HikeArizona.COM

Sunflower Fire 2012 - Perimeter Map

Firefighter friend posted a video of a new fire that began this morning near Sunflower, south of Payson. They've got two air tankers on it already, so hopefully they get it under control today. With the warm weather coming next week, it will be tougher to fight. Appears to be kicking up quite a bit of smoke.

Besides my friend's video, the only "official" news I could find is here:
( dead link removed )

Grasshopper wrote:

Sredfield wrote:searching for GPSJoe...

I just captured a few of our recent 5/16 comments and sent an email to Joe's son- Christian Domin so he & family could stay updated..

After I heard that this fire went up Sheep Mountain I was also thinking about Joe. It's been 18 months of everyone searching and no sign.

Hank.....thanks for keeping the Domin family updated.

Trish

I am worried it might burn all evidence/traces of Joe away, so it is never resolved.

Thanks Joe! Awesome.

Rob del Desierto wrote:I am worried it might burn all evidence/traces of Joe away, so it is never resolved.

That's the very sad factor of this. This fire has raced up Sheep Mtn from what I hear so any trace of Joe might very well be up in flames. So sad that not only this fire has raped the Mazzies but then we may never will recover Joe. That makes my heart sad.

This makes me unbelievably sad. I've grown misty-eyed reading about this fire. The Mazatzals are one of my all-time favorite places in Arizona, and it's so sad to realize that it's going to hell. Literally.
My only hopes are that the brave men and women fighting the fire get it under control, and that it burns in a mosaic pattern that spares certain areas. It surprises me that I'm having such a tough time keeping my composure. The Mazatzals are one of the places in AZ that I miss the most. Bearing Down on this damned thing being quickly tamed.
My mom can clearly see the smoke billowing off of the mountain from her house near Stoney Mountain in the Phx Mountain Preserve, and she told me that she has thought about Joe even though she has only heard me talk about the tragedy that befell him and his family. While I share the sorrow others feel about this fire probably ruining any chance of finding Joe, I have no doubt that he would rather this place be spared than his own remains be found. I never met Joe, and interacted with him only a few times, but I was a big fan of what he shared with us, and have no doubt that he would feel that way. I only hope that I would think the same if it came down to it. Many many blessings to Joe and especially his family because I'll never forget.
I deeply deeply apologize if I'm out of place with respect to Joe D.

http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=117614

This morning I looked at all the roads heading to the Mazatzals and they have either yellow tape or parked law enforcement at every road including the road to Barnhardt TH. The fire looked like also yesterday afternoon that it was taking out the mountains south and west of Sunflower as well as all the hills you can see from the overlook at Ord Pass. The thickest smoke and fires there was to the West just little bits on the NW part. Saw some really big flames on the hills at Sycamore creek in area of Sunflower...

Tomorrow is forecast to be a very windy, extreme fire danger day, so I'm afraid that it will easily be a big spread day. It's interesting that this fire is still being managed by a Type 2 team, while Gladiator is under Type 1 management. I assume that despite the size disparities of the two fires, it is because of the threatened structures in Crown King versus no structures threatened in the Mazzys.

chumley wrote:Tomorrow is forecast to be a very windy, extreme fire danger day, so I'm afraid that it will easily be a big spread day. It's interesting that this fire is still being managed by a Type 2 team, while Gladiator is under Type 1 management. I assume that despite the size disparities of the two fires, it is because of the threatened structures in Crown King versus no structures threatened in the Mazzys.

The Mazzys are probably lucky not to have the attention of a Type I team. When the Type I boys show up it's pretty much game over...

Sunflower Fire - Progressive Perimeter Map updated
appears to have mainly wiped out the remaining gap to Peeley and the old 2004 Willow Fire

for reference again
Sunflower Fire 2012 vs Willow Fire 2004

I can see it continuing north over the next ridge and down to the Bear Creek drainage, but with winds forecast to come from the south and southwest, it's possible that it will literally blow itself out of fuel (into the Willow burn area). I'm impressed that they've been able to hold the west flank over the past day or two.

chumley wrote:because of the threatened structures in Crown King versus no structures threatened in the Mazzys

Per http://www.wildlandfire.com Posted yesterday afternoon 5/16

Fire behavior is extreme as the fire has been plume dominated during the afternoons

5 structures threatened

CWZ T2 IMT, 3 AA, 6 helos, 9 IHC, 6 T2 crews, 16 engs, 2 doz, 2 tenders assigned

Sunflower Fire - Progressive Perimeter Map updated here http://hikearizona.com/map.php?QX=1826 and from Home Page
(data as of 5/18/12 at 0657)

@Grasshopper
You're killin' me, Hank. I hate watching that perimeter grow.

Official InciWeb link for the Sunflower Fire: http://inciweb.org/incident/2861/
(The Incident Information System)

Drove past there this morning couldn't see much burning but fire and smoke tend to be less in the morning.. then noticed where the fire camp is. It is at the rodeo grounds on Ft. McDowell. Thought they had set up for a big rodeo... Huge tents vehicles and all back there but then saw all the green trucks and the signs along the Beeline say to slow down Emergency vehicles entering road...

Dschur wrote:Drove past there this morning couldn't see much burning but fire and smoke tend to be less in the morning.. then noticed where the fire camp is. It is at the rodeo grounds on Ft. McDowell.

Exert from Sunflower Fire News Release May 21, 2012 6:00 a.m.:
"Low fire behavior was reported in all divisions of the Sunflower Fire as crews continued to reinforce control lines and remove unneeded equipment and supplies. Dead trees burning sporadically in the remote, rugged terrain of the Mazatzal Wilderness may lead to long term fire operations and possible long duration of smoke impacts in surrounding communities."

Winds are supposed to pick up in the next day or so will have to see what happens now...

It sounds like they have it "trapped" to a defined area and are gonna let it burn on its own while keeping a watchful eye on it.

Good news, if they have the west fireline established, it will burn itself out, it can't really move north too much as that area already is burned out from the last fire. Still, a lot of good hikes are impacted for awhile.