Apocalypse in the Pacific Northwest - Flying Drone through Wildfire Smoke

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

Effects said:
What city are you in? My Son lives in West Seattle. I'm going to send him a link to this thread.

Rural Southwest Washington, near Longview.

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

Bernard said:
We had wildfire in Provence (France) like every summer... But I have never seen a sky so representative of a sad and great ecological catastrophe! Be safe!

Wildfire is normal here too - I grew up hiking in burned forest in Idaho, and thought I was used to fires, but this is nothing like anything I've ever experienced before.

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

spamgnome said:
This could easily be B roll for an episode of Walking Dead. Well done.

Thanks!

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

6 String Fan said:
I live in the Medford area of Southern Oregon that has had its share of devastation too.
Currently, I'm not flying my new Mini due to the thick smoke hanging around here for the past week.
I'm sure that I would lose sight of it if I gained much altitude or ventured very far from home.
It's been ugly and the effects will be seen for quite a few years from now.
It has been a very strange week, during an extremely strange year!

Stay safe down there, you somehow have even worse smoke than here - it's kind of hard to imagine, even seeing the photos from that area. When the smoke's really thick I find that it messes with the signal pretty badly.

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

JooB said:
Impressive video! Very special light in the first half of the video, looks like doomsday... which perhaps it is if you life in that area. Good luck!

Thanks - it sure feels like doomsday! Trapped indoors with the air outside too toxic to breathe for long, everything drench in malevolent gloom. Going out to film it at least makes me feel proactive!

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

Captain Lou said:
Great job on all levels ! Like a good painting it brought out many emotions!! Sound track perfect ! Very eerie!
my heart goes out to all of you out there !! Stay safe !!

Thank you!

itsneedtokno · Sep 17, 2020

IlluminationsfromtheAttic said:
Air is cleaner on Mars - this is more like Venus!

Touché

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

Drumsagard said:
Amazing footage, but so sad to watch. Stay safe!

Thank you!

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

bushie said:
Looks like a lot of Australia last southern summer.

I was thinking that myself - I have the sinking feeling that firestorms are the new norm.

Citizen Flier · Sep 17, 2020

IlluminationsfromtheAttic said:
Thank you!

A firefighting buddy who lives in the gold country had an AQI a few days ago of. . . . 803!

IlluminationsfromtheAttic · Sep 17, 2020

Citizen Flier said:
A firefighting buddy who lives in the gold country had an AQI a few days ago of. . . . 803!

Holy cow, that's more than twice as bad as the conditions were when I filmed this video!

fly4fun · Sep 19, 2020

Great video! Does anyone know if flying in that much smoke could damage your drone? I have not been flying my MP 2 in Colorado because of all the smoke. We have days like that one where you can not go outside.

Falcor · Sep 19, 2020

I wanted to share a timelapse I shot with a similar orange haze that the SF Bay Area experienced last week.

LA 2020 · Sep 19, 2020

Electromen said:
I've always wondered about one thing. Does the West Coast have Fire Breaks? Fire breaks are spaced out strips of land with no vegetation that are maintained that way, several hundred yards wide. In western PA., most of the mountains have fire breaks.

The big problem with these fires is the wind. In CA if there is a Santa Anna wind (hot winds from east to west) we get nervous. embers are the real culprit. They can easily jump a break or highway. They can select one house in the middle of others that are untouched. I have a sprinkler on top of my house that a start up at any sign of a fire in the area

Gr8fulTed · Sep 19, 2020

IlluminationsfromtheAttic said:
Rural Southwest Washington, near Longview.

Down here in the desert of central Oregon it looked about the same until yesterday's rain knocked it down. I am also a good 30 miles away from any of the fires and thought about doing the same as this video shows. But in the end, I was too worried the ash from all this smoke might get into my MA2 somewhere where it would do damage and kept myself from flying. Good vid!

Citizen Flier · Sep 19, 2020

I viewed the Mt St Helens area video also -both excellent. Really enjoyed the soundtracks. Would understand if you prefer not to reveal who created the music. Was that a modern composer or from a soundtrack provider? I enjoy instrumental music with a darker mood. Either way, excellent choices!

Cdcolt · Sep 19, 2020

1,625 miles east of Portland our skies look much the same albeit a lighter shade - from those same fires

bzmot · Sep 21, 2020

Falcor said:
I wanted to share a timelapse I shot with a similar orange haze that the SF Bay Area experienced last week.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.