Bighorn Fire

[SpiderLegs]

Pulled out of my driveway and noticed the orange glow in the pre-dawn hour coming from Pusch Ridge. Then drove down the block and noticed the same glow coming from the Tortolita's.

The fire in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness is below Bighorn Peak and doesn't appear to be hitting Pusch Peak or the Cleaver yet. Luckily it's not windy this morning or we could have a huge mess on our hands.

Over in the Tortolita's as best as I can figure it looks like the fire is at the very end of the Wild Burro trail near where it intersects with the Ridgeline trail.

Last news report I saw was that the Pusch Ridge fire is being monitored and can't be accessed due to the terrain. Our local fire crews are all over in the Tortolita's working on it.

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2020-06-29 Changed Subject from Two Fires In NW Tucson to Bighorn Fire since the other was contained long ago and did not affect hiking much if any.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6741/

[SpiderLegs]

I was just out near the fire and brought my binoculars to get a better look. Pusch Peak seems fine for the moment. One tiny plume coming from the north face, but it isn't moving. Bighorn Peak is completely burnt and now Table Mountain is where all the action.

From my vantage point the fire seems to be heading towards Pima Canyon and Alamo Canyon. There is a ton of waist high dead grass and weeds inside of Catalina State Park, it would devastate the park if it gets close.

The FS has three slurry bombers in close rotation along with a Chinook helicopter. The largest of the slurry bombers is looping back around and getting into position over my neighborhood before heading in. Pretty impressive to watch such a large airplane fly right into the side of the mountain and at the last minute pull way while dumping.

[whereveriroam]

Unrelated but ran into a fire crew by Asbestos Point in the Sierra Ancha. I’m clueless what they were doing so high up on the mountain. One guy was really dirty and appeared like he did all the work, there were 3 or 4 others. They had helicopter support for 5 minutes. I didn’t see or smell any smoke

[Jim]

@SpiderLegs
Pictures! We need pictures!

In general it looks like it is on the north slope. All the videos and pictures are taken from that side, including at least 1 video I saw of one of the jets dropping surfactant on the north slope in one of the canyons between Bighorn and Table. https://www.reddit.com/r/Tucson/comment ... the_pusch/ Not sure if the pilot was having the time of his life or loosing his bowels. Stuff like that reminds me of the video I saw 16 years ago where one of the old c130 had its wings break off.

[LosDosSloFolks]

Current photo...north side of the Catalinas overlooking Oro Valley.

[chumley]

@LosDosSloFolks Who took that photo? You?
What makes it “current”?

[LosDosSloFolks]

@chumley
A friend in Tucson e-mailed it to me a few minutes before my post stating it as so. As a friend of 20 years I had no reason to doubt him.

[chumley]

@LosDosSloFolks
It is a captivating image. I hope the photographer is being paid nicely for making it.
While I don't have any idea when it was taken, I do know that I saw it posted elsewhere more than 24 hours ago.

[LosDosSloFolks]

@chumley
Yikes, surrounded by fake news! I had no idea. How do I remove the post and thread? My apologies.

[chumley]

@LosDosSloFolks
There's no deleting things. HAZ is forever. Unless Joe decides it's not.
But I've always known you were a Russian asset! ;)

[SpiderLegs]

I just got home from looking at the fires. Small isolated patches just below Pusch Peak on the backside facing north. Bighorn Peak is the same scenario along with the Cleaver that sits between Pusch & Bighorn. At this point is just touching the upper reaches of Pima Canyon.

Table Mountain has finished burning for the most part on the western facing side. The efforts of the slurry bombers and helicopters kept the fire away from homes along the lower ridgeline.

That's the good news, the bad news is that the fire is burning in the canyons behind Table Mountain over towards Buster Peak. The flames are high and very intense in Alamo Canyon and with the wind patterns we've had today the fire is heading towards Catalina State Park. If the fire doesn't reach the park, it will be a miracle. Saw a convoy of water trucks heading around 8:30 PM tonight.

Have one picture from the fire tonight on my Instagram account - @tucsonexplorer Not high quality, taken with an old iPhone.

[SpiderLegs]

Current photo...north side of the Catalinas overlooking Oro Valley.

I just returned from the fire 20 minutes ago. That photo is probably from last night.

[SpiderLegs]

https://maps.nwcg.gov/sa/?fbclid=IwAR0l ... 10.9209/12

[Jim]

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6741/

At least one news source incorrectly stated the fire had grown to 17,000 acres, just off by a factor of 10. So, there is the inciweb page. Finally.

[DixieFlyer]

@Jim_H
you mean that the news media is reporting #fakenews? Who would have thought!

[SpiderLegs]

Having a hard time finding anything out about the Tortolita Fire, but just stumbled across some data. That fire is up to 2500 acres and near where I thought it was, out close to where the Ridgeline Trail intersects with Wild Burro.

[SpiderLegs]

Having a hard time finding anything out about the Tortolita Fire, but just stumbled across some data. That fire is up to 2500 acres and near where I thought it was, out close to where the Ridgeline Trail intersects with Wild Burro.

Finally did an update on the fire map I posted earlier. Looks like I was off about a mile or so. The Tortolita Fire is just over the Pinal County line in the smaller foothills area north of the park.

[Mountain_Rat]

you mean that the news media is reporting #fakenews?

First rule of modern journalism - Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

[cactuscat]

Honest mistake does not equal "fake news".

[chumley]

@cactuscat
Sounds similar to the "bad apple" argument with police.

The most important job the news media has is to get the facts right. Honest mistakes are far rarer today than laziness and sensationalism.

[Jim]

Thoughts and prayers, people, thoughts and prayers.