Smoke Protection?

[Destiny]

I am in an area that is currently experiencing very high levels of smoke in the air due to multiple wildfires and unexpectedly high wind conditions. The air quality index today and yesterday was 400 to 500. Air quality index is a way of quantifying air pollution. Less than 50 is considered good air quality and healthy for people. 200 to 300 is very unhealthy. Anything over 300 is considered hazardous to general health.

Also, I live in a rural area and because of the high fire risk AND high winds, power is currently shut off to our substation until conditions improve and the lines can be tested for safety.

So I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for anything I can do to help protect my outdoor animals, especially my aviary birds. I have been keeping the cats and dogs inside as much as possible, but that is not an option for our goats, chickens and other poultry. I also have an outdoor aviary with parakeets, finches, and quail. I have covered the aviary mesh with plastic sheeting to hopefully block out some of the ash and smoke.

I'm not sure if there is anything more I can do, short of evacuation. If the fires get closer, I will have no choice, but I would rather not attempt to move all my animals except as a last resort.

 

[mak]

So sorry to hear of the situation. I don't have a helpful suggestion other than please try to think in advance where you and your animals will go if you need to evacuate.
Hope you are able to stay put and stay safe.

 

[taxidermynerd]

If I were in this situation, I'd probably start getting my animals ready to evacuate asap, but I'm also the person who does that when we get a tornado warning.

Whatever you end up doing, I hope yall stay safe!

 

[Destiny]

I live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, so everything is either on fire or covered in smoke right now. To reach cleaner air, I would need to travel hundreds of miles up the coastline OR try to find safe passage to the east over the Cascades. However, most of the highways leading in that direction are currently closed due to multiple large wildfires actively burning in the forests and mountains. We have already lost several small towns and the surrounding homes since yesterday. There are also stage 3 evacuations underway across the state for affected areas. One of my relatives lost her home to the fires yesterday and I personally know several people affected by the evacuation orders.

Thankfully, my property is not near any of the active fires (yet), so I am only dealing with a terrible burden of smoke blowing into the area. The smoke is covering over half of my state, with my immediate area having especially bad air quality right now, thanks to the winds and shifting weather. However, considering the logistical difficulties involved with transporting and properly housing the various animals in my care, I don't think I can justify the move if I'm only upgrading from "hazardous" to unhealthy" air quality.

Of course, if the wildfires move in my direction, that's another story ... so I am preparing for the possibility. I'm just really hoping it does not come to that. I like my log cabin and the beautiful trees around it. I don't want them to burn.

 

[Forest]

Is it possible to bring your aviary birds inside the house in cages? That's all I can think of, sorry it's not much help. I hope you don't have to evacuate!

 

[Sparkles99]

I agree with taxidermynerd. It seems that most of these situations develop very quickly. I'd start getting people & pets ready, just in case.

 

[Destiny]

Is it possible to bring your aviary birds inside the house in cages? That's all I can think of, sorry it's not much help. I hope you don't have to evacuate!

Yeah, I am considering doing this as a precaution in case we do need to evacuate suddenly. I expect that it will be challenging to get all the birds into cages and even harder if I am under a strict time pressure. If we get an evacuation order, I will have a lot of work to do very fast.

With the current weather conditions, fire can spread very quickly and unpredictably.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I feel for you. I’m in northern CA and the wildfire by me in Quincy just exploded last night. The smoke right now is moving away from me, but I know that will change. It’s all such a scary, sad mess. I hope your area stays safe, and I think if you can somehow cage them inside, that would be your best bet. Your house and surrounding area is lovely btw.

 

[tka]

I would be inclined to get everyone inside into smaller cages. If you do have to evacuate in a hurry, the last thing you want to be doing is trying to catch a lot of little budgies and finches in a big aviary.

I hope your home and area are spared damage. The fires are horrific.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Sorry for what you are going through. Good idea to be prepared to evacuate and try to move the birds into cages and bring them inside the house if you can figure out a way to do that as per suggestions in other posts.
I'm being affected by the Bobcat fire (Southern CA) with smoke and ashes. I thought it was easing off and saw some blue sky but now the sky is covered with smoke again. Looks like it is snowing outside.
Stay safe!

 

[Destiny]

I took this picture on my drive in to work yesterday in the early morning. That sliver of white is clear sky at the horizon underneath the dark brown blanket of smoke haze. The smoke was so bad, the street lights stayed on even after the sun was up.



It was surreal.

Natural disasters are scary. They remind you how tiny and fragile you are compared to the larger forces at play in the world. Just a tiny little finch in a big sky.

And today ... the sky feels angry.

 

[Hankmacaw]

I'm terribly sorry @Destiny. Several years ago we had terrible forest fires in AZ. But since we got rid of the eccoterrorists and started controlled burns and aggressively cleaning our forests we have not had a bad forest fire. The ones this year have been mostly in the deserts and the few in the forests have been rapidly controlled.

Please get 90% ready to go - you won't have much if any time if the fire comes near you.

 

[Destiny]

If anyone is interested, I found a website that has an excellent live map that tracks both air quality, smoke, and fire.

Fire and Smoke Map

fire.airnow.gov

The air quality around my house is still over 400 and not likely to improve until the winds change directions. Multiple large fires are burning out of control across the state and more evacuation orders have gone out.

Worst of all, arson is suspected in connection with a series of recent fires. I don't think most of the large wildfires we are dealing with right now were intentionally set, but it makes me sick at heart to think anyone would be out there intentionally setting fires like these. The amount of damage being done to homes, property, and wildlife is astronomical. It is bad enough when humans cause wildfires by accident. I can't even fathom why someone would do it on purpose.

 

[Ali]

If anyone is interested, I found a website that has an excellent live map that tracks both air quality, smoke, and fire.

Fire and Smoke Map

fire.airnow.gov

The air quality around my house is still over 400 and not likely to improve until the winds change directions. Multiple large fires are burning out of control across the state and more evacuation orders have gone out.

Worst of all, arson is suspected in connection with a series of recent fires. I don't think most of the large wildfires we are dealing with right now were intentionally set, but it makes me sick at heart to think anyone would be out there intentionally setting fires like these. The amount of damage being done to homes, property, and wildlife is astronomical. It is bad enough when humans cause wildfires by accident. I can't even fathom why someone would do it on purpose.

I just looked at this link. Woah, stay safe everyone in the West! Hope everything comes under control soon. That is terrible. Poor wildlife. It is so sad to think that some of these devastating fires are deliberately started. The things that go through the minds of some people are messed up.

 

[painesgrey]

@Destiny are you part of the PNW Birds Facebook group? Lots of people talking about the smoke hitting our area (I'm on the Olympic Peninsula) and what we can do to try to help our birds.

There are quite a few people offering to board birds for people in smoke-affected areas. We don't have a lot of smoke where we are right now, but there's smoke in our forecast in the coming days and it's not something I'm looking forward to, and I don't have any outdoor animals.

Maybe you could try to find someone on the Facebook group that would be willing to take on a few extra animals in their (relatively) smoke-free area?

 

[Mybluebird]

I hope everything will OK for you @Destiny. I can't add anything else to what everyone has suggested. I watched with interest as you posted the progress on your aviary and put the birds in. If you bring your birds into your house, cover any openings in your aviary with plastic to help keep ash out so the cleanup will be minimized. I just got back home from having a haircut (feels soooo good after all this time!). Even though my garage was closed, my car had a fine dusting of ash on it when I drove off. When I got home I closed all my windows. Still I have a "raw" feeling in my throat and my sinuses are running. We are under a smoke plume. I am in no danger of having to evacuate. The smoke we are experiencing is mostly from the fires in the Angeles National Forest and west of there. The news says there are more than 500 firefighters working to contain the fires. It is mid-afternoon and it looks like dusk.

 

[iamwhoiam]

I hope everything will OK for you @Destiny. I can't add anything else to what everyone has suggested. I watched with interest as you posted the progress on your aviary and put the birds in. If you bring your birds into your house, cover any openings in your aviary with plastic to help keep ash out so the cleanup will be minimized. I just got back home from having a haircut (feels soooo good after all this time!). Even though my garage was closed, my car had a fine dusting of ash on it when I drove off. When I got home I closed all my windows. Still I have a "raw" feeling in my throat and my sinuses are running. We are under a smoke plume. I am in no danger of having to evacuate. The smoke we are experiencing is mostly from the fires in the Angeles National Forest and west of there. The news says there are more than 500 firefighters working to contain the fires. It is mid-afternoon and it looks like dusk.

I had to laugh at the weather forecast for my area on Wunderground. " Plenty of sunshine. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. "
There is NO sunshine, just smoke and haze. Still 0% containment for the Bobcat fire.

@Destiny Thanks for posting the link to the fire map. The fire in El Dorado fire in Yucaipa was not natural either. " CAL FIRE Law Enforcement has determined the El Dorado Fire, burning near Oak Glen in San Bernardino County, was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device, used during a gender reveal party. " The family responsible may wind up being liable for the destruction and have to pay out millions of dollars. Stay safe!

 

[Mybluebird]

Yes @iamwhoiam I heard the same about the people who were responsible for getting the El Dorado fire going - they were having a gender reveal party - a party!!!!! They may also have criminal charges filed against them.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Yes @iamwhoiam I heard the same about the people who were responsible for getting the El Dorado fire going - they were having a gender reveal party - a party!!!!! They may also have criminal charges filed against them.

They should have criminal charges filed against them and pay the price for the destruction and deaths they have caused.

 

[Destiny]

From what I can determine, most of the major wildfires in my area were likely related to the wind storm on Labor Day. It caused downed power lines and other fire hazards in many areas. The strong eastern winds also brought in a lot of hot, dry air from inland, which likely fanned the flames and made small fires spread further and grow larger.

There is a satellite timelapse over the state of Oregon at the start of this article that shows how FAST a wildfire can move and just how big they can get in only two days.

Evacuations and warnings in Clackamas County; Portland under emergency order

Oregon is burning — from the California border nearly to Washington state, from the crest of the Cascades to the central coast. This is a real-time round-up of what's happening across the state.

www.opb.org

It is really scary to watch, especially when you consider the scale. These are some huge fires.

I am praying for a change in the weather.