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Please Pray for the West Coast


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We are literally burning! CA has over 3400 SQUARE MILES that have burned (just to give a little sense of distance, it's 2200 miles from here - Sequim, WA - to Indiana...). OR and WA are also burning. We have lost over 330,000 acres in just 24 hours here in WA. There are fires raging in other western states as well

Now, I know someone will probably say that CA is reaping what the government has sown re: closing churches, etc. And that is quite likely. But I do know that it is also a mismanagement of land care by Democrat officials who like to claim environmental care (you know, tree hugger stuff...don't chop 'em down at all) over anything else. Problem is that when a forest gets too dense, oxygen builds up and has nowhere to go, carbon carpets the ground. So any spark (even just the wind!) can cause the oxygen to ignite, and then the carbon just lets it burn fast and hard...this time of year it is dry here as well, so we're talking tinder that is encouraged to burn, basically.

Towns have been destroyed. People are homeless. This on top of the governors doing their dead level best to destroy the economies of these states. 

It is not so bad here today, but the wind was coming to us from the east, bringing the smoke from fires across the water and just east of the Cascades. It was really bad here, without any fire. I can't imagine what it's like over there. ?

I truly would appreciate prayer that these fires will die out, be put out, just end! Thank you.  And if folks turn to the Lord as a result, yea and amen!

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Yes HC, it is bad. we have one burning near us that went from 150 acres in the morning to 22,000 acres by evening. Burned over 150 homes and threatened 400 more in the small town of Happy Camp. Fortunately for us it was burning about thirty miles from us and moving away. But after I left for church this evening a second one started closer to us resulting in an evacuation warning for us. Hopefully they will get this second one under control before it gets too large. A cool evening and favorable east to west winds in the mornings should help.

Here's are a couple of pictures.

Image

 

Image

 

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Well, we've had casualties now, because of the fires. And police have caught folks starting fires. Today the wind has brought the smoke from CA and OR fires to our area. It is not horribly uncomfortable here, for which I'm thankful. Hubs went over to the church, which sits in an area that has been marked as very bad air quality. He still has a lot of painting to do, so I'm hoping it's not very bad right where he'll be.

Our governor has declared an emergency (he's become very fond of that since covid). But many, many folk are very cynical - because of his obvious lack of concern for the state's economy and people. These folks believe that fires have been intentionally set so that he can declare an emergency and get federal money - because Trump refused him any previously. I don't know that I would go that far, although I don't trust the man in any way, shape, or form.

There are 13 western states that have fires burning...3.4 million acres. ?

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For maybe two or three days we had clear blue skies over the valley minus a "ribbon" of smoke coming from the south.  It was wonderful to see sky again and be able to breathe fresh air.  Then...as I left home to head to the place where I do volunteer work the sky was clear overhead--but a short while later that ribbon of smoke was once again beginning to blow in and saturate the valley with a thick, almost choking cloud.  Visibility was less than a mile.  I can't imagine what Jim_Alaska is going through.  We surely ought to pray for him.  One of the fires is due west of his location, though it is maybe about 30-40 miles or so from him (I think.  Jim, you'll have to correct me if I have it incorrectly.)

As a little girl I used to be proud to be from the "Golden" state, even though I live up in the north end of the state in the "boonies".  My own kiddos were born and raised here, but have refused to come back to the state to live because of the many issues that plague it.  Sadly, California just sets a "precedent" and so it seems that it's not long before other states slowly start following suit.  It's not just California that is in trouble.  The whole world seems to be reeling on its axis because of the wickedness of mankind.  My heart is heavily burdened, but I am so glad that I have the Lord Jesus to help me bear the weight of it.  My heart goes out to HIM because of how mankind is so greatly grieving Him.  He has been so, soooo full of love and longsuffering and He has gifted us with so very many things.  He gives us our breath to breathe and keeps the pulse of our hearts.  He has created everything that we could ever need on this earth, and yet people don't believe that He IS...that He is Almighty and most Holy and Sovereign God!  They are so lost.  Heaven or hell are only one breath or one heartbeat away from us all...O how can they not see?  

Tears are flowing even as I type this...O that people would turn to Him, the Saviour, as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  I think of all of the fires that are burning up California, and now burning in Oregon and Washington as well as other west coast areas--and I cry out to my Lord that the people that are facing the raging fires would understand that though devastating--are nothing compared to an eternity in the fire and brimstone of hell.  Are all of these fires both warning AND opportunity from our most merciful God desiring that none would perish?  Indeed, I cry out to the Lord that people would seek the Lord--and that I myself would everyday, every hour of every day, be a living and breathing testimony of God's love and grace and "Ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear..." (I Peter 3:15b).

Though my heart is heavy with burden and grief, I've been hiding in my heart Ps 70:4, "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:  and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified".  I am so glad that He is my stay and that He will keep me.  Continuing to pray....

WWMS

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Thanks WWMS. I appreciate your concern and prayers. There is a lot of misinformation going around and a lot of third hand information that may be incorrect. You can find current information that is up to date HERE.

You were partially correct in saying that the fire was 30-40 miles from me. That was the case for the first, very large fire that burned over into Oregon. It is called The Slater Fire.

But two days ago another unrelated fire started closer to me, it is called The Devil Fire because it stared on Devils Peak. It is very near a small community called Seiad, which has been completely evacuated. Seiad is a short seven miles from me. We are under an evacuation warning and have been since yesterday.

This fire is the one that brought heavy smoke to you suddenly, as well as others that were downwind of it. Hopefully they will get it controlled soon. The forecast is for better weather conditions that will help with suppression.

Where I live is in a narrow river canyon. It is probably not much wider than one hundred yards from one side of the canyon where I live to the mountain on the other side; I can't see that mountain as of today.

There are places in southern Oregon that have been hit hard by fire also. Two small communities near Medford Oregon have been destroyed.

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I have friends and family living in all three of those far west states. It is a tragic situation.

It has nothing to do with God. It has to do with the neglect and the refusal to believe and act on global warming. Computer models predicted this situation and also the increasing number of destructiveness of hurricanes and other storms. God gave us brains and we should use them. 

Yes, we should pray. But also we should act, though it is very late in the game, to begin the mitigation of the results of mankind's previous inaction.

May all of you on the board who live in those state remain safe. Be careful and act prudently. 

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Global warming has absolutely nothing to do with these fires. Some of them are from human neglect, some from arson, and some from far-too-dense forests that don't allow the oxygen to disperse.  Those forests are too dense because liberal "leaders" and eco-terrorists have pushed the idea of not clearing the forests - both thinning the trees and clearing the forest floor of the carbon which acts as fuel to fires that start. Add that to the natural lack of rain this time of year and you have conflagration. Yes, God did give us brains - and we most certainly should use them, not fall for the lies of global warming. Climate is NOT global, and anyone who has studied climate knows the truth of that. A good physical science text book explains how climate works.

The mitigation that is needed in this case is to bring back the previous policies of clearing forests. Fires still come, because they will in forest areas. But they will not burn with the intensity nor spread with the speed that fires of recent years have done. 

We are currently enshrouded with fog mixed with smoke. It is keeping things cool enough so that we don't need the windows open. These two photos are of Seattle. The first is as seen from the ferry yesterday. The second is the skyline that includes the Space Needle from today. 

 

smoky seattle 2.jpg

smoky seattle.jpg

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Even the far left global warming advocates and scientists have had to back off of that specific term; now it is Climate Change.

As if this is a completely new thing; disregarding the fact that climate change is the reason for weather forecasting. I may be wrong, but I believe that the weather, or climate has always changed; sometimes by the day or hour.

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6 hours ago, SureWord said:

I see they caught one arsonist. A BLM activist. I saw another video where a woman said her husband caught some guys trying to torch a hay field. This was in Oregon.

Global warming has nothing to do with it. Rejection of God does.

In WA I believe they've caught 2-4...depending on whom one chooses to believe.  They've found strategically placed glasses or glass jars with flammable stuff in them lying on the ground in the areas where the sun shines more this time of year (here something like that wouldn't work right now)...homemade magnifiers that, unless you're looking for arson equipment, you wouldn't normally pay attention to. Authorities believe that they've been placed there to start fires. This is not a new thing, apparently, although I've never heard of it til this year. Yeah, climate change. pffft!

Our governor is a "greenie" and instead of admitting that his policies and the neglect of the current land management commissioner are to blame for the massive spread of the fires, he's crying "climate change."  He started to push the "need" to implement things to protect us from climate change when he illegally shut the state down because of covid. So now he's playing that card even stronger.

He was just in Malden, WA - 80% of that town was lost to the fire. Homes, businesses, etc. He came to a meeting, handed the mayor a box of apples, said he hoped he could get help for them but that they would probably not get any, blathered about coming back to walk on a proposed walking trail...and then left to go get interviewed by the press. Folks that were there said he actually almost ran. I know this thread is about the fires (it's mine, though, so any related subject is fair game ? ). We are praying that he will be unseated in Nov. Got a good guy running against him that would begin to right the ship. Anybody who would feel so inclined to pray that Loren Culp would defeat our current governor in Nov. would be greatly appreciated. ?

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Now, along highway 101 - the highway that goes from our area all the way down CA (our area meaning that 101 curves around at our northern most point of the peninsula and heads south) - they have been finding power poles that the wind has blown over...these poles had transformers that popped and fires started. Thing is, at this pint there have been 18 - EIGHTEEN - found that were helped along by chain saws, to weaken them so that the wind would knock them over. That's arson.

This graph is interesting...if the fires were from climate change, why do they stop at the borders? It couldn't be that Canada actually maintains their land a bit better, eh?  

fires in pnw.jpg

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