Tag: Arizona

For the last several days most of the growth of the Woodbury Fire east of Phoenix has been to the east and northeast, but variable strong overnight winds caused a previously quiet area of the fire to spread significantly to the north.  During a 3:48 a.m. MDT satellite overflight on Friday the fire had come to within 2 miles of Apache Trail about nine air miles east of Tortilla Flat. (See the map, above, of the Woodbury Fire)

The night shift that included four Hotshot Crews conducted burnouts on the east side of Highwa 188 six miles southeast of the community of Roosevelt northeast of the junction with Desert to Tall Pines Highway, and in other locations where needed to protect infrastructure.

(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Woodbury Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)

The fire is not being fully suppressed. Instead, a variety of strategies are being used.

At about 10 p.m. on Thursday the fire was mapped from an aircraft at 65,903 acres but it continued spreading vigorously after that fixed wing flight.

Resources assigned to the fire include at least 21 hand crews, 28 engines, 8 helicopters and an unknown number of air tankers, for a total of  1,112 personnel. One of the air tankers, a DC-10, reportedly flew four missions Thursday dropping a total of 37,000 gallons of fire retardant. Approximately $10.9 has been spent on the fire so far.

On Thursday the fire continued moving through Reevis Creek into the Two Bar area. Additional significant growth was observed near the Reevis Mountain School, Granite Mountain near Little Campaign Creek, and the Blackberry Spring area. The fire is also in the west fork of Pinto Creek which prompted crews to burnout around the Rock Springs Barn and Corrals as well as the Miles Ranch Trailhead.

Structure protection is now in place at Top of the World and the Roosevelt area. This includes building firelines and prepositioning hose lays and portable water sources.

State Highway 88 is closed from milepost 213 at Tortilla Flat to State Highway 188 at Roosevelt. State Highway 188 is closed from State Highway 88 just west of Roosevelt at milepost 244 to State Highway 288. For current Arizona Department of Transportation information visit https://az511.gov/.

For information about evacuations, shelters, livestock and pet shelters call: 928-402-8888.

The weather forecast for the Roosevelt area on Friday calls for 88 degrees, southwest winds of 17 mph gusting to 24, and relative humidity of 19 percent. The weather on Saturday should be about the same.

A Red Flag Warning for extreme fire weather is in effect through Friday evening for the northeast part of Arizona just outside of the Woodbury Fire area. Much of New Mexico is also under a Red Flag Warning through Saturday evening.

Wow…our friend Bri VT shared this photo of the #WoodburyFire, seen from above. MORE PHOTOS: https://t.co/TCIFiyB82a #abc15 pic.twitter.com/rlVcQC02OG

— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) June 21, 2019

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.

The #WoodburyFire continues its northeasterly march in the #TontoNationalForest with help from high winds. The town of #Roosevelt and nearby #RooseveltLakes have been evacuated as of Thursday afternoon. #azcentral @azcentral #azcphotog #wildlandfire #evacuation pic.twitter.com/dRklZkV0PC

— Tom Tingle (@TomTingle2) June 20, 2019

#WoodburyFire pic.twitter.com/ezhFCiXfBF

— HeliSlacker (@HeliSlacker) June 20, 2019

The Woodbury Fire 12 miles east of the Phoenix suburbs has burned 40,557 acres, mostly in the Tonto National Forest in the 11 days since it started. The agency is not attempting to completely suppress it, but instead is using a variety of strategies.

(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Woodbury Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)

The weather forecast for the fire area over the next seven days looks very static, with high temperatures in the Tortilla Flat area around 100 degrees and no expectation of precipitation. The wind should be about 8 to 10 mph out of the south and southwest during the daylight hours.

Resources assigned to the fire include 18 hand crews, 34 engines, and 6 helicopters, for a total of 747 personnel.

The smoke forecast for 6 p.m. MDT on Tuesday shows the smoke plume from the fire being pushed off to the northeast, away from the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

Below is a summary of Monday’s activities released by the Incident Management Team at 9 p.m. on Monday.

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[Monday]: Early this morning helicopters used aerial ignition and began a low intensity fire in the Reavis Ranch area to reduce vegetation in front of the advancing fire. These efforts were taken to protect Mexican spotted owl habitat, some stands of ponderosa pine and an old apple orchard As predicted, the fire moved east through the area today from Iron Mountain/Angel Basin, creating a large smoke plume and dropping ash as far as the communities of Tonto Basin and Roosevelt. While increased smoke and ash will continue in coming days, at this time there are no evacuations in place for these communities. All evacuation notices, if needed, will come directly from the Gila County Sheriff’s Office.

Heli-rappellers and hotshot crews joined efforts to fight fire near Hewitt Ridge today. The hotshots will remain in the area overnight. Other hotshots completed suppression efforts in the Buzzard Roost area along the boundary of Forest and State lands. Retardant drops in the Coffee Flat /Valley Canyon area were effective in preventing fire spread; crews will be used to reinforce the line as needed. All of these suppression actions help tie together a contiguous line around the fire, and stop its spread southwest towards State and private lands, and local communities. Retardant and water drops were also used successfully in other areas of the fire.

Structure protection and fuels reduction efforts continue on the north boundary of the fire along State Highway 88, including mowing of roadside fuels in the road corridor and around power transmission poles. Heavy equipment is being used on the northeast and east sides of the fire to improve roads and protect the 500 KV lines that provide power for Phoenix. Protection for other infrastructure is in development.

Closures: State Highway 88 is closed from Needle Vista east to the junction of State Highway 88 and State Highway 188. This includes Tortilla Flat, Canyon Lake, Apache Lake, and campsites along State Highway 88.