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A new fire just started a while ago here in Cave Creek. This is within a mile of our home and growing quickly. The wind is pushing it in the direction of Spur Cross Ranch. Aaarrgghhh...

@LosDosSloFolks
Ya, they just posted on Facebook too. Let's hope they can nip this one in the bud quickly. From here it doesn't look too breezy so hopefully that will help a little.

@tibber
Very windy up here. Several homes just went up since I posted those pictures. Growing rapidly moving n/e.

@SWCCNewsNotes
Ocotillo (AZ-A4S) 200+ acres. 3 additional Airtankers, T1 Helo, T3 Helo, 4 IHCs ordered. Incident name corrected.

Original Order: LAT, Lead/ASM, AA, 2 SEATs ordered.

LosDosSloFolks wrote:within a mile of our home and growing quickly.

Yikes

According to https://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/predictive/i ... RX_Map.htm it started in the middle of the golf course ...

@kingsnake Yep, supposedly started at the 7th hole. I guess careless campers can’t be blamed for this one.

There are a lot of storms around Tucson right now, drifting north. Hopefully any outflow winds don’t cause additional problems in containing the fire.

I hope it gets under control with minimal consequences.

@kingsnake
Not quite...but very near the course. The tankers are shaking our house every ten minutes they are so low. I was just telling Ray Huston we are watching home after home ignite and be totally gone within minutes. The copters are using the lake on the golf course for their bucket drops.

Immediate Evacuation Order: https://www1.equickseries.com/eoc04013/ ... ?id=236864

Ocotillo (AZ-A4S). Six Airtankers (VLATs and LATs), 2 Leads/ASM, 2 Air Attacks, 2 SEATs, 4 IHCs, and a number of local area resources currently assigned. (je)
4:11 PM · May 30, 2020

Six large, or very large, airtankers is A LOT. No pumpkin around ...

The large Chinook at the Payson airport left about 10am. I had heard that it and the helitac crew were sent to a fire near Roosevelt Lake.

Ocotillo (AZ-A4S) est 600 acres. Twenty engines ordered. je
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4:24 PM · May 30, 2020

Engines are ground vehicles. You might have seen them driving down the road on other occasions ...

And I thought a tanker was actually a tender....

In the aerial video I watched, it appears that a lot of people don't clear the brush from around their homes. Maybe creating defensible space should be strongly encouraged by communities in the future.

@LosDosSloFolks
I hope that you are OK. Inciweb reports that 500 residences were evacuated, and that the fire is human caused: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6728/

@azbackpackr
I don't often read about firesafe communities and defensible space around homes in the lower elevation desert areas like Carefree, Cave Creek, north Scottsdale, etc. I think it's more common for WUI areas in higher elevations with pinyon-juniper woodland environments such as Payson and Prescott. And of course dense stands of pines at higher elevations than those.

Indeed, the problem of high fuel loads and fuels being present up against structures in the urban-wildland interface in the desert is not commonly addressed. The Cave Creek area is one that if it does not have such a policy to encourage individuals to mitigate risk by reducing those fuels under the heading of, "defensible space", it should. Yesterday is a prime example of why.

A quick trip up I-17 north of Anthem along the Agua Fria River bed can reveal several spring fires from this year. If this area is an example of analogous terrain with out additional plantings, then there is ample evidence of the ability to carry fire. Native or invasive plants are common and dense enough to carry a fire. Fortunately, a smart owner can remove grasses, trim and remove resinous species like jojoba, and remove other chaparral species that are common in the upper Bajada. There may be publications from the Tonto or another fire department source that have a list of recommended trees which exhibit lower flammability so that people plant something like a shade producing palo verde over a Eucalyptus, or an Ironwood, over an Argentine Acacia. I am speculating on the species flammability except for the Eucalyptus, which is know for its explosiveness.

@LosDosSloFolks
A few of the DC 10's fly low over our house to and from the fire area. Agree a BIG bird flying loudly and low!

Large brush fire on the National Guard Range North of Florence, I believe most of the smoke in the Gold Canyon area this morning was from the fire at the range.