You know you have been around intense fire way too much when you arrive in the gracious Deep South, and see the stately magnolias, and dogwood, and flowering crepe myrtle, and all you really see is ladder fuel. The wide expanses of lawn, however, are … Continue readingFrom South Carolina
As we thought we were seeing an end to the fire and its attendant stresses (with containment being predicted for June 22), the Horseshoe Two Fire has broken free of containment lines to move across Rock Creek Canyon and northeast toward Paradise, East Whitetail Canyon, … Continue readingThe Long Siege Lengthens
Now at over 70,000 acres, the Horseshoe Two Fire burning in the Chiricahua Mountains has become the 6th largest fire in Arizona history, and is expected to grow to about 90,000 acres before it is contained. Low-intensity burn in South Fork (All photos by Rose … Continue readingFire News: Photos of South Fork
I’ve been encouraged by reports in the past few days that intensity of the Horseshoe Two Fire burning in the Chiricahuas has, for the most part, been carefully managed to achieve a low-to-moderate burn in many of our most treasured locales. The balance between a … Continue readingA Hard Wind
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