Chitty Fire has Hwy 191 Closed

[azbackpackr]

As of this time 191 is still closed south of FR 25. Bear Wallow Wilderness is closed. Both North KP and KP Trails are closed. KP Campground is closed. As I write this the following website has not updated since Tuesday, due to the holiday, but you can keep track of the fire here as they will post later today:
http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/information/information.htm

Yesterday the fire blew up and it blew smoke into Round Valley, where I live. (That's Eagar/Springerville, if you don't know the White Mountains.) My house was full of smoke. The fire is at least 50 miles from here! So I'm thinking it grew quite a bit yesterday. The wind came up, too.

I'm leading a backpacking trip July 13-15--it was supposed to be on KP trail. I'll still lead the trip, but will change the location, unless we get a huge rainstorm to end the fire!

[Dschur]

Another site for checking on fires is http://www.inciweb.org/.

[chumley]

Since most hikers are at least reasonably good at reading a map, I submit this website as well. It can be used to zoom in on the exact perimeters of current and past fires. It doesn't have a "layer" for hiking trails, but it does include forest roads and topography, so it's pretty easy to figure out exactly what terrain is/was part of a fire. As I post this today, Chitty is now 50% contained and current radar shows a good thunderstorm dropping much needed moisture on the fire area. Hopefully lightning doesn't cause any new starts.

here's the link:
http://geomac.usgs.gov/viewer/viewer.htm

[azbackpackr]

191 is to re-open today at 10:00 a.m. They don't say if Bear Wallow, KP or other areas are to re-open.