My prayers to all suffering in the smoke and of course the fires!

Mother Nature is PISSED!

And who can blame her?

Mother Nature didn't start these fires. They are all arson. People are being arrested walking the roads and setting the forests.

I am in the interior of B.C., and our smoke is 10+. I am now wearing a mask inside for COVID and a mask outside for pollution.

We only have 3 fires in BC right now, all far from us. It is not fire season in Oregon and Washington. Plus it's been a cool, wet summer.

I feel sorry for all the people who have lost their homes and animals and those who have died., and I wish they would lock up all these destructive people who are destroying the western states!

Marlene, if you have inside information, you should share it with authorities. There are something like 78 separate fires, and I think only one has been proven to be arson. And that person has been charged with a crime. There are some baseless theories floating around though, and some are pretty silly - did you know in one town people got all upset about the "BLM trucks" they saw, and started trying to organize armed vigilante groups to 'protect' their town, until someone explained that it stood for "Bureau of Land Management"? That could have turned into something horrible. Let's not make a tragedy worse by spreading unverified claims.

Literally people are being arrested every day in the 3 states for arson. Regular people are taking pictures of people spreading kerosene on the ground and lighting it. In California, one guy was let out of jail for setting a fire, and by late that night, he lit 6 more fires.

This simply isn't fire season in Washington and Oregon. Although maybe it is in California. Another issue is all the bad forest management practises. I live in a forest, and I know lots of Registered Forest Management officers. They have been telling the gov't for years that if deadwood and bush is allowed to accumulate, there will be fires.

In 2017 and 2018 in the valley where I live 28 fires were set by an arsonist. This year, there were almost no fires, because the arsonist has been fingered and they are looking for him.

I know all the MSM in the east is trying to blame these fires on global warming, but it simply isn't true. Even the indigenous people set fires to clear the density of the forests, long before Europeans came to North America.

As far as the other fires, the media here always carries news items about the latest arsonists caught. And most are Antifa. But with a goal of the total breakdown of society, that's what you get from people like that!

Did you read about the lightening strikes in California, Marlene? Did you read about the extreme drought, tinder dry forests and brush? No doubt there are arsonists, but for you to be blaming them for all these fires, and then throw in antifa and media, makes me understand you in a new light.

One of the deadly things that climate change has brought us, is severe drought, less precipitation, weakened trees that can't withstand bark beetles, which ends up killing trees. It's not a matter of deadwood accumulating in forests. The forests are dying. Add conditions like lightening without rain and high winds, and you have a recipe for disaster.

What do you think about the increase in hurricanes, and the melting of the Greenland glaciers and polar ice sheets. No arsonists there, but it's part of the same story, Marlene.

I think she might have heard the inflammatory (no pun intended) - untruths put forth and later retracted by Joe Rogan. He got a lot of air time for his initial allegations about arsonists, but his retraction was only covered by centrist and left leaning news outlets. It may not have come to Marlene's attention. The rightwing media outlets have played up the allegations but not offered any evidence to support them.

At any rate, it's unlikely that her viewpoint will change - anyone who makes a sweeping statement about 'all of the fires are arson' is already locked in to an incorrect viewpoint and unlikely to be swayed by facts.

Anyway, the point of my initial post was to check on our members on the West Coast; I was wondering if anyone was affected or displaced.

Yes,Katie. Many displaced people and many who have left because of what may happen next year or the next.

I am talking about reading local news media and west coast media. I have never watched Joe Rogan in my life. I watch Canadian TV, and only rarely on TV. I generally read CTV online news. A Canadian network, you know, because I am Canadian!

I'm telling you what the reputable media are saying on the west coast. I agree California is more complex, because it is dry there, and the forests are so poorly managed. But, that is not Washington and Oregon. In Eastern Oregon, as I said, people are being grabbed by local residents catching people with kerosene and lighting many fires while walking down the road.

But, I guess living thousands of miles away, when I am literally right here in the thick smoke, reading local papers from here to southern California, means you guys know more. Again, this has been a wet, cold summer in BC, Washington State and Oregon. Although California is a very different climate.

I lived in Lane Country 2 years of my life. Never saw a fire in 3 hot, dry summers there!

https://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/2020/09/rash-of-oregon-arson-cases-fuel-fear-conspiracy-theories-during-devastating-wildfires.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Oregon_wildfires Scroll down to the list of fires with unknown or human causes. And of course there are lightening fires, We had 3 in BC this summer. But no others, because the forests were not dry, and the arsonists were taking cover.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-charged-arson-connection-almeda-fire-southern-oregon/story?id=72960208

I never said #BLM started any fires. But Antifa was involved with some of them, and some other people who are quite beyond normal, mentally.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-09-10/arson-probe-opened-into-deadly-oregon-wildfire-police-chief

https://www.thebiggsreport.com/2020/09/breakingpossible-antifa-member-arrested-for-starting-fires-in-washington-state/?

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/police-investigating-new-arsons-seattle/6DKCQGTLU5BR7L73CNN4AG2HZY/

https://www.khq.com/news/arson-suspect-arrested-after-allegedly-starting-multiple-fires-in-spokane-on-monday/article_62df8a40-f223-11ea-8a02-af6f5dca5965.html

https://abc7.com/la-arson-fires-increasing-amid-covid-19-data-shows/6422715/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/15/us/california-ranch2-fire-arson-suspect/index.html

Yes, there were some lightening strikes, there always are. But, too many fires set by people this year to be a coincidence. I was sure in 2017-18 something was wrong because we had so many fires, and the police took 2 years, but admitted this summer that they were mostly from arson, except the lightening strike fires, about 10 km from us.

My point in posting was to check in with anyone from our group who might have been affected by the fires, and to wish them well. Did not expect it to take a turn like this.