About The Forest Fires... This Is Not OK

We have a closed facebook group for our community. This was my post to the group this morning:

I am less than "OK" with this... Again, heartfelt thanks for the people who fought this fire but the bureaucracy side has been a huge FAIL. They stopped updating us 4 days ago. They claim it is nearly contained. I looked at the closure map, it indicated the Middle Fork Weiser Road is open for several miles so I was going to go have a look since I am getting the mushroom treatment from the "Agencies."

The road is actually closed about 2 miles in. Why do they put one thing on the internet and something different on the ground?

So, why does this irritate me so? Because the "Road Closed" sign also says they are EVACUATING WEST MOUNTAIN. Has anybody told the people who live there? Because I cannot find anything about it on INCIweb or the Idaho Fire Information or NIFSA... NOT ACCEPTABLE. The people who live in the impacted areas need better access to information.

It is the internet age. There is NO REASON they cannot livestream the flights and let us SEE what is going on. There is NO REASON they cannot post the evacuations on social media. There is NO REASON to treat the locals like we are some kind of pest in their way.

Is this an old notice? TAKE IT DOWN. Is this a current notice? POST IT WHERE PEOPLE SEE IT - like on facebook. I wanted to know so I called the number on the notice. CLOSED, it is Sunday. So, you folks on West Mountain, GOOD LUCK! That is about all I have to tell you...

Look at how much actually burned, and look how much area they closed down. Why do they have to close down ten times the area that burned? Why is it STILL closed if this is all under control?

After thinking about this all day, I am really disturbed by the events of this fire season. The Mesa Fire started one evening about 8 PM. The next afternoon, we spotted the smoke from our house. It was still small and there were planes flying all over the place, we thought this was well in hand. The next week was a blur of evacuations and evacuation warnings, with absolutely NO REAL TIME INFORMATION available to those of us who were under a level 2 order. A handful of stay at home wives were driving over to check on every new puff of smoke that would blow up and posting pictures on facebook and keeping in touch by phone. We were the ONLY source of useful information we had.

The ONLY reason I knew we were under an evacuation order was from a neighbor. No official from any agency contacted us. Not so much as a facebook post from the Sheriff. Not a bulletin on the state or Federal fire pages. Nothing but "whisper down the lane." They said they had a 3 tier warning system. Level 1, they say, is ALWAYS BE READY TO EVACUATE. That is not a warning. That is ridiculousness. A warning is an air raid siren that blows in a given pattern that can be heard by everyone in the area of impact. A warning is a telephone tree, set in advance to make sure communication happens in an effective manner. A warning is SOME kind of "Heads UP, there is a potential emergency here."

Level two in this system is "Pack and be ready to leave." There is no official dissemination for THAT level either. There is NO MECHANISM to ensure people get TOLD when the fire is so close they ought to be packed and ready to go. Now I never would have realized this had I not gone through it... It is not about being able to pack some stuff. It is about mentally preparing to lose everything you cannot pack. THAT is why you need a level one and a level two warning. Level three is the ONLY time they will actually attempt to contact the people in the impacted area. Level three is "Get out now. We are not coming back to check on you. We will not be back to help." For some, that would the FIRST TIME THEY WERE AWARE THERE WAS A PROBLEM. Now I understand why some people "refuse to leave." Because no one told them in time to process the information and make a wise decision.

All right, I have digressed but it is all related. Four days ago we got our "final report" on the fire. At this point there are NO official updates being posted anywhere. Except, apparently 2 miles down a gravel road, then you can learn there is a new evacuation order in place for some people.

Now, when this fire started our local departments were all in the next county over fighting a wildfire there. When our fire started at 8 PM, apparently no one was sent home to put it out. The next day, while it was still rather small and easily accessed, they were not sent home to put the fire out. Apparently all those planes were just taking pictures? The NEXT DAY, we were told to turn on our sprinklers because the fire was out of control. Three weeks later the fire is still burning up in the mountains and now threatening the people living on the other side of the mountain. They are telling us it is under control, so under control there is no need for us to be updated.

Remember, they are all paid with taxpayer money. Those fancy planes with heat sensors? Those belong to US, the people. The information they gather is OURS and we need it given to us IN A TIMELY MANNER!

The other night a storm rolled through. Mostly dry lightning, it was terrible. Several fires started within an hour or so. The wind was HOWLING, everything is dry as can be. This is high desert, we have not had rain since June. The one fire my husband saw start was raging, he watched it spread about 1/4 mile in the time it took him to drive past at 65 mph. Our little rinky dink, understaffed volunteer fire crews, with no planes, no helicopters, no smoke jumpers... they got them all out before midnight. WHO MADE THE DECISION TO KEEP THEM ON THE OTHER FIRE when the Mesa Fire started? That is who needs blamed for much of the damage, not the poor slob who got a flat tire.

I don't know how to "wrap this up." It is what it is. We all know how people on Federal budgets have to spend more this year than last year so they get even more next year. I know many wildland firefighters with tales of perfectly good equipment being bulldozed under after a fire so the crew can have a new one next year (and so the old stuff can be recovered later by the people on the crew for personal use.) That is pretty sad, total fraud and abuse of taxpayer money. But this nonsense of having all this information about what is burning where and NO system to advise people... This will get people killed and it feels very sinister to me, like they WANT it to burn out of control, they WANT people to be killed.

Thanks for letting me rant!