This morning at the fire briefing in Portal, the new map for the Horseshoe Fire hadn’t changed from the last one: the small amount of burning yesterday was in the interior of the fire. Today a major topic at the fire briefing was the weather. … Continue readingThunderheads
This morning’s briefing on the Horseshoe Fire was held under cloudy skies, with a ragged trace of virga falling to the northeast. The transition from Brad McBratney’s fire crew to Wayne Cook’s fire team became official this morning. (Brad is standing at the far left, … Continue readingFire Line Holding in South Fork
Yesterday the Horseshoe Fire was inordinately well-behaved: I saw no smoke! The fire crews report that the fire continues to back into the South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon in the vicinity of the trailhead, although you can see by comparing today’s fire map with … Continue readingSuppression in South Fork
The Horseshoe Fire’s continuing advance north has triggered new suppression efforts. It is still backing down drainages in South Fork Canyon, working its way toward the road. Suppression has become necessary to try to keep the fire from moving into the main Cave Creek Canyon. On the … Continue readingRenewed Suppression of Horseshoe Fire
At this morning’s briefing in Portal, fire team leaders summarized yesterday’s work and laid out the tasks for today. The fire’s behavior yesterday was somewhat unexpected, because the big cliffs failed to delay it as much as had been anticipated. As the new fire map … Continue readingHorseshoe Fire Briefing & Map
Today while participating in the annual census of Elegant Trogons in the Chiricahua Mountains, I had the opportunity to go into South Fork with a firefighter, Dario Villarreal, as high as the burn. What I saw couldn’t have looked better! South Fork burn (Photos by … Continue readingBurn in South Fork
At last night’s community meeting in Portal regarding the Horseshoe Fire, the fire team gave us a glimpse into how their strategies are built. Sam Amato (an analyst of long-term fire behavior) has modeled the fire, using local topography, weather patterns, and knowledge of fire … Continue readingHorseshoe Fire: Strategies
Fire briefing on June 17 (Photos by Narca) The fire crew, which is working to contain the Horseshoe Fire that continues to burn in the Chiricahua Wilderness, assembled at six this morning for its daily briefing. Yesterday’s hot, dry, windy conditions did indeed light up … Continue readingActive Day for Horseshoe Fire
The community meeting originally set for tonight has been rescheduled for tomorrow night at 7 PM at the Portal Fire & Rescue classroom. We’ll learn then how yesterday’s attempt fared, when a crew was to be dropped in to work a fire line along the … Continue readingFire Meeting Rescheduled for Thursday
At this morning’s fire briefing in Portal, USFS District Ranger Bill Edwards spoke of a shift in strategy from letting the Horseshoe Fire burn through exceedingly rugged terrain in the Chiricahua Mountains, to an attempt today to restrain its downslope movement along the eastern margin … Continue readingStrategy Shift for Horseshoe Fire