Reed Peters called today with encouraging news about the Horseshoe 2 Fire burning in the Chiricahuas. Dugger Hughes and members of his Type One team feel that they have turned the corner, and are able now to actively manage the fire, instead of just reacting … Continue readingTake Heart!
My effort to learn more about the current state of the fire from the information officers brought only this pablum: “Our efforts continue to focus on providing for pubic and firefighter safety and minimizing resource impacts where we can do so safely and effectively.” More … Continue readingPablum
It has been unsettling trying to keep abreast of the fire news from several states away! As we drove east, smoke followed us deep into New Mexico, until night covered all. Peg Abbott, Carol Simon and Richard Webster have all published various reports on last … Continue readingFrom Afar
Yesterday smoke choked Portal and the north end of the Chiricahuas. Peg and Reed both attended this morning’s briefing, and passed on the information to me. I hope to add to this post a fire map and more detail, but for now will write the … Continue readingHope and Ashes
At this morning’s briefing, the fire crews were told that the burn-out operation in the South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon is proceeding so far at a low intensity. That is very good news. After the briefing, with smoke from Horseshoe Two Fire (Photos by … Continue readingThe Burn-out in Cave Creek Canyon
At tonight’s public meeting, those gathered received a realistic appraisal of the current state of the Horseshoe Two fire, with an emphasis on how it can work if everything goes right. As I said in an earlier post, the term “burn-out” is scary. And a … Continue readingThe Better Scenario
O’Leary, remember when the drought a few years back was especially intense, and you organized a rain dance among the ladies of Portal and Rodeo… and it rained? We really, really need another rain dance. My dear friends, my community, as you will hear at … Continue readingSobering Times
[If you’ve noticed that a couple of my most recent posts have disappeared, it is because Google’s blogging platform was compromised, and has been out of commission for about a day. I’m hoping that the missing posts will reappear soon.] Last night the most obvious … Continue readingProgress on Horseshoe 2 Fire
At tonight’s meeting with the Forest Service and firefighters from the Type 1 fire team, the Rodeo-Portal community learned the team’s current basic strategy for dealing with the Horseshoe Two fire. This fire is a handful, as many are proving to be across the West, … Continue readingThe First of Many Meetings
Last night, Dave Jasper and I joined Gerry, Peter, and their friends from the West Midland and West Sussex bird clubs in Britain, in search of two of the special owls of Cave Creek Canyon––the Whiskered Screech Owl (a denizen of Mexico’s oak-pine forests, which … Continue readingOwls, Tiny and Merely Small