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/

[azbackpackr]

@SpiderLegs
Thanks for the update. Inciweb is only moderately helpful, and their map doesn't work well on my phone. I'm mostly interested if you could keep us posted about Wilderness of Rocks. Thanks.

[SpiderLegs]

@azbackpackr - I'll try, I'm posting about what I can see from my driveway and what I see when I run down to do errands at Home Depot or the other shops along Oracle.

Pusch Peak appears to be safe and the trails there are untouched. Catalina State Park looks awful from my vantage point. Hoping Mt. Kimball isn't too scorched.

[azbackpackr]

@SpiderLegs
Yikes!

[Jim]

I feel like the Bush is stealing the Bighorn's thunder.

The fire is reportedly ascending the slopes east of Romero Pass towards the WoR, as I type.

[chumley]

Bush is stealing the Bighorn's thunder

Bighorn has been burning for 10.5 days and is ~15,000 acres
Bush has been burning for 2.5 days and is ~40,000 acres
I'd call that thunder.

[ShatteredArm]

@Jim_H
Latest satellites seem to show Bighorn mostly active at the base of Sutherland Ridge right now. Bush, Bringham, and Magnum look a lot crazier.

[SpiderLegs]

I just looked out my kitchen window while making my morning coffee and could see the flames from my house. Appears to be creeping up towards the ski area from my vantage point.

FS just ordered a closure of pretty much the entire mountain until August 15th.

[ShatteredArm]

@Jim_H
Latest satellites seem to show Bighorn mostly active at the base of Sutherland Ridge right now. Bush, Bringham, and Magnum look a lot crazier.

Looking much worse this morning, seems like it's making a run up the ridge straight for the summit. Looks like there's activity near the upper end of Sutherland Trail.

[cactuscat]

Summerhaven being evacuated now.

[azbackpackr]

@cactuscat
Yikes.

[SpiderLegs]

It's burning hot and heavy, Romero Canyon is probably toast right now. It's not a pleasant sight to watch this afternoon.

[azbackpackr]

@SpiderLegs
It got burned pretty good in 2003 as well, if memory serves.

[azdesertfather]

They are putting out daily progression maps now, which is helpful. For today: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/photos/AZCNF/2 ... 92-CDT.pdf
It shows Romero Trail has burned completely yesterday, from the park to the pass.
I hear they have flown in expert hotshot crews from 6 states now to help fight this...firefighting crew up to over 725 people now.

[RedRoxx44]

I was working in Catalina when the Aspen fire went on and Summerhaven burned. Remember very well the smoke plume changing color and density when some of the cabins went up in flames.

[azbackpackr]

@RedRoxx44
I lived in Eagar. The ash fell in our yard, and you could see the plume, 135 miles away.

[SpiderLegs]

There was a video update about an hour ago. The fire is concentrated at the intersection of the Sutherland Trail and Mt. Lemmon Trail just below Summerhaven.

I can see large flames clearly from my backyard all along that ridgeline.

[azbackpackr]

@SpiderLegs
Sounds like Wilderness of Rocks is going to be toast.

[SpiderLegs]

@azbackpackr - That seems to be the consensus on Facebook among the climbing and hiking groups.

[Jim]

It burned in 2003. It will be about the same.

[Jim]

Fun Fact! The focus of the fire activity is now up around mt Lemmon and the observatory, but the maps don't update with real time data and the active fire mapping page chooses to put the "bighorn" name directly over top of the areas of active heat, so you can't even tell where the most recent detected activity happens to be.

Oh, and the Bush has an arm that burned clear to HWY 188, so perhaps we'll see if the fire holds there, or jumps the road.