Engineer61 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 For those not noticing the wildfire season this year... the Wallow Fire in Arizona (and New Mexico) is now the largest wildfire in Arizona state history...over 725 sq. mi. consumed. That area is larger than the combined area of Los Angeles and NYC. Containment is 18%, humidity is 1% and winds will pick up again today. Investigators believe was caused by a person, most likely by someone who abandoned a campfire, on May 29. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
structuralrik Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 We're watching here in our office in Colorado. My co-workers husband is a firefighter and looking at being mobilized soon. Looking at the map this morning it appears the fire has crossed into New Mexico. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisabob Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Eng, I've been wondering where that was in relation to you. Hope you are not in the path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Lb - No where close to me. The fire is about 150 miles ENE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Here is a photo of the VLAT (Very Large Air Tanker) on loan from CA to work on the Wallow Fire. It's a converted Douglas DC-10 airliner, it will drop 12,000 gallons of water or retardant in one load in 8 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 I heard today at lunch that there are now 9 wildfires in AZ. One is about 20 miles east of the Scout Camp Geronimo. Without a serious wind shift it should not be threatened, however the Forest Service can decide to kick the Scouts out to use it for a base camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeptic Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Engineer: Hopefully you do not consider the FS using the camp as a base to be a negative. A few years ago, the Day Fire here in SCal was in our camp's vicinity, even threatened it briefly. They used the reservoir for helicopter water pickups, and set up one of two base camps (the other was in the city at the fairgrounds)at 3-Falls. While it may have been a bit hard on the few scouts that could not camp during that period, it was a huge PR positive. We are still getting the benefit of that, after several years. Service, including the use of our facilities, is part and parcel of the Scouting experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Not a negative at all ... more of an imperative ... the FS has first dibs on the camp anyway. My only concern is if they do get the evac order, how fast they can move 400+ scouts + staff out. The camp has no transport. Fires this year are being measured in miles per hour in some cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 ...heard on the radio this morning that we have 500 firefighters on standby in central AZ...to pounce on the next fire as quickly as possible. 113 here tomorrow...single digit humidity in the deserts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcnphkr Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 There was a small one up on the Rim about that distance a week ago but it is out. Based on MODIS there is nothing active in the area. The bigger challenge would be where to send the campers. Raymond is already taking the campers from Lawton from the closer of Coronado Forest. Fitting another 300 or so from Geronimo would be tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle92 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Eng, I cannot tell you about 400 scouts and staff, but if my expereince with a group of 50 kids and 3 leaders who got kicked out of camp is any indication, pretty darn fast. Within about 1.5-2 hours of the call, everyone in the group, save one kid, was gone. I haven't looked at summer camp national standards in a while, but I know the CSDC standards require you to have emergency plans in place, including evac. As for the one missing kid, the group's leaders didn't know he was missing, but the adult camp staff knew, and did look for him. I admit the adult staff did have "challenges" finding him, but that was due to the fact the youth staff were hiding him in an attempt to keep him at the camp as he was the only good one in the bunch. Long story short, me and another adult brought him back home, and the kid came back to camp the next year as a staffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hey jet... Willow Fire : http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72BTFxdjAwgAykeaxRtBeY4WBv4eHmF-YT4GMHn8usNB9uHXDzYBB3A00PfzyM9N1S_IjTDIMnFUBADEf0RM/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfMjAwMDAwMDBBODBPSEhWTjJNMDAwMDAwMDA!/?navtype=&cid=stelprdb5309981&navid=180000000000000&pnavid=&ss=110301&position=News.Html&ttype=detail&pname=Apache%20and%20Sitgreaves%20National%20Forests-%20Alerts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcnphkr Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Odd that it doesn't show in MODIS. There is a Willow Fire marked, but MODIS has it located in the middle of the Wallow area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer61 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Jet - Yeah I caught that too...then I stumbled across some web hits on the 2010 Willow Fire....I think that's the issue...there was also a 2004 Willow Fire.... They gotta watch the naming..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNTfan Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Best place to find the most up to date information on wildland fires is Inciweb.org. Each federal agency active in fire suppression reports on their progress here. This link is tuned to the Wallow Fire.... http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2262/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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