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Reported earlier today (4/27), 50 acres at 4pm One Large Sikorsky enroute from Payson Airport and another may arrive at Payson later today. Fire is located East of C. Cragin Reservoir (formerly Blue Ridge) in East Clear Creek.

Until I remembered this was a fire thread, I thought this was about something else.

Jim_H wrote:I thought this was about something else.

Jim, you must be thinking of the "ring of fire" which originates from Tinder, but soon turns raging inferno.

Ugh its right by Kinder Crossing. I hope it doesn't burn up, that's a special spot.

Actually right by the fire tower there, at least according to inciweb.

Fire Map Status as of 4/28/18: As I now understand, a Type 1 Team will be taking management of the fire tonight at 6:00 pm.

As always, official information can be found on Inciweb.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5763/

The map yesterday showed that the fire had burned through Kinder Crossing, and multiple structures were lost in the subdivisions on the west side of East Clear Creek along the 87.

@chumley yeah I've been watching for updates on inciweb but they haven't added the fire perimeter yet. But since it was moving northeast and is already greater than 8,000 acres I suspect it's already gone and torched.

Geomac is also good but they don't have the fire perimeter updated yet either. This is gonna be a big bad one.

https://www.geomac.gov/viewer/viewer.shtml

pixelfrog wrote:This is gonna be a big bad one.

I hope today is the last real threat day. Yesterday was terrible due to winds. If they can keep the western perimeter away from all those subdivisions today I think they have the manpower on hand to get a handle on it tomorrow and Wednesday. There's snow in the forecast there. Cold weather, precipitation, and generally moving out of ponderosa into chaparral grasslands should help a lot. The grasslands will burn and increase total acreage fast, but that stuff recovers from fire very quickly too.

All of the major upper ECC destinations look to be within the perimeter - FR95 crossing, Kinder Crossing, Horse Crossing, Mack's Crossing

My hopes of a low intensity fire just burning the underbrush have faded with this photo.

best article I've found today:

http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/fores ... d2b29.html

@trekkin_gecko
WoW !

"Officials say they expect the fire to continue to move to the northeast, moving rapidly through the ponderosa pine. Once it reaches the pinyon/juniper vegetation, they expect it will slow. The strong southwest winds are expected to continue through Tuesday. The National Weather Service is predicting a 50 percent chance for rain Tuesday evening.

All of the Blue Ridge communities north, east and west of Highway 87 have been evacuated. Highway 87 has been closed from milepost 290 at Clints Well to milepost 312 and is expected to remain closed for some time, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. Motorists should use Interstate 17 and Interstate 40 as alternate routes."

Hwy 87 at Milepost 281.1 is the north end turn south onto The Rim Road (FR300).

I figured it must have worsened significantly when I started getting alerts on my phone.

My cabin is in the fire burned area waiting to hear if it is damaged or not.. there are about 20-30 structures gone in the Clear Creek Pine 9 area... watched the briefing last night and was up to 11,000 acres this morning with no containment... Our neighbors across the way 2 of them have burned down.. and many on the street across from us.. was able to see some photos from the TV news helicopters... used to walk down to Mackys crossing all the time is about a 4 mile round trip from the cabin.. lots of burn along the west side of East Clear Creek from all the photos that I have seen..

Oh and also was supposed to be the Kinder Fire since it started closer to Kinder Crossing... someone goofed and spread it as the Tinder fire...

@Dschur
One of the reports I read, and I assume you've seen it too, spoke of the sporadic nature of some structures burned while right next door no damage at all. The report emphasized that it appeared that homes in the burn area with a "firewise" perimeter had fared much better overall than those without.

Thanks for the update. Hoping for the best for your cabin Dawn.

May 1st News Release From the USFS
Tinder Fire Wildfire
News – 47 min. ago
Illegal campfire to blame for start of Tinder Fire

HAPPY JACK, Ariz., May 1, 2018, For Immediate Release — Forest Service investigators were able to access the point of origin of the Tinder Fire and have found the cause to be an abandoned illegal campfire during Stage I Fire Restrictions.

The fire was reported by the Moqui Tower lookout on April 27 at 11:43 a.m. and began near Forest Road 95, approximately 1.5 miles east of C.C. Cragin Reservoir. It quickly spread to the bottom of East Clear Creek Canyon, and strong southwest winds drove the fire in a northeast direction up the canyon and towards private property and residents located about 3 miles away.

"Any time we enter restrictions or have even closed the forest, we still continue to find abandoned and illegal campfires," said Andy Pederson, Forest Service patrol captain for northern Arizona. "This shows extreme lack of care for public safety and our natural resources when people would have an illegal campfire, much less abandon an illegal campfire."

Finding the person responsible for this illegal campfire will be difficult, as witnesses in the forest are often nonexistent, but Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations are continuing to investigate this case and are hopeful for progress.

If anyone was in the area of Forest Road 95 near the origin of the Tinder Fire on April 27 and has information that could help this investigation, please contact Forest Service Law Enforcement at (928) 527-3511.

The Tinder Fire is currently over 11,400 acres with zero percent containment and more than 550 personnel working to control and extinguish the wildfire.

It's been raining here in Flag for an hour or so. Hope it is also raining over the fire area now.

latest map: http://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/i ... 1df5b4bf1d