Map showing the location of heat detected by satellites on the Sunset Fire along Interstate 17 north of Phoenix at 4:02 a.m. MDT June 1, 2020.
The Sunset Fire along Interstate 17 between Black Canyon City and Cordes Junction has burned 4,000 acres, the Bureau of Land Management reported Sunday night. According to the Arizona DOT Interstate 17 is now open in both directions.
Sunset Fire, Sunday evening May 31, 2020. BLM photo.Sunset Fire 5-31-2020. Photo by AZ DOT.
(Originally published at 3:19 p.m. MDT May 31, 2020)
Still another wildfire has broken out in Arizona. The Sunset Fire was reported around noon Sunday and quickly required the complete closure of Interstate 17.
The fire is 5 miles north of Black Canyon City, 9 miles south of Cordes Lakes, and 24 miles north of Highway 74.
A very rough estimate of the size based on satellite data at 1:50 p.m. MDT on Sunday, is approximately 900 acres.
Sunset Fire closes Interstate 17 five miles north of Black Canyon City.
One flank of the fire has spread into the footprint of the huge Woodbury Fire that blackened over 96,000 acres in June, 2019
(UPDATED at 3:37 p.m. MDT May 31, 2020)
Sawtooth Fire May 31, 2020. Photo by Tonto National Forest.
The Tonto National Forest reported at 2:35 p.m. MDT May 31 that the Sawtooth Fire eight miles east of Gold Canyon had burned about 2,500 acres. No structures were threatened.
(To see all articles about the Sawtooth Fire on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click here)
Sawtooth Fire May 31, 2020. Photo by Tonto National Forest.
(Originally published at 9:19 a.m. MDT May 31, 2020)
Map based on heat detected by satellites on the Sawtooth Fire at 3:30 a.m. MDT May 31, 2020.
The greater Phoenix area has been plagued with numerous wildfires over the last two weeks. The Sawtooth Fire (the name could change) is the latest, reported Saturday evening near Coffee Flat east of Apache Junction and 8 miles east of Gold Canyon.
It is burning on lands protected by the state of Arizona and the Tonto National Forest where it has spread into the Superstition Wilderness. A very rough estimate of the size based on heat detected by satellites at 3:30 a.m. Sunday is that the fire has burned at least 600 acres.
The good news, if there can be any about a wildfire, is that it appears to have burned into the footprint of the huge Woodbury Fire that blackened over 123,000 acres in June of 2019. That flank should not be very difficult to suppress if fire managers decide to suppress the fire, but it could still work around to the west, south, and north in fairly rugged terrain.
3-D map based on heat detected by satellites on the Sawtooth Fire at 3:30 a.m. MDT May 31, 2020. Looking east.
Glenn Chase of Tempe, AZ uses a backpack pump to mop up part of the Ocotillo Fire that burned through a residential area east of Spur Cross Road in Cave Creek, AZ. Mr. Chase came up to the fire to help family members evacuate horses and then went to work on the fire. Photo by Tom Story, May 30, 2020.
From the Incident Management Team assigned to the Ocotillo Fire near Cave Creek, Arizona, Sunday morning at 8:37:
There was no new growth reported on the Ocotillo Fire overnight and no new structure loss. There is a lot of heat within the interior and in drainages, therefore crews will monitor and patrol those areas to make sure there is no rekindling. Afternoon winds however, could challenge firefighters again, especially within those drainages.
Overnight, crews provided structure protection to homes and worked to build and secure fire line.
An estimated 500 residences were evacuated on Saturday and those evacuation orders remain in place. An evacuation-area map has been uploaded to this site. The Red Cross has a shelter set up for impacted residents at Cactus Shadows High School. Livestock can be taken to the Cave Creek Memorial Arena.
Today, crews are faced again with hot temperatures, low relative humidity, afternoon winds, and other hazards, including above-ground and underground propane tanks and inaccessible roads.
177 personnel are assigned to the fire from statewide fire departments and districts, including local and federal cooperators. The fire started Saturday afternoon off Ocotillo Road. At least ten structures were lost; unknown if they are primary or secondary or both. Once it is safe enough to do so, crews will make their way back into the area to assess damage.
The fire was determined to be human-caused and the source is under investigation.
(UPDATED at 7 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020)
A Phoenix Fire Department firefighter staffing Brush 23 cools down part of the Ocotillo Fire as the blaze burns near the intersection of Old Stage Road and Rockaway Hills Drive in Cave Creek, AZ 05/30/20. Photo by Tom Story.
Here is an updated map of the Ocotillo Fire northwest of Cave Creek, Arizona.
Map showing the approximate location of heat detected by a satellite on the Ocotillo Fire northwest of Cave Creek, AZ at 3:06 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020.
At 5:46 p.m. MDT Arizona State Forestry said in a tweet:
#OcotilloFire at 750 acres. Crews working against hot temps, very day conditions, wind gusts & low RH. In turn, fire is exhibiting signs of extreme fire behavior. @RedCrossAZ set up a shelter at high school. @mcsoaz
will have evac info.
Tanker 15, a BAe-146 operated by Neptune Aviation, drops a load of fire retardant near homes as the Ocotillo Fire burns through part of Cave Creek, AZ 05/30/20. Photo by Tom Story.
This is a very impressive video of a DC-10 dropping on the fire:
Air tankers are coming in low here in Cave Creek as firefighters try to get a handle on a wildfire burning close to town
We will update this article as more information becomes available.
(Originally published at 4:47 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020)
Map showing the approximate location of heat detected by a satellite on the Ocotillo Fire northwest of Cave Creek, AZ at 1:24 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020.
The Marshall’s Office has issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Ocotillo Fire northwest of Cave Creek, Arizona.
Evacuation order for Ocotillo Fire at approximately 3 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020.
Jim Cross, Senior News Reporter at KTAR Phoenix, reported that multiple homes have been damaged and others are threatened. At 2:43 p.m. MDT Saturday Arizona State Forestry said the fire had burned about 350 acres.
Firefighting aircraft that have been seen over the fire include air tankers (RJ85, BAe-146, and DC-10) and helicopters, some of which are obtaining water at a golf course.
Ocotillo Fire at 4:22 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020. Photo by @RiverH16Map showing aircraft maneuvering near the Ocotillo Fire northwest of Cave Creek, Arizona at 3:46 p.m. MDT May 30, 2020. Flightradar24 & Wildfire Today.
Skidder and delimber operating on a fuel management research project in the Priest River Experimental Forest in Idaho. Forest Service photo.
The Bureau of Land Management will open a 30-day period during which it will accept public comments on their plans to remove some steps that are required before cutting timber following a fire.
The agency intends to no longer require Environmental Impact Statements or Environmental Assessments on what they call “salvage” operations of less than 5,000 acres — cutting dead or dying trees which can result from insects or wildfires. They would use a Categorial Exemption (CX) to skip some environmental review steps that are usually required.
The BLM’s press release about their plans did not include information about how the public could comment, just that, “[A] a public comment period on the proposed CX closes 30 days after the proposal publishes in the Federal Register. The BLM will provide additional information about when and how to comment when the proposed rule is published. ”
Their press release saw no issues with their planned accelerated timber cutting operations:
The BLM has completed a review of scientific literature and previously analyzed and implemented actions and found no evidence that salvage harvest at the levels proposed would have a negative effect on forest health. To the contrary, removing dead and dying trees can accelerate forest succession and benefit native wildlife species that rely on successional habitat, while reducing the potential for catastrophic wildfires.
“Some of the impacts we have outlined may be different from or additional to the effects of traditional forms of logging that are not preceded by large, natural disturbance events. This is because the conditions preceding, during, and after salvage logging may differ from those in areas subject to traditional logging. Moreover, the ecological benefits derived from large-scale disturbances (such as the creation of charred trees and coarse woody debris) can be lost or severely diminished by salvage operations for decades and even centuries (Lindenmayer & Ough 2006). These problems have often been overlooked or poorly understood by conservation biologists, foresters, and other natural resource managers. In some cases salvage impacts may have been so substantial that past interpretations of ecosystem responses to natural disturbance may need to be reexamined. That is, ecosystem processes and biotic responses may have been more influenced by salvage logging than by the initial natural disturbance event. This may be true for hydrological regimes in the northeastern United States following the 1938 hurricane (Foster et al. 1997), aquatic macroinvertebrates in the western United States (Minshall 2003), and arboreal marsupials in the forests of Victoria, Australia, after the 1939 and 1983 wildfires (Lindenmayer et al. 1997).
“Whereas most documented effects of salvage logging are negative from an ecological standpoint, others can be neutral or positive, depending on the response variables measured. Effects are likely to vary over time and among and within vegetation types in response to the type, intensity, and periodicity of natural disturbance and disturbance by salvage logging. Therefore, there can be no generic recipes for salvage logging that can be uncritically applied in all landscapes.
“Perhaps one of the problems associated with the lack of appreciation of the impacts of salvage logging lies in the terminology itself. Dictionary definitions of the term salvage associate it with “recover or save” or “saving of anything from loss or danger” (e.g., Delbridge & Bernard 1989). Although salvage logging removes wood from burned areas, such practices generally do not help regenerate or save ecosystems, communities, or species (but see Radeloff et al. 2000) and often have the opposite effect. Hence, in many respects, the term salvage is inappropriate and misleading from ecological and conservation perspectives. An alternative term might be postdisturbance logging.”
She has accepted a job with a local government in Colorado
Shawna Legarza makes a presentation at the Aerial Firefighting Conference in Sacramento, March 13, 2018. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Shawna Legarza announced that she will be retiring from her position as Director of Fire and Aviation for the U.S. Forest Service. In an email message to other employees she said it will be effective on June 30th.
“Now, the next chapters of my life will continue as I have accepted a position with local government as the Emergency Management Coordinator in Durango, Colorado,” she explained in the email. “A place very special in my heart, built upon the practice of the 4 P’s and closer to my friends and family.”
Shawna Legarza, the Director of Fire and Aviation for the U.S. Forest Service’s California Region, and Tom Harbour, the Director of Fire and Aviation for the Forest Service, at the Rose Parade, January 1, 2015.
She was selected as the national Director of Fire and Aviation in June, 2016, taking the place of Tom Harbour who retired at the end of 2015. Previously Ms. Legarza was the regional Fire Director for the Forest Service’s California region.
Ms. Legarza launched her federal career with the Bureau of Land Management in 1989 as an engine crew member in Elko, NV. A short time later, she joined the Forest Service and worked as a hotshot crew member in Carson City, NV, and a Hotshot Superintendent in Durango, CO. She subsequently took on a number of leadership positions in fire and aviation that include District Fire Management Officer on the San Juan National Forest, CO, and Forest Fire Management Officer on the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California.
