2021 Fire Season

[Jim]

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7438/

Commence your freakout. Might burn the mountain, might not.

I saw the large smoke plume yesterday around 5 PM in a Satellite image but figured it was so large that it must have been a cloud shield. Nope.

[DixieFlyer]

@Jim_H
That is a really nice park, and it would be sad if it burns...another human caused fire I think

[azbackpackr]

There's a whole village up there, as well. Lots of houses, a resort, restaurant, etc.

[FOTG]

@Jim_H I think you might take a little too much satisfaction in announcing these fires.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Wow, I never realized that Flagstaff had grown so BIG!

[Jim]

@friendofThundergod
It's the first one I've announced since last summer! You might have me confused with that other guy down here who has annouced 2 or 3 others, each with their own thread. I thought one thread to was adequate unless it really breaks out.

@SuperstitionGuy Flagstaff?

[big_load]

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7438/

Commence your freakout. Might burn the mountain, might not.

I saw the large smoke plume yesterday around 5 PM in a Satellite image, but figured it was so large that it must have been a cloud shield. Nope.

That area had a significant fire just a few years ago, although I can't tell from the map how close this is to the previous burn. It's Cousin G's favorite hangout. I've been up there a couple times.

[DixieFlyer]

The weekend hasn't gotten here yet and there are at least 2 fires: 1)the coppercanyon fire 3 miles NE of Globe that has 60 closed, and 2) a fire on the Fort McDowell Reservation along the Verde River

[Jim]

@DixieFlyer
The Maverick Fire might be the one you mention along the Verde, but it appears to be up on higher terrain nearer to the Mazatzal Mountains. The Tussock fire on the SW slope of the Bradshaw Mountains has the Senator Hwy closed.

I could see smoke to the NW from the Gladden Farms area of Marana last evening. I assumed it was from near the Verde, but it might have been from the Gila Fire, SE of Superior, too.

[ShatteredArm]

@Jim_H
There was a fire near the confluence of the Verde River and Sycamore Creek yesterday, which is distinct from the one now burning west of Sunflower.

[DixieFlyer]

@Jim_H
The Maverick Fire is different from the one that I was talking about that was on the Fort McDowell reservation.On Friday afternoon I could see a big plume of black smoke from the reservation fire, and early Saturday morning I could really smell the smoke from outside my house. That fire is out now though.

I was driving back from Flag yesterday and I could see smoke coming from the Bradshaws. I imagine that was from the Tussock Fire that you mentioned.

[PrestonSands]

Fire west of Sunflower

Taken from Bushnell Tank turn off yesterday

Gila River fire on South Butte

Taken near Florence late afternoon. If this is burning salt cedar like Inciweb says, then, hooray!

[Jim]

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/afm/data/active ... 9_0700.jpg

Guess the one on the Verde is out or inactive, then.

Not so, for the Maverick and Tussock, or Gila.

[big_load]

The fire near Globe is making national news. Is Highway 60 still closed?

[cactuscat]

@big_load
Yes, according to ADOT - no estimated time of reopening.

[ShatteredArm]

Hopefully the Tussock Fire stays out of Minnehaha Basin...

[jillyonanadventure]

@DixieFlyer The fire smell was really strong on the 87 heading to payson yesterday morning. Tons of smoke too

[DixieFlyer]

@jillyonanadventure
I am heading to Payson this morning, and hopefully it won't be TOO smoky on 87...I am just glad that 87 is open!

[Jim]

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7493/

Almost 11 years after lightning from early season thunderstorms struck up the Horse Fire in the McKenna Park of the Gila Wilderness, the Johnson Fire began several days ago following lightning.

The Johnson Fire is currently about 4200 acres and had treated or burned the majority of my favorite wilderness park, McKenna Park. Inspect the photos in the incident webpage and not the complete absence of crown scorch. Looks like with maybe 2.5 inches of precipitation in over the winter, fuels are dry, but this what nature or true wilderness would actually do.

I would prefer this one be allowed to grow about as large as possible, and only be kept out of critical resource areas or steered around important or highly sensitive regenerating areas, should it encounter any. It appears that the most recent satellite detections of active growth show movement to the south, climbing up to the Diablo Range. This is Okay, but I would like to see growth to the west and Northwest, into the scar of the White Water-Baldy from 2012.

FYI: McKenna has a had a high fire frequency since 2003, when the first fire passed through the entire park and died out on the eastern side either from rain or entering Pinyon-Juniper which lacked the fuels to carry. The Horse Fire burned about a 1000 acres in the middle (fully suppressed), in 2011 a fire burned through the entire park. The White Water-Baldy Complex did not enter McKenna as I recall, but in 2015 or 16, I think there was another lightning fire that did burn all or part of McKenna.

Most who pack the Gila stick to the yawn fest at Jordan Hot Springs, but if you want to penetrate deep into some real Wilderness of the SW USA, I recommend crossing McKenna Park later this summer once rains have brought some regrowth. The trees will be just fine from the Johnson Fire.

[Jim]

Also, the Sycamore Canyon fire appears to be burning on the western slope of Baboquivari Peak. This is the fire responsible for the high streaked smoke in the sky this evening over the Tucson basin.