Updated at 10:25 a.m. MT, June 5, 2011 (added links to live web cams)
Smoke plume over the Horseshoe 2 fire as seen from an airplane. Photo: Todd Abel, Southwest Incident Management Team
The two very large fires in eastern Arizona were very active on Saturday, putting up large convection columns of smoke and adding thousands of acres.
Wallow fire
The largest of the two fires, the Wallow fire at Alpine, Arizona, has now burned 144,000 acres and has caused the evacuation of several communities, including Alpine, Blue River, and Nutrioso. Other areas are under a pre-evacuation advisory. There is no estimate of containment of the fire.
Firefighters conducted burnouts ahead of the Wallow fire Saturday and Saturday night, completing over 30 miles on the north half of the fire. Much of the burning was done near Nutrioso and along Highways 191 and 180. The west side of the fire has burned into the San Carlos Apache Reservation, where more burnout operations may occur on Sunday.
Maps of the Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires are below. Some of the red and yellow squares representing heat detected by satellites are probably burnout operations being conducted by firefighters.
(Click to enlarge.) Map of the Wallow fire, showing new heat detected by satellites within a 12-hour period sometime prior to 7:00 a.m. June 4. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 12:23 a.m. 6-3-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google
The Wallow fire in southeastern Arizona, one of two huge fires burning in the area, spread an additional four to eight miles to the north on Friday partially due to long-range spotting, forcing more evacuation notices. The residents in the communities of Alpine and Nutrioso had been previously forced to leave and those in Greer were given a pre-evacuation notice on Friday. The residents of Blue River have been evacuated by Greenlee County officials. Inciweb has more information about evacuations.
An 8:30 a.m. update on June 4 from the incident management team included this information:
The fire advanced to the north and north-west and impacted Big Lake Lookout but not the Big Lake Recreation area. The has fire crossed the 249 road. The perimeter of the fire is close to Nutrioso and Mongollon rim but has not gone over yet.
Making some rough measurements based on the map showing heat detected by satellites early Saturday morning, the fire at that time was approximately 4 air miles from Nutrioso, 9 miles from Greer, 15 miles from Eagar, and 11 miles from Luna, NM. These distances are estimates based on satellite data.
The Wallow fire burned an additional 14,600 acres on Friday, bringing its total to 120,600 an estimated 140,000 acres according to InciWeb. This makes it the third largest in state history, behind 2002’s 469,000-acre Rodeo-Chediski and 2005’s Cave Creek fire which burned 248,000 acres. The Willow fire now stands at number four, having burned 120,000 acres in 2004.
Below is a zoomed-in map showing the north half of the Wallow fire.
Map of the northern portion of the Wallow fire, showing new heat detected by satellites within a 12-hour period sometime prior to 7:00 a.m. June 4. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 12:23 a.m. 6-3-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google
A call center has been established by the White Mountain Joint Information Center for information, including evacuation information, regarding the Wallow fire. Their phone number is (928) 333-3412, and their web site is 593.org. InciWeb is another source.
There are two “weather cams” that may occasionally have a view of the smoke. One is at Springerville near Eagar, about 15 miles to the north, and the other is at Greer, about 9 miles north of the fire. Click the “Time-Lapse” buttons to see earlier images.
The other large fire burning in Arizona is the Horseshoe 2 fire, near Portal.
Weather
The weather forecast for the Nutrioso area just north of the fire does not look favorable for the firefighters. On Saturday afternoon the winds should be out of the southwest at 21 mph with gusts up to 30 and a relative humidity of 8%. The winds are expected to decrease to 1-3 mph during the night but on Sunday afternoon increase to 17 with 26 mph gusts along with a RH of 6 to 25 percent. There is a chance of thunderstorms Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon.
Map of Wallow fire, showing new heat detected by satellites within a 6-hour period sometime prior to 9:30 a.m. June 3. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 12:13 a.m. 6-2-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google
The Wallow and the Horseshoe 2 fires in southeast Arizona appear to be competing for the position of 4th largest fire in Arizona history; the Wallow fire just became the 4th largest fire ever recorded in the state. As you can see from the map above, the Wallow fire has grown substantially over the last day and a half. On June 1 the fire was 6,699 acres in size. Today, according to a report on InciWeb, where additional information about the fire can be obtained, it has burned 106,000 acres. Much of this fire growth can be attributed to the fact that it was spotting three miles ahead, that is, burning embers being carried up into the smoke column are landing and starting new fires three miles ahead of the main fire. There is no way firefighters can suppress the head of a fire when it is exhibiting that kind of extreme fire behavior.
Smoke column over the Wallow fire carried by wind in the late afternoon of June 1. Photo: Kay Dyson
The Incident Management Team working on the fire has enough problems dealing with a fire that has burned 100,000 acres in two days, but adding to that is the lack of electrical power and phone service that went out on Friday at the Incident Command post.
Large smoke column over Wallow Fire on June 1. Photo: Chris Haese
Some areas have been evacuated, including Alpine, Arizona. More information can be found at InciWeb and the web site for the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forest. However, those sites may not be current due to the lack of power and phone service at the Incident Command Post.
The weather is not helping the firefighters. A RAWS weather station near Alpine, AZ (elevation 8,209′) at 1:16 MT on Friday recorded 71 degrees, 17% humidity, with southwest winds of 9 gusting to 21. A weather camera at Springerville about 20 miles north of the fire occasionally has a view of the smoke.
