Dignitaries visit the Wallow fire

Area Command briefing Wallow fire 6-18-2011
Area Commander Jim Loach, on the left, briefs Rep. Jeff Flake, Sen. John McCain, and Tom Harbour, Director of Fire and Aviation for the USFS. June 18, 2011. Photo by USFS.

Managers of the Wallow fire spent parts of Saturday and Monday briefing dignitaries that visited the fire area.

McCain, Tidwell, Harbour at Wallow fire
Sen. John McCain, Thomas Tidwell (Chief of the Forest Service), and Tom Harbour (Director of Fire and Aviation, USFS). June 18, 2011. Photo by USFS.
Walker and Salazar at Wallow fire
Norm Walker, one of the four Incident Commanders on the Wallow fire, briefs Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar on June 20, 2011. Photo: US Army Pfc Danielle J. Sargent AZNG

More information about the Wallow fire.

Updated progression map of the Wallow fire.

Willow and Wallow

The Wallow fire has been burning for three weeks, becoming the largest fire in the history of Arizona. When a new fire started on Sunday on the same national forest, someone named it “Willow”. An interesting choice.

Willow and Wallow
InciWeb, June 20, 2011

A spokesman for the Wallow fire told us today that the Wallow fire got its name from the Bear Wallow Wilderness where it started.

Wallow fire crosses fireline, Luna, NM evacuated

Wallow fire smoke 6-16-2011 USFS
Smoke from the Wallow fire, June 16, 2011. USFS photo

Strong winds on Saturday caused the Wallow fire to cross the fireline along U.S. 180 west of Luna, NM and run for about four miles causing the evacuation of the town. Saturday night the fire was north of the town and had crossed Forest Road 220 between the community and the earlier fire perimeter.

The wind recorded at the Luna weather station during the big fire run on Saturday afternoon was WSW and SW at 16-19 with gusts of 35-38. Saturday’s Red Flag warning is coming in for a repeat performance Sunday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. The weather forecast for Luna predicts winds out of the southwest at 32-37 mph with gusts of 47-52. The relative humidity will be in the single digits with a temperature around 80. In other words, the fire behavior on Sunday could be even more extreme than Saturday.

Here is an excerpt from an update the incident management team posted on InciWeb Sunday morning:

Strong southwest winds have caused the Wallow Fire to breach containment lines along US 180, on the east side of the fire. The town of Luna, N.M. has been evacuated. Air resources in defense of Luna were grounded yesterday due to high winds. Structural protection is in place for Luna and also in the broad Blue River drainage, where fire has become established in the San Francisco drainage, Raspberry Creek, Steeple Mesa, Quebec drainage and Horse Canyon areas. Air support began early this morning to work on objectives before the expected wind gusts arrive and air support is forced to be grounded.

InciWeb has more information about the fire and the evacuations.

The map of the east side of the Wallow fire below shows the approximate location of Saturday’s fire run near Luna. The Wallow fire Area Command has posted a map of the fire that was produced after the infrared mapping flight Saturday night. The new updated size of the fire is 511,118 acres.

Continue reading “Wallow fire crosses fireline, Luna, NM evacuated”

Wallow fire passes the half-million acres mark

Update at 7:48 p.m. MT, June 18, 2011:

The Wallow and a new fire, Pacheco Canyon, 6 miles Northeast of Tesuque, New Mexico, (north of Santa Fe)  are both putting up a great deal of smoke.

Sat photo Wallow and Pacheco fires 1925  6-18-2011
Satellite photo of Wallow and Pacheco fires, 7:25 p.m. MT, 6-18-2011. NOAA

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Update at 5:36 p.m. MT, June 18, 2011:

The winds have indeed caused a problem on the Wallow fire. A slopover across Hwy. 180 is up and running. Area Command Tweeted this information within the last hour:

Area Command tweets, 1739 6-18

The wind at the Luna, NM weather station for the last couple of hours recorded winds out of the southwest or west-southwest at 17-18, gusting up to 37-38 mph. The direct effect of the wind on the air tankers might be enough to make flying 150 above rugged terrain unsafe for the flight crews. The wind would also make it very difficult for the retardant to land on the intended target, blowing horizontally for hundreds of feet before it hits the ground.

The map below shows the area where the fire most likely crossed the fireline and caused the evacuation of Luna. The red squares represent heat detected by satellites at 2:00 p.m. MT on Saturday. Click the image to see a larger version.

Map of east side Wallow fire data 1400 6-18-2011
Map of east side of the Wallow fire, heat data 2:00 p.m. MT, June 18, 2011. MODIS/Google Earth

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Firefighter uses a pistol-like firing device to ignite a burnout
Firefighter uses a pistol-like firing device to ignite a burnout on June 12, 2011

The massive, record-breaking Wallow fire in eastern Arizona yesterday reached the dubious distinction of burning over a half-million acres — 500,409 to be exact. Officially, containment is at 38%, a figure not to be confused with the amount of fireline that is being held, which is much higher, at least for now.

Firefighters are worried about the Red Flag warnings that started Friday and go through Sunday, which Wildfire Today covered yesterday. The Luna, NM weather station recorded strong winds on Friday, 17 mph gusting up to 34 at about 5:00 p.m. The firefighters made it through that OK, but the updated forecast for the winds at Luna on Saturday are 28 mph gusting up to 39, and for Sunday, 33 gusting up to 47. On Monday they die down to the 16 mph range.

Refilling drip torches
Mormon Lake Hotshots refilling drip torches during a night burn operation on the 275 Road near Alpine, AZ, June 12, 2011.

We have not posted any photos of the Wallow fire for a while, so today we will catch up. Except for the last one, they were all taken on the Wallow fire by Kari Greer for the U. S. Forest Service, who has been taking some great photographs of the fire. More photos are at Flickr. More photos are below.
Continue reading “Wallow fire passes the half-million acres mark”

Wallow fire grows to become largest in Arizona’s history

Update at 5:11 p.m. MT, June 14, 2011:

This afternoon the Wallow fire sent out this rather unusual information:

Burnout Operation Underway Near Luna Lake

Firefighters are burning vegetation between Wallow fire and the fireline north of road 180 in the Luna Lake fire camp area. This burnout will strengthen and connect containment lines in zones 1 and 2.

As long as the current favorable weather conditions continue, the crews will ignite unburned fuels in the Luna Lake area and bring fire down toward road 180.

Protection plans are in place for Luna Lake firecamp. If needed, for personal safety related to smoke or fire suppression actions, personnel may temporarily leave the fire camp.

Below is a map we put together showing the location of Luna Lake, which is on the east side of the fire between Alpine, AZ and Luna, NM. The white line is the state line. The red line is the fire perimeter.Luna Lake burnout

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Wallow fire Briefing at Hannagan spike camp 6-13-2011
Wallow fire Briefing by Deputy Incident Commander Ed Lewis at Hannagan spike camp 6-13-2011. Photo credit, U. S. Forest Service

The Wallow fire in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico has grown to become the largest in Arizona history, burning 469,407 acres to eclipse the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire which burned 468,638 acres. Area Command reported at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday via Twitter that containment has reached 18% and: “Will see continued line construction & line improvement today. Expect containment to increase.”

The only areas of the fire that spread significantly on Monday were on the east side between Alpine, AZ and Luna, NM and on the south side above the Blue River.

Firefighters have been conducting a burnout or backfire northwest of Luna but that is not yet complete. They may be waiting for optimum conditions to finish it and tie it in to highway 180.

On the south side, in very remote and rugged terrain, they have been working on 9-10 miles of indirect fireline near the Blue River. When weather conditions are suitable they will burn out the area between the main fire and the constructed line.

Below is a 3-D map of the south and southeast sides of the Wallow fire. Click on it to see a larger version.
Continue reading “Wallow fire grows to become largest in Arizona’s history”