Notices by Cadmus 🌲 (camless@m.ai6yr.org)

Working on damage assessments for a heavily flooded area of our state. Then I remembered that the headwaters had burned over last summer, meaning increased runoff, faster snowmelt, etc. So I logged on to USDA's Burn Severity Portal... And all the past fire reports appear to have been deleted including recently completed ones from last summer's fires. Many links are dead.

I'll try contacting the forest offices to see if we can get a backup. This is a critical resource for the environment, our health, life, and safety.

I am at a loss, mad, and sad. These actions being taken are making our jobs and lives so hard and truly hurting everyone regardless of ideology.

#USDA #USFS #DOGE #EatTheRich

@ai6yr Folks should look up Jack Cohen from the Missoula Fire Science Lab, his work has been integral for FireWise and other building resiliency recommendations.

Fun facts about homes and wildfires:

- spraying water on lawns and homes won't stop a flaming front from burning over your home, it'll evaporate long before the front passes. People die each year trying to save their homes. You're more likely to put a camp fire out by pissing into it than using a 3/4 hose that may lose pressure...

- most homes don't burn from 'direct flame impingement', aka the flames touching the house, it's from decks, full gutters, soffits, and vents that are not covered with fine mesh. Same goes for vents under houses

- decks burn if you have debris, wood piles, or shrubs/vegetation too close to the deck. If you keep all debris away, it's harder for them to catch fire. Not impossible, more difficult. Build a stone patio instead.

- mulch beds can convey flames to structures, try to keep a good barrier between your house and the mulch.

More info here: https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab

@MsMerope @ai6yr Yep, defensible space does not mean cutting down trees. That's a huge myth that this Administration is perpetuating.

It's ladder fuels, those that allow the flames to climb into canopies. Grasses, shrubs, vines, the GD poison oak that grows in central California...

Like making a fire, it's hard to get a tree to burn, unless it's super dry and surrounded by debris. Just like it's hard to start a large log on fire, it takes steps and hot coals.

@steter This piece of trash is getting to decide how American emergency management will work (badly) for the next while

The current administration's stated goal of making civil servants suffer is happening across the board. They want civil servants to quit so that the services can further erode along with the confidence of the American public. I think this is so that they can justify their cuts and layoffs, and then the argument they will make is that we need to privatize these services so their billionaire buddies can eat up the contracts.

We also received an email from a lead state agency from OPM, messages were sent out to all state agencies that manage federal grants. They are requiring a response by February 7th to ensure that none of the grants that we manage are funding "illegal aliens" or "illegal #DEI" initiatives...

So, the turmoil this week with the Feds shutting off the grant system continues. My agency is 99% funded through emergency management grants, we draw our payroll costs a month after processing in order to reconcile.

The shutoff made it so that we could not process any draws this week, so that means no disaster grant reimbursements or our payroll costs being reimbursed per our programmatic agreements with #FEMA

We have about 6 weeks until my agency defaults and has to begin furloughs and layoffs.

"Despite facing massive wildfires that threatened its headquarters and employees’ homes, Columbia Power Cooperative—the smallest electric utility in Oregon—has kept power flowing to almost all of its 1,100 consumer-members."

https://www.electric.coop/tiny-oregon-co-op-keeps-the-lights-on-despite-massive-wildfires

#wildfire #FireSeason2024 #oregon #pnw

@oregonoem https://www.oregon.gov/oem/hazardsprep/pages/2-weeks-ready.aspx

Lots of modules for planning and preparing for climate disasters. Applicable outside of #Oregon and #PNW.

Please share.

#emergencypreparedness #2weeksready #PreparednessMonth

Hi folks!

I've been on Mastodon for about a year and would like to meet more accounts to follow. Please boost and provide recommendations.

I am an #EmergencyManagement professional who specializes in wildfire recovery. I assist communities with rebuilding after #disasters, funding sheltering and evacuation costs, drafting mutual aid agreements, and developing comprehensive recovery plans.

I don't know of many other folks on here that work in emergency management, but would like to make more connections.

I'm interested in #weather #HamRadio #Preparedness #PNW #Oregon #ORWX #Outdoors #minimalism #Equity #UnionStrong

@GossiTheDog CDR stands for?