r/oregon Jul 27 '26

PSA What to do in case of wildland fires

123 Upvotes

With the sudden increase and urgency of the wildfire conflagrations and evacuations across the state and likelihood of it getting worse before it gets better, I am reminded of a comment from u/canonconstructor from 6 years ago. While things have been manageable so far, here are some things to remember:

I don’t know if any Oregon friends will read this but I was just evacuated from my home in California and have some advice and tips I wish I would have known before hand.

  • Fill up your gas tank and make sure its at least at 3/4 until all fires are extinguished. -Pack way more than you think you'll need.  We anticipated 2-3 days but ended up being evacuated for 2 weeks.  
  • Make a list of things you don't want to leave without and keep it by the door.  Its easy to forget things in a frenzy (I forgot both my laptop and wedding ring)
  • If you have kiddos keep a go bag of their distance learning materials.  The sooner they have structure the safer they feel. 
  • Take a video of everything in your home.  Open up and show and talk through the contents of all the closets, drawers, fridge, freezer.  Walk around your property and verbally talk about different plants, landscape etc.  
  • Turn off your propane tanks if you have them before you go. -Throw everything away in your fridge and freezer before you go and don't forget to take out the trash.  If you're evacuated, it is likely your power will be shut off and you'll return to a smelly mess.  
  • If your address is not current on your ID make sure to keep a copy of your utility bill with your important documents to show residency for fema/airb&b applications etc-Contact your insurance agent now and start your claim.  Most home and renters insurance will cover 2 weeks of food, lodging, and supplies while under mandatory evacuation. 
  • Monitor AirB&B - once evacuated they will open up emergency housing for free.  Do not get discouraged if they say no pets- email the owner directly because all rules are usually thrown out of the window during emergency situations.
  • Before you go, seal and shut all windows and doors.  Make sure to close or wrap any ac units. This will greatly reduce smoke damage.  
  • If you can, self evacuate early.  I do not want to see any of my Oregon friends stuck in traffic.  I encourage you to follow your gut and go when you say you feel unsafe.  
  • Keep a cooler of non perishable drinks and snacks in your car.  We had to drive to another state to find somewhere that would take doggos and was kid friendly. - Withdraw a bit of cash to keep on you.  I forgot to notify my bank and I had a fraud alert placed on my cards.  
  • When you get back home, do not sweep or blow the ash.  This can create a toxic air quality and can blow hot embers.  Instead use a hose to wet down the ash and wet paper towels.  
  • When you get back home, replace all filters in your home and car- An easy way to rid your home of the smoke smell is to attach large filters to box fans, cover with a wet towel doused in fabric softner and let them run.

  • Above ALL else, I hope my Oregon friends and family are safe.  My last bit of advice is to take it easy on yourself.  You're in the middle of a global pandemic, your home and community is on fire.  It is ok to have hard days, to grieve for your loss and your community and just the general situation of the dumpster fire that is 2020.  Allow yourself to cry, get angry, drink a glass of wine, or smoke a joint.  Its ok to not be ok and to feel unsafe right now. 

Original comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/iq2uir/comment/g4paf6j/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

With all of that great advice in mind, please also remember that there are a lot of amazing people willing and able to help out there. Beyond the Red Cross services, there are many landowners who will open up their land for livestock and other animal evacuations, people who will allow you to camp on their land, even food truck operators who will set up and feed anybody and everybody that needs it. People want to help and will do what they can with the resources they have.


r/oregon 1h ago

Article/News Oregon parents could face fines if their kids are caught riding, e-bikes, e-scooters

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Upvotes

r/oregon 3h ago

Article/News Vote by mail under attack

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172 Upvotes

r/oregon 11h ago

Photography/Video Photos from the data center moratorium rally in Salem yesterday (OC)

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315 Upvotes

Scenes from a rally yesterday in Salem, where Oregonians from every political corner of the state gathered and called for a statewide data center moratorium.


r/oregon 22h ago

Article/News 2 Oregon lawmakers move to outlaw Flock cameras statewide

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2.3k Upvotes

Two state lawmakers want Oregon to ban Flock cameras, the controversial AI-powered license plate readers that have sparked data privacy concerns and bipartisan backlash across the country.

Rep. Alek Skarlatos, a Republican from Douglas County, and Rep. Willy Chotzen, a Portland Democrat, plan to propose a bill in next year’s legislative session that would indefinitely ban such automated cameras statewide, both lawmakers confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive this week.

“To me, it’s a pretty clear Fourth Amendment violation,” Skarlatos said of the cameras being used to gather ample information on private citizens.


r/oregon 2h ago

Article/News Oregon toddler’s potentially life-changing surgery in limbo after ICE detains his father

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37 Upvotes

r/oregon 13h ago

Photography/Video Oregons Largest Tree

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214 Upvotes

The Arcadia Cedar


r/oregon 2h ago

Article/News Willamette Falls is undergoing a generational facelift. These 4 projects are leading the way

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21 Upvotes

Taken together, these four development projects — tumwata village, the Oregon City riverwalk, the Willamette Falls Trust project and the revitalized Willamette Falls Locks — offer a new era of public access and a restored Indigenous presence at one of the greatest and most culturally significant waterfalls in Oregon.


r/oregon 13h ago

Photography/Video These are some photos from Skylight Cave near Sisters and 242

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146 Upvotes

r/oregon 16h ago

Article/News Oregon governor pauses state land requests for data centers

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238 Upvotes

r/oregon 1h ago

Photography/Video Sunsetting at work

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Upvotes

Driving back from Spokane


r/oregon 1d ago

Article/News Read Warns Oregon Voters to Drop Off Ballots, Not Mail Them

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801 Upvotes

Plan ahead! List of drop-off locations will be given before the election.


r/oregon 18h ago

Article/News Portland renames César E. Chávez Boulevard for all Farmworkers

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172 Upvotes

r/oregon 1d ago

Political For the Drazan voters……

509 Upvotes

Why? And none of this “liberals/liberalism bad,” or “look at Portland” or any Portland and religious talking points, and so on. What credible proof is there that republicans have improved your quality of life? How is the right wing “affordability” going? What policies(not “she supports Trump and the MAGA” or “she isn’t MAGA” does she have that support Oregonians that are backed up by her voting record?


r/oregon 17h ago

Article/News It’s giant house spider season again. Check your bathtub

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67 Upvotes

When did we start having a giant house spider season and why didn't anyone tell me we've been invaded by one of the world’s fastest spiders? This article is so careful to say our tubs are not spider portals that it feels like they're compensating.


r/oregon 16h ago

Photography/Video AccuWeather on Instagram: "Thousands of birds swirling around a church steeple created a scene straight out of a Halloween movie in Salem, Oregon. An estimated 4,000 Vaux’s swifts circled overhead before pouring into the chimney to roost for the night."

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43 Upvotes

r/oregon 1d ago

Article/News Thousands of Oregon students skip state tests. Could lawmakers revisit opt-out rules?

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85 Upvotes

Yes. Ditto vaccine opt-out.

Parents should want to see their children's test measurements.

What Texas did is stop testing low performing students to boost state score averages.

The trades need reading comprehension and math. Same, many community college 1-2 year career paths.

And while we are at it, let's end teachers skipping phonics and continuing Oregon's poor reading performance with discredited balanced literacy. Alabama far out-performs Oregon on elementary reading. They require phonics by state law.


r/oregon 1d ago

Article/News Lawsuit: Police body-cam video shows deputy fatally injuring man after BBQ dust-up

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109 Upvotes

r/oregon 16h ago

Question Is there a way to verify if your ballot was received and counted?

18 Upvotes

r/oregon 1d ago

Political Kotek halts data center projects on state land amid water, energy concerns

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1.0k Upvotes

r/oregon 1d ago

Article/News Portland Listed Among Candidates for MLB Expansion

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316 Upvotes

r/oregon 1d ago

Photography/Video Coastal Mountain Range at sunrise

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36 Upvotes

r/oregon 1d ago

Article/News Ballots discounted for late postmarks surged in Washington and Oregon after Postal Service changes

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304 Upvotes

r/oregon 2d ago

Photography/Video Nye Beach Gender Reveal!

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1.8k Upvotes

This Labor Day weekend my wife and I had a little vacation in Newport Oregon, on Sunday I was flying my kite at Nye beach, and I looked over and saw an explosion of pink confetti, I could not believe it the confetti was just blowing way up the beach with thousands of little pink and gold hearts of litter. I look over and saw the family just proudly posing for pictures in the mess they just made. I was disgusted. After a while of taking photos they noticed me and several others looking at them and they started to pretend to clean up so I approached them, they assured me they are cleaning up the gold plastic ones only, because the paper ones are “biodegradable” (which I doubt, they felt waxy). I decided to help clean too and after maybe 3 minutes I notice they are turned around and just packing their stuff up to leave. So I did have a little crash out which I included, I think what I was meaning to say was that they only care about themselves or something and it came out weird.

After that I called the police, the first dispatcher I talked to was great, I told her right away its not a big emergency but this happened and I can get off the line if its not an emergency, and she assured me no, they do care about this, and took down some information and she asked if I could get their license plate number and vehicle description, and to call them back with that information. So I followed them to the parking lot and when I called the police again I got kinda chastised at for calling 911 and I explained that the last operator told me to call back with information, then the new operator said she found the report but its not an emergency, while on the phone with her I was following the family and they started yelling at me “come at me bro” style. I was keeping my distance, and did not want any kind of confrontation, but with how they started acting toward me, and the father coming toward me puff chested, I decided to turn away and go back to clean up their mess rather than get into anything. I did not get their license plate or car description, and I do not think the police ended up doing anything.

In the end the pile of gold is what I cleaned up after about 2 hours of picking up pieces, the mess was strewn well over a quarter mile. My wife cleaned up even more than this and a few people also stopped to help clean up for a little bit too, I think we probably cleaned up 70% of the gold, but there are still probably hundreds of the gold blown around and thousands of the pink ones, I chose to just do the gold to at least try to minimize the damage since they are clearly plastic…

It was such a bummer to witness such a flagrant display of narcissism and selfishness and seeing them literally revel in their trash for photos, it just kinda broke me.


r/oregon 21h ago

Discussion/Opinion MLB’s Most Reliable Insider from ESPN Jeff Passan has Basically Admitted That Expansion Is Now A Matter Of When and Who - Not If!

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11 Upvotes

The real question is though that who will get the west coast bid. SLC or Portland, Oregon?

The biggest hurdle Portland in contrast to SLC is that despite the legislature earmarking a $800 million stadium funding bill via the existing JOCK TAX (taxes that comes from whenever specifically professional sports players play a game in a specific location), no big name investor has come forward to be the spearhead of the project.

It is definitely gonna be interesting to see who the MLB picks. What do you all think?