Wednesday night the fire was mapped at 50,595 acres.
Map of the Woodbury Fire. The red line was the fire perimeter at 11 p.m. MST June 19. The white line was the perimeter about 48 hours before. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 1:47 p.m. MDT June 20, 2019. Click to enlarge.
At 1 p.m. local time June 20 the the Gila County Sheriff’s Office announced an “evacuation alert” for two areas northeast of the Woodbury Fire, Roosevelt and Roosevelt Lake area:
All residents are asked to GO at this time. Go! Evacuate Now. If you are unable to evacuate, call 911.
The west side of the Woodbury Fire is about 12 miles east of the suburbs of Phoenix. Winds over the last several days have pushed the blaze to the east and northeast. At 5 p.m. on Thursday the temperature at a weather station east of Tortilla Flat recorded temperatures in the mid-90s, relative humidity of 10 percent, and WSW winds of 14 mph gusting to 23 mph. The forecast for Tortilla Flat for Friday predicts about the same. (See the map, above, of the Woodbury Fire)
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Woodbury Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
Wednesday night the fire was mapped at 50,595 acres. Officials at the Tonto National Forest are not attempting to completely suppress it, but instead are using a variety of strategies.
Satellite photo of smoke from the Woodbury Fire at 5:36 p.m. MDT June 20, 2019.
Satellite photo, at 6:56 p.m. MDT June 19, 2019 showing smoke from a prescribed fire and wildfires in Arizona.
Smoke from a prescribed fire southwest of Flagstaff, the Woodbury wildfire east of Phoenix, and other wildfires in northern Arizona was photographed from a satellite at 6:56 p.m. MDT June 19, 2019.
Much of the smoke is blowing into New Mexico and Western Texas.
Forecast for the distribution of smoke from fires, at 6pm MDT June 20, 2019.
Part of the Forest Service’s mission is,”Providing work, training, and education to the unemployed, underemployed, elderly, youth, and disadvantaged in pursuit of our mission.”
Forest Service Silviculturist Jason Rodrigue explains to the students from the Oconaluftee Job Corps Center in North Carolina the benefits of timber harvesting at the Pisgah National Forest. Oconauluftee is one of the nine Centers that were slated for closure by the Trump Administration. USFS photo.
The Trump administration has reversed their decision, for now anyway, to transfer the management of 25 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers from the Forest Service to the Department of Labor (DOL) and permanently close 9 of those 25 centers. The plans were to fire about 1,100 Forest Service employees and hire private companies to run the remaining 16 Centers. It would have been the largest reduction in the agency’s workforce in a decade.
A joint statement issued Wednesday night by the Departments of Labor and Agriculture read in part:
Following robust engagement with stakeholders and Members of Congress regarding the future of the USFS Job Corps centers, USDA has notified DOL that the USFS will evaluate the feedback while reviewing its role in Job Corps management and operation. For the time being, USDA does not intend to transfer these centers to DOL to allow management to determine a pathway that will maximize opportunity and results for students, minimize disruptions, and improve overall performance and integrity.
The decision to close nine of the Centers and hire contractors to run the rest provoked very strong reactions from current and former students at the Centers, Forest Service employees, a union representing the employees, citizens, and many politicians in states affected by the closures and firings. Even Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who supports virtually everything that comes out of the White House pressured the administration to rethink the transfer, closing, and contracting plan. Several congressmen introduced various pieces of legislation that would prohibit the implementation of the plan including Senator Jon Tester of Montana and Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio.
The withdrawal of the gutting of the Forest Service Job Corps Centers, first reported by Politico, came about three weeks after Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen told a group of employees on May 24 that over 1,000 of them would be laid off.
The nine Centers that were going to be permanently closed were in Montana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Virginia, Washington, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Oregon.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the Washington Post published Wednesday night:
In a rare break with the administration, Republicans joined Democrats in fighting not just the shutdowns but the effort to hand over operations to private companies. The opponents included Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), whose timber-producing district on the Canadian border already is losing jobs, and Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), whose Southwest Virginia district in Appalachian coal country has yet to see the fruits of Trump’s promises to revive the industry.
With two centers in Kentucky on the closure list, McConnell wrote [Secretary of Agriculture Sonny] Perdue and [Secretary of Labor Alexander] Acosta a letter of protest, citing the loss to “distressed Kentucky counties with unemployment rates above the national average,” which “need more support, not less.”
In a separate letter signed by 51 Democrats and Republicans, lawmakers took issue with the administration’s claim that many of the centers announced for closure were poor performers.
The Job Corps centers, which are run by federal employees, help train youths in wildland firefighting, forestry, culinary arts, welding, construction, and other trades. Their official mission is to educate 16- to 24-year-olds, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds, while helping U.S. conservation efforts on public lands. After graduating from the program many of the youths have training, skills, and experience that qualifies them for permanent jobs in government or private industry.
The smoke from the Woodbury Fire is expected to blow off to the east Wednesday into Southern New Mexico and Western Texas. The map depicts the forecast for 6 p.m. MDT June 19, 2019.
The smoke from the Woodbury Fire east of Phoenix is expected to blow off to the east Wednesday into Southern New Mexico and Western Texas. The map depicts the forecast for 6 p.m. MDT June 19, 2019.
Satellite photo of smoke from the Woodbury Fire east of Phoenix, Arizona at 7:31 p.m. MDT, June 18, 2019.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click HERE.)
The Woodbury Fire 12 miles east of the Phoenix suburbs became very active on the northeast side Tuesday beginning at about 2 p.m., sending up another large column of smoke that blew off to the northeast. It added another 3,894 acres to bring the total up to 44,451 acres.
The convection column at the Woodbury Fire shows the beginning of condensation at the top, becoming a pyrocumulus cloud. Tanker 914, a DC-10 is in the foreground, with Tanker 101, an MD87. Photo taken at Phoenix Gateway Airport at 3:18 p.m. MST June 18, 2019. Photo by Ty Miller.
On Wednesday fire crews are preparing for the possibility of the fire moving north towards Roosevelt and east towards the Pinto Mine along Pinto Canyon. Firefighters will be using burnouts and existing black lines to divert fire from the Reavis Ranch, Roosevelt, and mining operations. They will continue the preparations along 500 KV power lines to make them more defensible, masticating brush and building bulldozer lines where appropriate.
Map of the perimeter of the Woodbury Fire at 10:41 p.m. MST June 18, 2019.
The smoke is expected to spread to the east on Saturday, becoming noticeable in Southern New Mexico and Western Texas.
The smoke from the Woodbury Fire is expected to blow off to the east on Wednesday into Southern New Mexico and Western Texas. The map depicts the forecast for 6 p.m. MDT June 19, 2019.