Western states forrest fires, can we Help ?

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I got a phone call from my brother in southern Oregon today. He said he was under a 48 hour evacuation notice because of the forrest fires. Highway 199 south to California was closed. Fires were west of a town called Selma. This area of the country has humidity so low, I've seen a match that a German tourist threw on the floor after he lit his cigarette, start a fire. And he blew the match out before he dropped it . Within a few seconds a 10 ft circle of the dry summer grass was in flame. I had no shoes on and burnt my feet stamping out that fire , before an army of fire fighters would have been needed to do so . I walked away from that guy and had no interest to continue my conversation with him because when I asked why didn't he help me stamp out the fire, he said. " I have sandels on and I didn't want to burn my feet " I never spoke to that guy again . And this ain't no tall tale. What brings me to post this is , my brother told me a guy he knows who has a bunch of dogs and 12 cows had a 30 minute evacuation notice. How does a guy evacuate 12 cows a bunch of dogs , his family and personal belongings like ID ,birth certificates, and some cloths and blankets in 30 minutes ?. I figured there are lots of people who would consider the help of a pickup truck and a trailer a God sent right now. And if there were people in short distance of the areas with fires , that are safe themselves , but close enough to help out people in the evacuation areas, alot of pets and livestock that might be burnt alive, could be spared. Also a place for people to keep their pets or livestock on, could help out greatly. Until people can return home , if they have a home to return to. It's pretty hot out all over and it's no time of year to be travling with animals, they'll get mighty thirsty and over heated quickly. I'm thinking that with the speed of cyber-space , the word can be spread from forum to forum, and collectively, help can somehow get to people who need it by people who can volunteer help. Even if your too far away to help or your not able to leave your own animals without someone caring for them, just by spreading the word ,,,,there are ones who are able to help, but didn't think of it or know of it . I've been through a major hurricane outside the U.S..The only help there was , was people helping each other.No goverment assistance was able to do what we did for each other. Everyone made sure their neighbors had food and water. Even if they never knew their neighbor. Maybe this is unrealistic in the U.S. .Maybe here we think the government is so big ,they'll help. It doesn't work that way. People help people, it's called civilization. My brother is furtunate to have only 2 cats and a place to stay an hour away from him.At worst he'll only loose his house. If anyone knows Jump off Joe, who' posted on the old country side and Freedom forum, this is happening in his neck of the woods.I don't think he's in an evacuation area yet .Please spread the word, Oregon is not the only western state with fires, California and Colorado, possibly other states also are having the same trouble.

-- SM Steve (Unreal@home.com), July 29, 2002

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