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mike
What box?
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 3134
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 Posted: 6/14/2006, 5:49 pm Post subject: New Fire Threatens Flagstaff |
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| azcentral.com wrote: |
Flagstaff fire fills sky with smoke
Chandler Friedman
12 News
Jun. 14, 2006 04:48 PM
Live coverage of the Woody Wildfire
A brushfire erupted Wednesday afternoon near Flagstaff, shutting down one lane of westbound Interstate 40.
Firefighters from the Flagstaff Fire Department are fighting the blaze, which is located along Woody Mountain Road.
The plume of smoke could easily be seen from downtown Flagstaff, and the continued hot and dry conditions are helping to fuel the fire
Stay tuned to 12News and azcentral.com for the latest information. |
http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/flagstafffire06142006-CR.html
We're watching coverage of this one right now on channel 3.
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IGO
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas
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| Posted: 6/14/2006, 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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Seems they might be on top of this one maybe?
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"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir |
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wanderingsoul
Joined: 19 Jul 2004
Posts: 2285
Location: Gilbert AZ
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| Posted: 6/14/2006, 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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So sad, hopefully they can get it under control. Wish we'd get a bit of rain around here! 
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Wanderingsoul (Michelle)
Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown |
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mike
What box?
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 3134
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| Posted: 6/14/2006, 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Latest update...
| azcentral.com wrote: |
Wildfire near Flagstaff forces some evacuations
Associated Press
Jun. 14, 2006 06:40 PM
FLAGSTAFF - A wind-whipped wildfire that broke out Wednesday afternoon about two miles west of this northern Arizona city burned campgrounds and was forcing some evacuations, authorities said.
The blaze was reported about 4 p.m. MST and its cause was not immediately known. But wind gusts of up to 46 mph pushed the fire to an estimated 200 acres within two hours, said Connie Birkland, a spokeswoman for the Coconino National Forest.
Several air tankers were dropping water and retardant on the fire in the hours before sundown and up to eight hotshot crews on the ground were trying to build containment lines around the fire.
A small subdivision one mile northwest of the fire was in the process of being evacuated, but authorities did not have details of how many people that involved or how many homes were threatened.
The state Department of Public Safety said smoke from the Woody Wildfire also forced the closure of one lane of Interstate 40.
A DPS spokesman said the fire began in the area of mile post 192 on I-40, jumped a median and began burning rapidly westbound toward Route 66.
The DPS said a number of campgrounds had been consumed but an exact number was not immediately known.
Firefighters from the Flagstaff Fire Department were fighting the blaze, which is located along Woody Mountain Road.
A plume of smoke could easily be seen from downtown Flagstaff, and the continued hot and dry conditions were helping to fuel the fire.
Authorities said the fire appeared to be burning north, away from downtown Flagstaff, and was adjacent to the western perimeter of Flagstaff. |
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0614az-woodyfire14-ON.html
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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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| Posted: 6/14/2006, 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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I just saw this on AZCentral.com . It's going to be another fire filled summer.
GTG
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Nighthiker
Joined: 05 Jan 2003
Posts: 1714
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paintninaz
Joined: 06 Jan 2003
Posts: 3515
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| Posted: 6/14/2006, 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| GTG wrote: |
I just saw this on AZCentral.com . It's going to be another fire filled summer.
GTG |
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“Friends make the bad times good — and the good times unforgettable.” |
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azbackpackr
Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005
Posts: 3639
Location: Needles CA
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| Posted: 6/14/2006, 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| It was definitely "fire weather" today--warm, dry and very windy. Hope we get more moisture soon! |
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mike
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Joined: 30 Dec 2002
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jkern15674
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Posts: 208
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| Posted: 6/15/2006, 3:19 am Post subject: fires |
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| My best friend is a hotshot for usfs up in the trench's fighting this one. That is some tough*ss work. |
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azbackpackr
Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005
Posts: 3639
Location: Needles CA
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| Posted: 6/15/2006, 5:09 am Post subject: |
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| It looks like they got it contained last night. My daughter lives in Flag, works in a clothing store about a mile from the fire. She said the power went out for about an hour there but not at her apt. |
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mike
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Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 3134
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| Posted: 6/15/2006, 8:42 am Post subject: |
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| azcentral.com wrote: |
Wildfire near Flagstaff spurs evacuation
Michael Clancy, Mark Shaffer and J.J. Hensley
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 15, 2006 06:57 AM
More than 100 homes remained evacuated Thursday morning as a wind-whipped wildfire threatened five subdivisions on the west side of Flagstaff.
Authorities said the fire was estimated at 150 acres and appeared to be burning north, away from downtown Flagstaff, in heavy forest interspersed with homes.
Firefighters made overnight progress digging fire lines and building buriers, officials said.
They remained concerned about wind. Forecasts called for gusts at near 40 miles per hour in Flagstaff by mid-morning Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
The Woody Fire, apparently sparked by humans, started about 4 p.m. Wednesday near Route 66 and Interstate 40, about two miles from downtown Flagstaff.
Within 30 minutes, a huge plume of smoke towered above downtown as nervous office workers filed out of offices.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Railroad Springs, Hidden Hollow and Wildwood Estates areas along with nearby Woody Mountain and Kit Carson campgrounds.
By nightfall, winds had lessened and the fire settled down. Firefighters planned to hit the fire hard overnight. By 8:30 p.m., plans to bring in a top-level firefighting crew were tabled, and a lower-level crew was taking over control of the fire early this morning.
Sharon Falor, athletic director of Flagstaff High School, said she was taking a nap in her home near the fire's ignition point when she heard a large bang from an electric transformer and the power went out at 4:02 p.m. That was followed closely by two more bangs, Falor said.
"I went 200 to 300 feet from my house and saw all this dense smoke," Falor said. "It totally freaked me out because this whole area is people 55 and older, so I just started banging on doors."
From their home in the Railroad Springs area, Troy Pond, who manages a Flagstaff office-supply store, and his wife, Dee Dee Pond, also saw the smoke quickly forming about two miles away.
"I went driving down (Route) 66, and it was already shooting flames out of that pine grove down there more than 100 feet high," Troy said. "It was incredible watching all the fifth-wheelers peeling out of Woody Mountain Campground like they were race cars."
"We smelled smoke, and then our electricity almost immediately went out," Dee Dee said. "It wasn't more than 10 minutes that the police came by and told us we had 15 minutes to get out."
The Ponds spent the night with hundreds of others at Flagstaff High School, the Red Cross shelter.
Gail Balysh, another resident of Railroad Springs, said she had to hustle to get her two dogs, a cat and the medical-insurance project she had been working on for three years out of her house.
Flagstaff firefighters, with two engines, nervously paced the nearby area of Lowell Observatory.
"It all depends on the wind, because that thing was spotting out embers a long way very early on," said Todd Dobbs, a spokesman for Flagstaff Fire Department.
Visitors to the observatory, atop Mars Hills in southwestern Flagstaff, were sent home early. The observatory, more than a century old, had done its own preparations by thinning the woods around the property.
Five large air tankers were dropping retardant on the fire, and two helicopters dropped water. At sundown, the fire had burned about 125 acres.
Connie Birkland, a spokeswoman with the Coconino National Forest, said firefighters would work all night to control the blaze, although air support shut down at dark.
"It is looking very good," she said. "There is not a lot of smoke, and things have laid down significantly."
She said three hotshot crews, a dozen fire engines and other support from multiple agencies in the Flagstaff area attacked the fire.
"We had a lot of support and immediate response," she said "They hit it hard."
Officials planned to re-evaluate conditions this morning and could then determine whether residents can return home.
Raquel Romero, fire information officer for the Coconino National Forest, said the city of Flagstaff, Coconino County and the forest concentrated strongly on thinning the forest in southwest Flagstaff.
"We conducted a tremendous amount of prescribed burning and thinning in that area for just this scenario," she said. "Southwest Flagstaff is the most vulnerable because the wind usually comes out of the southwest. We conducted a lot of thinning around A1 Mountain, Woody Mountain and Mars Hill, and multiple evacuation drills have been done."
About 1,200 customers of Arizona Public Service remained without power into the night. Mark Fallon of APS said most of those customers are in the evacuation area.
Birkland said firefighters hope to have the fire "completely checked" by this morning, taking advantage of lower temperatures and higher humidity after dark.
A red-flag warning, posted when fire conditions are extreme, was put into place again for most of the state.
Meanwhile, near Heber, fire crews continued to battle the 6,200-acre Potato Fire, which continued to grow Tuesday but remained contained by fire lines protecting private property that holds about 100 houses and 55 full-time residents.
One of the evacuees, Mary Griego, said early Wednesday that she was more worried about finding a place to live than about her home. "All I can say is the Lord will help us out. All we can do is pray."
Chevelon Retreat and Chevelon Acres have about 100 homes between them; only 25 were occupied when the evacuation order was given, according to a spokeswoman with Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.
About half of the residents left with the evacuation order on Monday, and 13 more families joined the initial evacuees on Wednesday. Several property owners remained at their places.
One of them, Eric Johnson, has lived at Chevelon Retreat for five years. He said he did not leave because "this is my home, it is the only place I own."
Johnson said that he believed the fire was avoidable and that the U.S. Forest Service missed an opportunity to put it out last week. He said the government frequently overlooks the community.
"We are (considered) scum," Johnson said. "We are on the wrong side of the cattle guard."
The communities are on private property just north of national forest boundaries, in an area where the tall pines give way to shorter, sparser vegetation.
Johnson said he would take off if the fire came too close.
Officials estimated 60 percent containment of the fire, which started on June 6.
Two major power lines that run side by side along the eastern side of the fire were turned off as the fire raged below.
APS and Salt River Project said such shutdowns should not affect power availability to their customers. |
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0615WoodyFire15-ON.html
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mike
What box?
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 3134
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| Posted: 6/15/2006, 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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| azcentral.com wrote: |
Crews gain control of wildfire near Flagstaff
Michael Clancy, Mark Shaffer, J.J. Hensley and Christopher Kline
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 15, 2006 10:23 AM
The wind-whipped wildfire that forced the evacuation of 100 homes Wednesday night was near full containment Thursday, officials said.
Firefighters made major overnight progress digging fire lines and building buriers, keeping the blaze confined to 150 acres, Flagstaff Assistant Fire Chief Jim Wheeler said.
“It was a good day because we were prepared and we stopped it,” he said.
The evacuation order for all 100 homes remained in place Thursday morning as officials continued to evaluate weather conditions and clean up the fire area.
Wheeler said his office would re-evaluate the order early in the afternoon, but confirmed that no homes were lost in the blaze.
The Woody Fire, apparently sparked by humans, started about 4 p.m. Wednesday near Route 66 and Interstate 40, about two miles from downtown Flagstaff.
Within 30 minutes, a huge plume of smoke towered above downtown as nervous office workers filed out of offices.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Railroad Springs, Hidden Hollow and Wildwood Estates areas along with nearby Woody Mountain and Kit Carson campgrounds.
By nightfall, winds had lessened and the fire settled down.
Sharon Falor, athletic director of Flagstaff High School, said she was taking a nap in her home near the fire's ignition point when she heard a large bang from an electric transformer and the power went out at 4:02 p.m. That was followed closely by two more bangs, Falor said.
"I went 200 to 300 feet from my house and saw all this dense smoke," Falor said. "It totally freaked me out because this whole area is people 55 and older, so I just started banging on doors."
From their home in the Railroad Springs area, Troy Pond, who manages a Flagstaff office-supply store, and his wife, Dee Dee Pond, also saw the smoke quickly forming about two miles away.
"I went driving down (Route) 66, and it was already shooting flames out of that pine grove down there more than 100 feet high," Troy said. "It was incredible watching all the fifth-wheelers peeling out of Woody Mountain Campground like they were race cars."
"We smelled smoke, and then our electricity almost immediately went out," Dee Dee said. "It wasn't more than 10 minutes that the police came by and told us we had 15 minutes to get out."
The Ponds spent the night with hundreds of others at Flagstaff High School, the Red Cross shelter.
Gail Balysh, another resident of Railroad Springs, said she had to hustle to get her two dogs, a cat and the medical-insurance project she had been working on for three years out of her house.
Flagstaff firefighters, with two engines, nervously paced the nearby area of Lowell Observatory.
"It all depends on the wind, because that thing was spotting out embers a long way very early on," said Todd Dobbs, a spokesman for Flagstaff Fire Department.
Visitors to the observatory, atop Mars Hills in southwestern Flagstaff, were sent home early. The observatory, more than a century old, had done its own preparations by thinning the woods around the property.
Five large air tankers were dropping retardant on the fire, and two helicopters dropped water. At sundown, the fire had burned about 125 acres.
Raquel Romero, fire information officer for the Coconino National Forest, said the city of Flagstaff, Coconino County and the forest concentrated strongly on thinning the forest in southwest Flagstaff.
"We conducted a tremendous amount of prescribed burning and thinning in that area for just this scenario," she said. "Southwest Flagstaff is the most vulnerable because the wind usually comes out of the southwest. We conducted a lot of thinning around A1 Mountain, Woody Mountain and Mars Hill, and multiple evacuation drills have been done." |
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0615WoodyFire15-ON.html
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IGO
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas
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| Posted: 6/15/2006, 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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>Residents applauded the work of firefighters after they contained the Woody fire west of Flagstaff. They got even better news this afternoon.
Residents forced to flee their homes from approaching flames are being allowed to return home.
Authorities say the fire burned 120 acres but has been completely contained since early this morning.
Officials kept residents out in case high winds expected this afternoon kicked up the flames. But the winds were less intense than expected and the fire didn’t flare up.
Hundreds of people were evacuated Wednesday afternoon from the Railroad Springs, Hidden Hollow and Wildwood Estates areas along with nearby Woody Mountain and Kit Carson campgrounds.
_________________
"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir |
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azbackpackr
Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005
Posts: 3639
Location: Needles CA
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| Posted: 6/15/2006, 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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| News not so good from Hannagan Meadow/Alpine area. A new fire started today on 191--ADOT was doing some work along the road around the Greenlee County line, and started the fire. Alpine residents are on standby to evacuate. I don't know how big the fire is, but it plumed up pretty fast. I know they had trouble getting enough personnel at first because everyone is on other fires. The wind was horrific today, and it was very warm here. |
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