I took last week off of work to drive from Oregon to see my 3 adult kids that live in Utah, including one that is attending the University of Utah as a senior in engineering. I also got to see my cute sweet granddaughters. Due to Covid 19, I haven’t seen my kids and grandkids since January. We had a couple dinners in parks socially distanced with masks since my daughter in law is currently pregnant. It was so good to see them since I love and miss them so much. I paddle boarded many places along the long drive there and back including one amazing place named Collier State Park with the crystal clear cold 40 degree water of Spring Creek.
After arriving back home in a SE Portland rural suburb, things changed as highs winds arrived on top of high temperatures and dry weather making the perfect recipe for big forest fires up and down the west coast.
Here are some progressing photos of my neighborhood this week.
Last evening, my neighborhood appeared like a Martian skyscape.
Today as many communities including part of mine were evacuated and along with many scared leaving it made for a surreal smoky packed freeway drive.
Stay safe everyone.
My home will hopefully be safe, but many have been evacuated, and some have lost their homes. The beautiful NW Oregon forest will be scarred for lifetimes. I’m heartbroken at what my west coast is going through. That beautiful clear spring fed creek i paddled and swam in Sunday, is also on fire as I type this.
I am grateful my employer Autodesk cares about our employees when in difficult situations like this. I received several calls to check in and make sure if I needed any assistance that I can reach out to the security teams.
If anyone is in NW Oregon & need help, email me at shaan.hurley@autodesk.com
Shaan
In smoky, yet beautiful and resilient Oregon, under a level two “Get Set” evacuation notice.
Resources on the fire and smoke:
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View the fires and smoke on maps at:
https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=45.4121051&lng=-122.5865561&zoom=10
And the near real-time satellite data of Zoom Earth
https://zoom.earth/#view=44.83834,-122.15698,9z/date=2020-09-10,16:00,-7/layers=fires
