HikeArizona.COM

UPDATE - Fire in the Catalina Mountains

Posted: Oct 17, 2008 12:27 PM

Crews say the fire in the Catalina Mountains is now completely contained. The fire burned between 40 and 45 acres.

The "Ventana Canyon Trail" is also now open. Rangers say they'll continue monitoring the area of the fire as a precaution.

The fire started Friday morning on the south face of the Catalina Mountains, about two miles up from Ventana Canyon Resort.

The Forest Service has not released an official cause of the fire but they assume it was human-caused because there has been no lightning.

Jeff MacE wrote:the fire but they assume it was human-caused because there has been no lightning

Two Miles in is not very far there. Glad the fire didn't get too big, that area is still recovering from the last one.

davis2001r6 wrote:Two Miles in is not very far there. Glad the fire didn't get too big, that area is still recovering from the last one.

No it's not, especially if you consider the wandering along the desert you gotta do before actually entering the canyon. That's what baffles me...what the heck would you need a fire for, or possibly be doing for that matter, just barely into the canyon proper???

nickfraley wrote: That's what baffles me...what the heck would you need a fire for, or possibly be doing for that matter, just barely into the canyon proper???

Oh, I dunno, smokin' a joint, maybe?

Oh, while on the topic of fires: Anyone know why I would have been breathing thick yellow smoke yesterday in Eagar? I had to come home, started out riding my bike in the late afternoon, it was very bad. I went to the top of a hill, looked toward the mountains, but that haze was everywhere, not coming from any place nearby, and it really smelled strongly. Sometimes we do get smoke here from the Catalinas, but not from a 40 acre fire. Made my lungs hurt.

When Summerhaven was burning, though, the haze here was very thick and ashes fell in my yard. In a straight line, that is about 135 miles, I think.

I talked to someone from Springerville at our tailgate before the Arizona-Cal tailgate yesterday, and he remarked that it was smoky. Surmised that it was a controlled burn.

Yes, I assumed controlled burn on the Rez. But never did find out, and today it was okay.

azbackpackr wrote:controlled burn

remember ... too many of these have gone awry so they are no longer called "controlled". They are now "prescribed". That way when it goes out of "control" it doesn't seem like such a bad thing. :

Actually, no one in the Forest Service around here cares very much about grammar, so they call them "control burns" I've noticed. And they do use "prescribed burn" also, presumably with correct grammar.

nickfraley wrote:

davis2001r6 wrote:Two Miles in is not very far there. Glad the fire didn't get too big, that area is still recovering from the last one.

No it's not, especially if you consider the wandering along the desert you gotta do before actually entering the canyon. That's what baffles me...what the heck would you need a fire for, or possibly be doing for that matter, just barely into the canyon proper???

I ran into a guy in Pontatoc canyon one night sitting on a boulder on the ridge with a Coleman stove and lantern apparently making dinner and coffee for himself. He was right there after you clear the wash and those idiot's houses; not a mile in. Very strange...