contact. I'm sitting in my office, looking at my parking strip tree, not 20 feet from my face, through the haze.

They say it will improve somewhat Monday, but only because the wind will shift. It has blown westward from the fires toward the ocean, and will shift back eastward - blowing the smoke back to the people already dealing with the fires.

My best thoughts and prayers to all dealing with this.

And remember: the cloth mask is OK for COVID, but you need an N95 for smoke particulates. And warm herb tea will help your throat.

Be well...

What a beautiful and skillful illustration of a very sad story. I am so glad your family survived. Our prayers are with them.

So sorry to hear that Teresa. Thank you for sharing it with us, great illustration.

How awful! These fires have been so terrible, this year. I wish we had a way to divert the water from our tropical storms. Maybe Sally can lift her skirts and hop over to the western states.

What hardships the fires are creating. So sorry.

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Koreen, sounds like you're in the Pacific NW too. Now they're saying Friday-Saturday for any significant relief. The air count here has dropped to just below 300 - still in the "hazardous" range. sigh.

Looks like in our area we're still at 480 this morning. My husband drives up to Washougal for work, and it was called off today. He only worked 1/2 day this week, I think. Yep, we're in Clackamas County near Gladstone, Paul.

Clackamas! Your entire county was in some level of evacuation notice until only the last few days, yes? And Washougal is quite a drive. We're still just under 300. My best to you, and to all of us.

Thank you, Paul. Yes, some of our county is still under evacuation notice, and of course, some folks have no home to return to. :( We have a lot of blankets, coats, new undergarments, socks, and miscellaneous other new/used clothing that has been collecting at our agency since March, and I haven't been able to find an agency to hand it off to for those who have lost everything, or are unable to return home, yet. It's frustrating.

Thanks to each of you for your kind words.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you in harms way due to fires, smoke, or hurricanes.

Kristen, I've been thinking of you there dealing with Sally. Yes, if she could swish some of that water out west, we could really use some here in Arizona. It is so dry here, I'm afraid we might be next in line for the horrible effects of climate gone haywire.

That's so terribly sad. Safe wishes to all of you west coasters (I have a lot of family out there--my brother is in Portland and is not in direct fire danger but has been giving us reports about the air quality).

Teresa, so far we've dodged all 3 that came our way (Laura, Sally, and now Beta). We're getting some wind and rain from Beta, but mainly we've been enjoying the 70-degree weather (rather than 90).

Kristen, I'm glad you are enjoying pleasant weather. We are finally coolilng off enough to go outside in the daytime. Even if it's just to sit on the patio in the backyard, it's nice to be outside.

Pues siento mucho lo de tu hermano, es una auténtica tragedia. Espero y deseo que se recupere.

Prayers for you and your family Teresa. Seems no matter what part of the country you live in there is some kind of natural disaster to deal with. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast, so have had to deal with hurricanes my whole life.
And i thank you for the work you do with Fasstar. For the past 2 years i have been facilitating a Christ centered 12 step group and have seen what addiction can do to babies and children. May your work bear much fruit.

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