2024 Fire Season

[Nighthiker]

Spring Fire
8pm 6/1, 1900 acres East side of North bound 87 at mile post 210.

[Jim]

Looks like it is burning entirely within the 2020 Bush Fire burn area. Intensity should be reduced although that is a lot of chaparral, and some of the higher terrain did not burn 4 years ago. Should be interesting.

[DixieFlyer]

@Jim_H
it's like clockwork: the weekend comes and there is a fire on Highway 87

[ShatteredArm]

Looks like a new one across the 87 from Bush Highway, wonder how that one started?

[LindaAnn]

Not far from those houses on the east side of the Verde River. I bet they’re hoping the wind pushes it north/east.

[trekkin_gecko]

adams fire

https://www.12news.com/article/news/loc ... xit-recirc

[chumley]

@LindaAnn Don't worry. When it comes to fires, the US Private Property Service devotes all resources to protect assets outside of the land it is tasked to manage. It's a remarkable benefit to those who choose to build there, while the loss of adjacent public land seems to be shrugged off as inconsequential.

[chumley]

Lower elevation Tonto NF has been in restrictions for two weeks.

Beginning Thursday, June 6, 2024 Stage 1 Fire Restrictions will expand to the entirety of the Tonto NF, Prescott NF, Coconino NF, Apache-Sitgreaves NF, and the bulk of other public land in central and eastern Arizona (including municipal, county, BLM, NPS, state parks, and state trust lands).

A variety of separate orders are available from the relevant agencies on their social media or websites.

*Though Kaibab NF has historically matched Coconino on the Williams and Tusayan districts, it is apparently doing its own thing this year. Coronado NF is typically independent of the others, and it's no different this year.

[00blackout]

Foote Fire in the Blue started on Thursday from lightning, burning down in Foote Creek. I was out in the Blue over the weekend. When I got there Saturday it was relatively small and little smoke. Coming out today, it looks like it doubled, with tons of smoke and multiple hot shot crews working 567 as the wind was pushing it that way. Hoping it does not make it that far.

[ShatteredArm]

@00blackout
I was in the area too, saw smoke in Foote Creek but didn't realize the fire was that close. Really hoping the fire stays out of the creek bottom, that's such a beautiful area.

[Jim]

I was unable to find an inciweb page, however NASA has some satellite detections.

I added a yellow waypoint that should be roughly where this fire is located in the Blue.

I don't know that HAZ has every fire mapped which has happened in that area, but we do have the larger fires mapped. The return interval for the area of this current burn has 3 previous fires in 37 years. The return from 1987 to 2003 was on the long side, but 2003 to 2011 was pretty good, and it's been 13 years, so a fire is due. If Ponderosa pine exclusively, it is well overdue. If mixed conifer, it is within the longer return interval cycle for that system. I would still prefer a shorter return interval, but this is acceptable.

The Blue is in Arizona. Like the Gila Wilderness, and most everything above 4000' in elevation in Arizona and New Mexico, it was a fire maintained ecosystems for eons until people from Washington DC decided to implement a national policy to exclude fire without regard to the affects it would bring to the ecosystems they decided to force this ecological aberration on to. Look no further than Kendrick Mountain to see what happens when fire is kept out and suddenly returns, as it inevitably will.

Let it burn, manage it and accept the abiotic forces that created and influence these ecosystems we enjoy visiting.

[Jim]

https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-i ... ntone-fire


I'll leave that inciweb page here for a fire in the nearby Gila. Note the few photos posted to the information page (no photo page for some reason). Compare the forest conditions, flame length and smoke to other photos that you might see around.

Oh, it is about 12,000 acres, not 120,000 acres. Someone made a typo, as it jumped from around 9,000 acres to that current inaccurate figure in about 24 hours. Plus, the mapped area is relatively small.

With luck, there will be some more lightning fires in eastern AZ and SW NM with variable dry and wet thunderstorms in the next 2 weeks. McKenna Park and other areas of the Gila are due.

As far as the fire in the Blue, it is kind of odd that the A-S has not put out any kind of a press release or made any type of official statement or even created a inciweb page with some information in it, but given what some members say about that forest, perhaps I should not be surprised.

[azbackpackr]

The South Fork Fire and the Salt Fire, which prompted total evacuation of Ruidoso, New Mexico last night, (with no time for the people to pack) is not on Inciweb yet, but I'm sure they will be soon. Since two of the highways were already closed, the only exit route was to Roswell, which had to scramble to accommodate 5,000 people, including hospital patients.

https://www.wxow.com/news/new-mexico-vi ... 0livestock.

[Jim]

Strange that they also do not have a page. Don't they know that the first priority in a large incident is to create a webpage for that fire? I for one will not stand for this and have written a strongly worded letter to my congresswoman. Abigail Gethsemane the 3rd is going get an earful, I assure you.

Too bad no one has been saying to manage the forest, to have prescribed fires or else, and to create defensible space around towns and homes. Oh, if only someone would have said something for all of these years. Why have people who know this been silent on the issue?!?!?

Instead,

As humans continue to drive climate change with fossil fuel pollution, scientists warn that rapidly-spreading, destructive wildfires will become more frequent, in part due to hotter temperatures and pervasive drought conditions.

b'cuz muh climate is now the excuse for 100+ years of policy failures.

Thats okay, a town burning is just a really strong wilderness ethic. After all, we need to be slaves to the whims of the winds that blow ever which way and which may or may not consume property or lives, just so that benches may not be built, or a single stick of timber remain uncut, and a fantastic vision of history which serves the interests of those driven by pathos, be created. I say, we must sacrifice Ruidoso at the alter of our god: climate change, lest we acknowledge:

One of the most interesting and important aspects of this vege-
tation type, or ecosystem, is its relationship with fire. Before Euro-
pean man arrived, fires set by lightning and Indians, were common
occurrences (Kotok 1934; Reynolds 1959; Wagner 1961; Weaver
1955; Komarek 1967; Biswell 1963, 1967). These were described
as light and creeping surface fires; however, they played a major
role in determining the structure and composition of the ponderosa
pine-grassland (Biswell 1959; Cooper 1960,1961). From accounts of
early travelers and researchers we know that the structure of that
forest was one of open and parklike stands (Beale 1858; Dutton
69
HAROLD H. BISWELL
1887; Muir 1894). Early explorers usually described the forest scen-
ery in glowing terms.

https://talltimbers.org/wp-content/uplo ... 972_op.pdf

[Jim]

https://nmfireinfo.com/2024/06/18/south ... e-6-18-24/

No inciweb page, but NM does have it's own website. Looks like my letters and phone calls to Misses Abigail Gethsemane the 3rd have paid off.

Structure Threat: Multiple structures threatened; approx. 1,400 structures lost

1400 structures burned. No idea about property values, but I do wonder what the cost of prevention would have been. Assuming those were homes valued at $250,000, that could be around $350,000,000. worth. Probably, the actual value of those structures was not that great, but even 1/10th of that amount could have been used to create very low fire danger forests with fairly open stands and low fuel loads if the village and land managers were receptive to, and actually completed prescribed fires. At least Flagstaff has done something, but they ignored the area north of town for too long, and the Peaks is a sacrificial "wilderness".

[chumley]

@00blackout

Foote Fire Update
Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Location of Origin: 12 miles south of Alpine
Size: 1493 acres
Start Date: June 14, 2024
Percent Contained: 0
Cause: Lightning/Natural
Fuels: Timber, brush, and grass
Personnel: 64
Resources Assigned: 2 Crew, 1 Helicopter, 1 Dozer


Operations: Firefighters are continuing to monitor and assess the fire. We have been observing by air the fire location and perimeter as it continues to grow. We are looking at minimizing high fire severity burn by using fire in the right locations to maintain a low to moderate fire intensities in the vicinity of the fire. Crews and heavy equipment will continue prepping and reopening some of the old containment lines from previous fires to include Forest Road 567 and Highway 191 corridor.

The Foote fire behavior has been moderate to low burning naturally consuming down and dead fuels to ash. Currently no values are at risk. Josh Ranch is about 2 miles to the west and the community of Blue is about 3 miles to the east. The public is advised to drive with caution on Forest Road 567 and Highway 191 where fire personnel and vehicles are present. News releases will be posted every other day unless there are major changes.

Weather: Today’s forecast calls for sunny skies, with a high near 83. South winds 7 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. with low humidity 9 to 14%. We are expecting some moisture by the end of this week.

Restrictions: The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests are in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions, learn more at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/asnf/ale ... ?aid=87925

Smoke: Communities of Alpine and Blue might be affected by smoke, Go to fire.airnow.gov/ to see the latest smoke conditions in your community. Smoke may be visible from the surrounding communities.

Evacuations: None at this time

Official fire information can be found on these sites:
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apachesitgreavesnfs
• Apache-Sitgreaves website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/asnf

[Jim]

https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-i ... k-and-salt
A page for the NM fires near Ruidoso.

[00blackout]

@chumley
So it sounds pretty low-intensity, hopefully just cleaning up the forest floor a bit. It does look like it's moving north approaching 191 so they will have to stop it at that point.

[ShatteredArm]

@00blackout
There's a ton of smoke now. Looks like a wall of smoke from Big Lake road. Satellite shows it mostly confined to upper Foote Creek, though, which I think is mostly locust.

[Jim]

https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-i ... foote-fire

Foote page.

The Foote Fire started by lightning on June 14, 2024, and it continues to burn in remote terrain in the Blue Range Primitive Area, consuming dead and down fuels with low to moderate intensity.