"Wallow Fire" in Bear Wallow Wilderness

[azbackpackr]

Lots of activity in Springerville this morning, with the Prescott Hot Shots arriving at Safeway for a snack, and other buses full of firefighters seen on the highway heading for the "Wallow Fire" in Bear Wallow Wilderness Area, south of Hannagan. The smoke is not that visible, although my daughter was over at Hulsey yesterday and saw the smoke. I was up at Big Lake early this morning and could see only a haze of smoke south of there, not a big plume. I think winds too strong for it to plume up much. I'm back in Flag now, so I won't get the firsthand news any more.

Oh, and no campfires or charcoal grills allowed in the campgrounds since last night in Apache-Sitgreaves NF (Big Lake, Hannagan, etc.) I think stoves still allowed. Not sure about non-campgrounds.

Here's a news story on the Wallow Fire, but as of this writing it has not made it to inciweb yet. (Maybe tomorrow?)
( dead link removed )

Perimeter Map [ Wallow Fire Map 2011-06-27 :: map ]
Inciweb ( dead link removed )

[joebartels]

Wallow Fire - Progression Map

[big_load]

I'm glad I got to hike at least some of that last year. It was gorgeous.

[chumley]

Bad news: Alpine has been given a pre-evacuation alert and told to pack belongings and plan for potential evacuation in the next 12-24 hours.

[chumley]

I linked the trails that I know to be affected. There are probably more. As Elizabeth stated earlier in the thread, the Mt. Baldy Wilderness is now under an Area Closure. Specifically mentioned in the closure order: "the entire trail system within the wilderness is closed". So while fire is currently at least 13-15 miles from the wilderness, it's a very popular hiking area and probably needs special mention for those who don't realize that it is closed to hiking, and probably will be until this fire has been fully contained.

[SkyIslandHiker]

Things are happening fast. The USFS has closed the entire Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. In addition, an evacuation has been ordered for Alpine by 8:00pm today. Source is the White Mountain Independent. Hope and pray this does not turn into another Rodeo-Chediski Fire.

Joe, nice progression map, but I fear what it may look like tomorrow.

Bill

[chumley]

The USFS has closed the entire Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

I am unable to find any information that confirms this outside of media reports which may in fact be misleading. Yes, there is a huge closure area in the vicinity of the fire (consisting of the Alpine and Springerville districts), but I can't find any information that would indicate the closure has extended to the Lakeside, Black Mesa, or Clifton districts.

Which does not mean that it won't be closed soon. With the amount of resources needed to manage and fight this fire, it is very possible that the FS simply does not have the manpower to manage and patrol the other districts and may simply close them completely. I just don't see anything official that states that yet.

Attached is the closure order with map.

stelprdb5305116.pdf

(391.63 KiB) Downloaded 99 times

[Jim]

Someone say Rodeo-Chedeski?
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/data/ac ... 3_1700.jpg
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/data/im ... 00_143.jpg

Already huge.

[SkyIslandHiker]

The USFS has closed the entire Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

I am unable to find any information that confirms this outside of media reports which may in fact be misleading. Yes, there is a huge closure area in the vicinity of the fire (consisting of the Alpine and Springerville districts), but I can't find any information that would indicate the closure has extended to the Lakeside, Black Mesa, or Clifton districts.

Which does not mean that it won't be closed soon. With the amount of resources needed to manage and fight this fire, it is very possible that the FS simply does not have the manpower to manage and patrol the other districts and may simply close them completely. I just don't see anything official that states that yet.

Attached is the closure order with map.

stelprdb5305116.pdf

Chumley,

You may be correct. I took this first sentence in the WMI article literally. Here's the quote:

"The United States Forest Service has closed the Apache Sitgreaves Forest. The following campgrounds and areas are closed, including Big Lake Recreation area, Hannagan Meadows, KP Campground, Gabaldon and Mt Baldy Wilderness areas. Law enforcement personnel from USFS, Apache County Sheriff’s Office, AZ Game and Fish, AZ DPS and the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office are currently evacuating remaining visitors from the closure areas."

Bill

[RickVincent]

Too many holiday weekend nimrods who don't know when its not safe to start a fire. Some idiot had to have a roasted marshmallow and now its going to cost big time. Lost forests, wildlife, cabins, homes, my family property is in danger. This person is lucky that he/she is not standing in front of me right now.

[chumley]

@Bill- I read the same thing on AZCentral. But the inciweb site for the fire has been updated to include the Alpine evacuation but does not mention any further forest closures. They are pretty good at keeping things updated there. http://inciweb.org/incident/2262/

@Rick- While you may be (probably are) correct, the cause of this fire is unknown at this time, and is listed as "under investigation". So in the spirit of innocence until guilt is proven, it's probably prudent to see if the fire was actually human-caused before coming to conclusions. (And if it comes to it, we can all go after the pumpkins together!)

I certainly hope that your property and so many others threatened are able to be protected. We are all hoping for good weather, solid firefighting resources, and just a little bit of luck.

[azbackpackr]

I linked the trails that I know to be affected. There are probably more. As Elizabeth stated earlier in the thread, the Mt. Baldy Wilderness is now under an Area Closure. Specifically mentioned in the closure order: "the entire trail system within the wilderness is closed". So while fire is currently at least 13-15 miles from the wilderness, it's a very popular hiking area and probably needs special mention for those who don't realize that it is closed to hiking, and probably will be until this fire has been fully contained.

I had heard there may be another fire near Big Lake. But that might just be the redneck grapevine, not too accurate.

I could see the plume from the Wallow Fire from out on Leupp Road east of Flag about an hour ago, and from the Winona bridge over I-40. It looks like a big thunderhead.

I guess I'm not too surprised that Alpine folks are being evacuated to Blue Ridge instead of Round Valley. The Pinetop area just has a lot more amenities and resources.

During the Rodeo-Chediski fire when everyone from Show Low, Pinetop and Lakeside were evacuated, they were told to go to Round Valley (Springerville-Eagar). More than 10,000 people came to our town. It was an amazing week. Some slept on cots in the Dome. People were everywhere, camping in tents and RVs by the side of the streets, on front lawns, in vacant lots, etc. They had their chickens in cages, their dogs, goats, horses and cows tied to trees. President Bush came to town and gave a speech at the high school. There were Secret Servicemen running around everywhere, and I could see snipers standing on the roof of the building. It was the first time in history that a sitting President had come to Springerville or Eagar. The airport was too small for AF-1, so he arrived in a Leer Jet. His motorcade was made up of a lot of big black Suburbans that all looked the same, about 5 or 6 of them. You could not tell which one the President was in, until you saw his hand at the window of one of them, waving at us. That was all I saw, his hand. That was on June 25, 2002, my daughter's 17th birthday.

[SkyIslandHiker]

WMI now reporting that Nutrioso has been placed under an alert for possible evacuation:

"Effective Now: Manditory evacuation of Alpine, Nutrioso placed on 8 hour pre-notice
Everyone in the Alpine Area is required to have left the area by 8:00 PM tonight. The community of Nutrioso has been placed on an 8 hour alert for evacuation."

Lets' hope it doesn't jump US 191 and burn into Escudilla.

Bill

[azbackpackr]

I don't know what to think. Nutrioso is 13 miles from Eagar. Eagar, where I own a house, is very dry. I was there over Memorial Day weekend. My yard is dry and needs mowing. I have a lot of big trees on my property. However, my house is right in the middle of town, so is not likely to be very vulnerable.

Nutrioso's population has grown a lot over the past 10 years, and I am sure there are a lot of homes there that lack defensible space around them. It's a very dry area, ponderosa pine, juniper and pinon, lots of grass. The cost of fighting this fire will go up a lot if it enters an area with a lot of homes such as Nutrioso or Alpine. So far it has not.

[RickVincent]

Current fire map.

[SkyIslandHiker]

Nutrioso now under mandatory evacuation per WMI. Greer Days, scheduled for this weekend, has been postponed.

[azbackpackr]

Holy cow, this is what I wake up to?

[RickVincent]

Arizona Elk Society's Wapiti Weekend Kids Camp also cancelled for Father's Day Weekend.

[RickVincent]

Last updated 5:30am.

[azbackpackr]

5 hour old data as of this morning. Last updated 12:30am.

Where did you get that map? That's not from inciweb, whose map has not been updated since early yesterday. Please provide link. Thanks. Sorry to see your property is in a direct line.

[RickVincent]

Where did you get that map?

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/index.php

Below the map is a box where you would select "Wallow" fire. Then, if you already have google earth installed on your computer, click on "Download KMZ File". Google Earth will launch automatically and the fire data will be there.