I dont use this platform often. I can be reached at aehrlich@opb.org
Sep 8, 2021 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
Exactly a year ago today I walked outside to see a towering plume of smoke 6mi from my house. I thought I could report on it like any other fire. But what became the Almeda Fire spread rapidly, detroying thousands of my neighbors' homes and barely sparing mine. [thread]
My husband & I packed our small car with 2 dogs & 2 cats and headed to a friend's house in South Medford. Then I hit the road to do some reporting.
Sep 7, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The smoke is forecasted to stick around the rest of this week. We can't breathe anywhere outside our homes, if we have homes. Can't go anywhere. Can't see anyone. I hold my breath to take out the trash. This is absolutely brutal.
You're lucky if your home is well insulated. Mine isn't. Even with multiple filters running I feel sick.
Sep 6, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I've recently become self-conscious of possibly having a Southern California accent, which is not really a thing but if it was I imagine it sounding like Keanu Reeves in Point Break.
Almost all photos of fires in those climate change articles you read are from California because that's basically the only state that allows journalists into wildfire zones.
As a result, our views are skewed to believe CA is the only one with devastating wildfires. /1
For several weeks this year Oregon had the biggest wildfire in the country with the Bootleg Fire. Last year we lost thousands of homes to Labor Day fires. But people were left in the dark beyond what was released from firefighting agencies because journalists didnt have access./3
Sep 12, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
About a week before the fires I went to a militia meeting where people were preparing to do exactly this in Southern Oregon. They planned on blockading the highways in case of civil unrest following the elections.
They expected caravans of refugees from big cities like Seattle and Portland to come fleeing to rural towns, escaping violent protests that'd result from the elections. They feared not having enough resources for them. Food & water shortages, etc
Aug 29, 2020 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
I'll be live tweeting from a BLM rally in Rogue River today, which has become contentious locally.
Lots of guns present
