Backbone Fire evacuees have been told to expect to be displaced for at least one week.
The Rafael fire was minor yesterday. Today Flagstaff is looking at evacuations.
Location: North of Perkinsville, the Rafael Fire includes the Prescott, Kaibab, and Coconino National Forests and spans the Yavapai/Coconino County line, according to InciWeb.
Evacuations and closures: Evacuation orders have been issued for areas around Sycamore Canyon and south of Forest Service Road 535. Garland Prairie , Pine Aire Estates and residents in betweenare reminded to be prepared, in case an evacuation is ordered for the area, according to InciWeb.
All areas south of 1-40, west of I-17 including University Heights, Kachina Village, Forest Highlands, Pine Dell, and Woody Mountain Road are encouraged to be prepared for a pending evacuation order, according to the Coconino County Facebook page.
Had a small fire about 5 miles south of our house yesterday. They evacuated a subdivision. They let people back in except for people that live off of one road. It’s not on inciweb yet.
Seems that something also screwed up with the County’s wildfire alert system that does not make me happy.
Very, very smoky at our house.
Okay… lemme see if i can remember everything:
The Rafael Fire north of Cottonwood has burned 21k+ acres and has forced evacuations.
The Wyrick Fire near Heber and Antelope Valley has burned 5100 acres and has forced some evacs.
The Backbone Fire near Flagstaff has burned 33k+ acres and is 0% contained; it now begins to threaten Flagstaff. Pine, Hunts Ranch and Strawberry have all been evac’d.
The Coconino and Kaibab Forests will be closed to non-landowners starting today.
2 minute video presents it slicker than I did:
My weather app was showing a forecast for Portland starting Friday with four days over 100 and a high of 115. Historically, we might get a day or two over 100 in late July or August, but not this early, and not this hot.
Fun fact - we had a few days last year with forecasts over 100, but the temperatures ended up topping out at 90 because all the smoke from forest fires blocked the sun.
And you thought global warming was a bad thing.
You missed a few fires. There are also:
Walnut Fire
The Walnut Fire is burning southeast of Tucson, near Interstate 10. The fire is 7 miles northeast of Dragoon.
- Start date: June 20
- Size: 2,500 acres
- Containment: 0%
- Fuels involved: Grass, brush
- Cause: Under investigation
- Total personnel: 79
Snake Fire
The fire is burning 7 miles west of Clint Wells on the northern edge of West Clear Creek in Coronado National Forest.
Start date: June 21
Size: 45 acres
Containment: 80%
Fuels involved: Brush, grass, ponderosa pine
Cause: Unknown
Total personnel: 30
Rock Butte Fires
A thunderstorm ignited several fires north of Paulden and west of Highway 89, including Red Hat Fire, Limestone Fire, Spring Fire, Rock Butte Fire and Silent Fire.
Start date: June 17
Size: 802 acres
Containment: 0%
Fuels involved: Juniper, grass understory
Cause: Lightning
Total personnel: 148
Cause: Lightning
Total personnel: 442
Horton Complex Fires
The Horton Complex consists of four fires burning in the Apaches-Sitgreaves National Forests, 5 miles northeast of Hannagan Meadow. The fires are burning within the Wallow Fire scar.
Start date: June 16
Size: 2,721 acres
Containment: 0%
Fuels involved: Heavy logging slash, timber
Cause: Lightning/natural causes
Total personnel: 124
Bear Fire
The Bear Fire is burning 10 miles south of Hannagan Meadow in the Apaches-Sitgreaves National Forests, near U.S. Highway 191.
Start date: June 16
Size: 7,300 acres
Containment: 0%
Fuels involved: Ponderosa pine, grass, brush
Cause: Lightning
Total personnel: 20
Moore Fire
The fire is burning near Clifton and 12 miles west of Alma, New Mexico, on Charlie Moore Mountain.
Start date: June 16
Size: 400 acres
Containment: 0%
Fuels involved: Pinyon juniper, grass, brush, ponderosa pine
Cause: Lightning
Total personnel: 10
Pinnacle Fire
The Pinnacle Fire is burning in Coronado National Forest, approximately 18 miles south of Bylas.
Start date: June 10
Size: 34,192 acres
Containment: 42%
Fuels involved: Short grass, brush, timber
Cause: Under investigation
Total personnel: 409
Heavy Fire
The Heavy Fire is burning in southeast Arizona near the Helvetia Mine on private land in Coronado National Forest.
Start date: June 16
Size: 104 acres
Containment: 75%
Fuels involved: Unspecified
Cause: Unknown
Total personnel: 65
Hobo Fire
The fire is burning 13 miles west of Alma, New Mexico, in the Apaches-Sitgreaves National Forests. The fire is 2 miles west of Charlie Moore Mountain.
Start date: June 4
Size: 600 acres
Containment: 50%
Fuels involved: Unspecified
Cause: Lightning
Total personnel: 6
All forests in Yavapai county are closed, heavy fire restrictions are in force.
Here in the Armpit of Puget Sound — which tends to be somewhat cooler because of more water — I’m seeing 95F projected for Saturday and 98F for Sunday. Temps rarely seen even in August.
No fires on InciWeb (yet), so no haze offset.
"In the last 20 years, 2002, 2008, and 2012 are the only previous fire years when the National Preparedness Level has been increased to PL4 in the month of the June. Since 1990, today is the second earliest we have increased to PL4.
Currently, 47 large fires have burned 519,761 acres across the country. More than 8,700 wildland firefighters and 16 Incident Management Teams are assigned to incidents."
Colorado (from 8 June 2021): Due To Continuing Drought On The Western Slope Rivers Are Running Lower Than Usual (2 minute video)
After last year’s disaster here in Oregon, we’re really hoping to dodge the bullet this year. The biggest fire came within about ten miles of us, and we had a lot of smoky air. We’re still going to make sure the RV is ready to roll in case of an emergency, stocked with shelf-stable foods, water, etc.
Yeah… about that:
Believe me. We know.
I’m presently stuck at home with no car (in the shop for an unexpected noise issue emanating from the brake system, don’t get me started) in the middle of a forest. Let’s just say wildfire risk is top of mind at the mo’.
I-84 is closed about 80 miles east of Portland due to smoke from a fire, and there are small-scale mandatory evacuations for the area. Hopefully this is something relatively small.
ETA: and evidently it was small, the highway was reopened after an hour.
This has me concerned:
Key points:
• Federal hotshot firefighters are paid just over half as much as state and local ones.
• Low pay and physical and mental stress are leading them to quit, leaving a shortage of hotshot crews.
• With fewer hotshot crews, more homes will burn, particularly in California, where the 7 biggest wildfires in state history have happened in the last 4 years.
• Climate change/drought lead experts to expect an even worse fire season this year than 2020.
I’m in Washington state. There were weeks at a time last summer when smoke wouldn’t let me outside for more than a few minutes. I don’t want to think about a worse fire season here.
At the risk of sounding like I’m trying to make light of the situation, I thought this is appropriate (especially for those of us in the PNW).
I’ve lived here in Arizona for over thirty years. I’ve never seen anything like this before, despite being evacuated due to fire 6 or 7 years ago.
I don’t enjoy my time outside because of the smoke and I haven’t seen blue sky in over a week.
You have my sympathy. A former student who lives in Arizona is worried about fireworks. I can understand why.
Tongue-in-cheek but very accurate nonetheless:
In my part of northern California, sane people are greatly concerned about fireworks.
The sane appear to be in the minority. (sigh)