2017 Smith Fire

[SkyIslandHiker]

Dry lightning during yesterday's monsoon tease sparked a rash of wildfires in Southern Arizona. Four have made it to Inciweb. The 1,800 acre Smith Fire is burning in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. 28% of the LCNCA recently burned in the Sawmill Fire.

[Pivo]

Bill I drove from Tucson to Sonoita via 83 yesterday afternoon, on my way to Patagonia, Nogales then home. Doing the Lord's Work. When I was in Sonoita two of those fires started.It was crazzzzy, with fire vehicles from surrounding district's responding, and of all things they were sealing 82 West, and it was down to one lane.
Pray for rain.

[SkyIslandHiker]

@Pivo
On the evening before (Tuesday) AZHiker456 witnessed dry lighting start several wildfires in the Sonoita area. Maybe she'll post the pictures she took of aerial resources dropping retardant on the flames. Fortunately firefighters got a handle on those fires very quickly.

[Pivo]

@SkyIslandHiker
That whole valley is a tinder box, dry grasses forever, and the air flow from the various ranges. I wouldn't want property there.

[AZHiker456]

@Pivo
On the evening before (Tuesday) AZHiker456 witnessed dry lighting start several wildfires in the Sonoita area. Maybe she'll post the pictures she took of aerial resources dropping retardant on the flames. Fortunately firefighters got a handle on those fires very quickly.

I don't think I'll ever forget it... this is an account of how things played out; mind you, I could not see everything; so I’m just reporting what I witnessed from my vantage point:

My neighbor and I saw the lightening bolt that started [the first] fire. We both thought it had struck on the East side of the Mustangs initially. I was on the phone to my dad when it happened and within 5 minutes I saw smoke in the same direction as where the lighting bolt stuck, [although it proved to be a little closer than we initially thought given that we could see the fire on our side [West] of the Mustangs]. Immediately upon seeing the smoke/fire, I said to my dad, [who was born & raised back East], 'feces, I gotta go NOW!... that bolt of lighting started a fire...'. He thought I was nuts at the urgency I expressed, given that the fire was a “good” 2-3 miles away… but I knew better! The fire department thanked me and informed me that someone else had luckily already called it in and that the firefighters were on their way.

The lightning was crazy that night... for over an hour, bolts were averaging one every 30 seconds or so it seemed. It was bad enough that I was afraid to stand outside so I got in my car and drove down my driveway to get a better view. I called my dad back but literally a few minutes later was saying, ‘feces, I gotta go AGAIN…!” [no sooner had I spotted a fire truck heading down Upper Elgin Road toward the access gate to address the fist fire when I witnessed another lightning bolt that started a 2nd fire that appeared to be a mile or so South of the first one, also in the lowlands on the West side of the Mustangs. I assumed the crews would notice it but decided to call it in to be on the safe side in the event that smoke from the first fire blocked views of the second one.

In looking back at the times on my photos, the first aircraft arrived on the scene at approximately 6:27 PM, and they unleashed the first of several slurry drops at 7:03 PM. It was a pretty surreal experience… and absolutely crazy at just how fast things would change [for the better and the worse] at almost a moments notice. Initially things looked very promising [in terms of the crews getting control without having to resort to the slurry drops]: While both fires grew quickly, it wasn’t long before the crews appeared to have gotten control over the first one [to North], and I could see them heading over to address the 2nd one to the South.

Whether lightning spawned another fire to the North [or the initial one sparked back up], I can’t say for certain. My neighbors and I counted what looked to be at least 4 distinct lightning-spawned fires [but the next day when I walked out to the perimeter of the burned edge to GPS out how close it came to my home, I spoke with a fight fighter from Safford who mentioned that it was just two strikes/fires [I’m guessing he would have the most accurate information].

At any rate, while efforts were being focused on the Southern fire, the one to the North that had appeared to be out sparked back up and by the time the fire fighters had refocused efforts back to that one, things were really starting to get scary. Unlike when they first arrived on scene [and progress seemed pretty quick], the same could not be said this time, and the blaze appeared to be getting bigger [and closer to my home]. By this point the lightning had let up and I was watching the fire with a couple of my neighbors. Some of us were really resisting the urge to evacuate. Just at this point / when things appeared to get way too close for comfort, the planes when in for the slurry drop. There was a lead plane that appeared to have a small amount of slurry… or perhaps it was some sort of maker for the second plane, which followed almost immediately after with a huge amount. Even one slurry drop made a HUGE different. Initially they did at least 3 consecutive drops but after that I lost count… we were all celebrating at how effective it was. Just before darkness, they also did 3 consecutive drops as a precaution, even though we looked to be in the clear by that point. In looking back at my fire photo album, the difference between the point at which some of us were ready to evacuate and just 7 minutes after the first slurry drop was truly amazing.

The land definitely created an illusion though… I estimated that the fire had come within 0.75 to 1 mile of my home… and was shocked the next day to discover that it had come within just 1/2 mile, after having walked out to the burned edge while GPS’ing my walk out. It was very nice to be able to give a personal thanks to one of the fire fighters directly. I will post some of the pics that I've taken over the next week or so.

[AZHiker456]

Oops, I just saw the title of this... mods, please re-direct if needed... that account I just posted was for the Mustang Fire not the Smith Fire]... too many to keep track of this year...!