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 map, the deep red area burned yesterday, and the solid red line means that the fire is actively burning along those edges. The fire is considered out only along the solid black line. So far, 3230 acres have burned.
The fire map shows lumpy black chains (see small green arrows) where the proposed fire lines will be cut today, including retreat lanes for the fire crews. The lines will then be in place in case it becomes necessary to set a backfire that would burn upslope into the advancing Horseshoe. The lines are in the vicinity of the South Fork picnic area (blue box on left).
I’ve cropped this map less tightly, so that you can see the location of Portal, boxed in blue at the northeast corner of the map. A blue arrow points to the Southwest Research Station. Another small blue box is around Portal Peak to the east of the active fire.
Work on the water bars along Division R of the perimeter line was finished yesterday, an effort which should moderate erosion when the rains come.
Soon the team here will be transitioning to a new fire team under the command of Wayne Cook, and preparations for that change have begun. Today the Incident Command Post will be moving north along Highway 80 about one mile from its current position next to the Chiricahua Desert Museum. There they will have a real office building, in what Noel calls the “opera house.” It’s the former health food store. Stop in and say hi!
We extend our gratitude to the departing fire team––many thanks for a job well done!
Happy Solstice on this longest day of the year! Let’s celebrate with a rain dance.