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/

[Jim]

https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/camera/ forgot about the magic of, "computers", and, "webcams". Turns out, they're not just for 19 year old amateur pornstars on onlyfans. Who knew? Utility!

[nonot]

The most important job the news media has is to get the facts right.

Not really, media wants to sell papers and/or TV commercials and keep their output (TV show/newspaper printing) on schedule. Getting facts wrong is somewhat common. However, a news organization that is perceived as always incorrect will generally lose its viewers/readership, so they balance with trying to get things somewhat/mostly correct (at least the big picture level), with meeting a schedule. The minor details are seldom correct, in my limited experience where I compare firsthand knowledge to what gets reported on the news or in the papers.

[CannondaleKid]

a news organization that is perceived as always incorrect will generally lose its viewers/readership

Unless the viewers don't care for truth... as long as it's what they want to hear and/or it confirms their biases.

[Jim]

I would suspect that the error of 17,000 vs 1,700 probably stemmed from a typo and an editor not paying attention, and not some scheme to do who know what. What?

[SpiderLegs]

Just had an update from the FS, flight operations were shut down due to a drone in the area. From driving past, it appears that it's hitting Pima Canyon now.

[chumley]

flight operations were shut down due to a drone in the area

Even when we can't blame an idiot for starting it, there's an idiot ready to get in the way of putting it out!

[Jim]

@chumley
I've been staying away from Tucson.

[azdesertfather]

Tortolitas now 3321 acres and 25% contained, projected containment by 6/10.

Bighorn is now 2556 acres and 10% contained, projected containment by 6/20. Catalina SP now closed.

Bighorn fire yesterday went down the other side of the ridge to the Pima wash, so I guess the shindiggers won’t be as bad going up that way from Pima Canyon to Table Mtn for a little while?

[Mountain_Rat]

@azdesertfather
I was thinking the same thing. It's been tough going up there for the past couple of years. I looked at Table a few hours ago (through a 9x) and it looked heavily singed but not decimated. Sadly, not 20 minutes ago, I watched the flames crest over the saddle at the base of Finger Rock Guard. Earlier today, I could see that there had been a lot of preemptive bombing up the west side of Finger Rock Canyon, but couldn't get an angle on the east side. I can see flames all around the Wolf's Teeth, up to Pima Saddle and climbing the north west face of Prominent Point. So much of what's burned so far will rebound very quickly though. Now we just hope the containment plan works out.

[SpiderLegs]

Just saw an update video from the FS. The fire is hitting the upper reaches of Pima Canyon, appears Mt. Kimball is next and heading over to Finger Rock.

Appears they will be putting up a defensive wall around the base of Pusch Peak and starting to assess what homes may be in danger if it comes down Finger Rock Canyon.

[Mountain_Rat]

[ photoset ]

Please no sniveling from the keyboard commandos (Yes, you especially). This isn't my Life. I just happen to have an interesting perspective of this phase of the fire from work today and am taking time out to share it.

[Mountain_Rat]

@SpiderLegs
FS seems to be a tad behind on reporting. I watched flames break the saddle at the base of the guard just after sunset yesterday, and could see a large area glowing in the middle of Finger Rock Canyon around 4 this a.m. It's now 15:00 and Kimball appears to be going up as I type.

[nonot]

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/video/6741/0/97839

[Mountain_Rat]

@nonot
Sadly, the inciweb data seems to be yesterday's news. It's just about how things were at sundown yesterday.

[SpiderLegs]

@SpiderLegs
FS seems to be a tad behind on reporting. I watched flames break the saddle at the base of the guard just after sunset yesterday, and could see a large area glowing in the middle of Finger Rock Canyon around 4 this a.m. It's now 15:00 and Kimball appears to be going up as I type.

I was just down at Total Wine making a beer run about the time you posted this. Could see the flames from there in the parking lot. It looked pretty bad.

[SpiderLegs]

It's getting serious now, the FS and the PCSD just alerted all residents up in the foothills from Oracle to Alvernon and north of Ina to get ready to evacuate.

[rwstorm]

@SpiderLegs
Some really good photos this morning on the Arizona Daily Star website.

[cactuscat]

@SpiderLegs
I have a friend who lives right there and she already evacuated herself last night - had enough smoke already, and she's a "scaredy cat who's taking no chances".

[SpiderLegs]

@SpiderLegs
I have a friend who lives right there and she already evacuated herself last night - had enough smoke already, and she's a "scaredy cat who's taking no chances".

Just got back from walking the dogs, it is very smokey this morning. I'm going to curtail any running for a bit and if I do go hiking this weekend, drive out of town and away from any smoke.

[LosDosSloFolks]

Photo taken from my sisters home of a tanker dropping slurry this morning...