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There's a wildfire in the Bear Wallow Wilderness which has been burning slowly under management for a couple of weeks. Today it seemed to plume up a lot and we could see and smell the smoke here in Round Valley. I am not sure of the exact location, but was told it is near the Reno Lookout.

I have been unable to find any info about it on the internet, nifc, etc. I talked to a couple of FS employees, and they were not sure if it was burning across the trail, or across FR25 or exactly where it was.

Ok, if anyone cares, it's more of a big fire now, it's up on nifc, they're calling it the Reno Fire. They say it went to 3,000 yesterday, but right now it must be blowing up pretty good because we can't breathe here in Round Valley. I hear that yesterday when it plumed up and then lay down, it lay down the smoke right over Pinetop, and it was very thick over there.

It is pretty windy today, so I expect the fire mgmt people will be busy today.

Trying to find out more is like pulling teeth. Most of the fire websites are manned seasonally, and the official season is over, so the fire doesn't show up on very many sites or in the news. I guess I could call the FS, but they will just have the official version, and they won't know if it's burning over across the hiking trail and creek.

Actually, the fire doesn't exist. I think the reason it doesn't exist is that they don't want to scare the people away from the MAJOR MEDIA EVENT to take place here on Saturday--the cutting of the US Capitol Christmas Tree on the Alpine District.

I feel sorry for the tree. Hell, no, I'm not going to go watch it fall! It's a perfect blue spruce, 85 feet tall. I can do without seeing that, thank you.

They are going to have some kind of display deal, after they cut it down, it'll be here in town, they will bring it here to town and display it, I think out at the rodeo grounds. Everyone is excited. Well, I take that back, I'm not excited, just because I'm told to be.

Maybe the fire will flare up and burn the damned tree.

my my. aren't the govmints getting cleaverer and cleaverer.

I'm working at my moonlighting job in Springerville this evening, and the smoke is very unpleasant. My nose does not feel good, and I am starting to not feel very good in general. It really, really stinks. The doors and windows are closed, but customers come in and bring it in with them from time to time.

( dead link removed ) is a good source for fires I found it had the most info during the Waterwheel fire in Payson this summer...

Thanks, good website! Here's some info I pulled off of there:

"The Reno Fire was started on September 7, 2009, in the Bear Wallow Wilderness and has been slowly growing since then until about two weeks ago when weather conditions encouraged it to grow significantly to its present size of over 4,500 acres. Fire managers have been monitoring this fire daily and have placed it in a management plan that allows the fire to continue to burn at low to moderate intensities to benefit various forest components. Expected benefits to this type of management include the reduction of accumulated woody vegetation and debris on the ground which will produce a healthier forest, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce fire suppression costs.

The Reno Fire is currently burning in the Gobbler Point area and is heading toward Snake Creek. Several roads have been closed to public use including the Gobbler Point Road (Forest Road 8154), the Snake Creek Road (FR 25D), and the McKibbons Pond Road (FR25I). The fire has also moved west onto the San Carlos Apache Reservation and is nearing the Black River. San Carlos fire officials are also monitoring the fire and hope the fire will help consume ground fuels remaining after a timber sale. Fire managers have noted that the active burning window is about three to four hours each day as long as the sun is shining. At other times of the day or when clouds cover the sun, the fire intensity is very low and produces more smoke. Even several inches of snow last weekend did not extinguish this fire. Hunters are asked to be especially careful with campfires now as dry conditions will allow any escaped campfire to become a wildfire.

Part of an Incident Management Team led by Dugger Hughes has been assigned to the Reno Fire as of November 5, 2009, to help local fire managers make timely and effective decisions about management options and to keep costs to a minimum. This “short” team is working with tribal fire officials to maximize the benefits of this wildfire since much of the area has not seen a fire on the landscape in a long time. Meanwhile the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests are postponing some prescribed fires due to the heavy smoke currently existing in communities. Lately the Reno Fire has been producing smoke that has covered many Apache County communities whereas the smoke in Show Low and and other Navajo County communities has mostly come from tribal prescribed fires."

This is latest press release from Apache-Sitgreaves NF

Yesterday's post on inci web shows that the fire is now about 6,000 acres, and being managed to clear out brush, etc. So it is not a fast-moving deal at all. But the trails are closed, and so are some of the side roads. Interactive map and info here:

( dead link removed )