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Flagstaff Forest Fire

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Tsalagi:
Well, ya'll remember that blizzard we had here this winter? (Well, two or three of them actually...) Six feet of snow in one night? Can't prove it ever fell here now. Yesterday, we had a huge forest fire break out behind Little America Hotel. Slurry bombers, P-3s from the Coast Guard, were coming in almost treetop right over Flagstaff to drop. That fire is almost out. Oh, how'd it start? Well, some award-winner saw dry forest, summer heat, high winds, and no moisture and thought dumping his campfire coals on the ground was a nifty idea. He's under arrest. It's only a misdemeanor, though.  ::)

Well, I looked out the window today and bingo, another fire, right behind Mount Elden, in an area where people camp. This one is huge and very scary. Some hikers are missing; man, I hope they're ok or can get out. The forest service is going to talk about whether or not they should close the forest until the monsoon rains come. Gee, ya think????  ::)

Peoples' homes are in danger, there have been evacuations. The fire appears to be heading away from where we are. And I bet this fire is another "Uhhhh.....I thought the campfire was out...." fire. Man, people need to learn some woodcraft.

My hat is off to the firefighters and those slurry bomber crews. Also to the crew of this Sikorsky Skycrane they've got working these fires with a dip bucket.

Justin Snyder:
Read about the fire this afternoon. Sure going to ruin some good hunting habitat also.

NTD:
Justin, unless this is a situation where there is an unsual fuel load and the fire burns TOO hot.  Fire is actually good for improving hunting habitat.  Course it may be an extreme fuel load due to 100% suppresion through the years and in that case the fire will burn too hot and ruin the habitat for just about everything for awhile.

Justin Snyder:
Nate, I believe this is in the junipers. Fuel load will be high from the wet spring, combine that with the winds they have been having and it will be hard to stop the fire. Small burns are great, but when the entire area burns off it is rough on wildlife.

Tsalagi:
This is a crown fire. It's jumping through the crowns of the ponderosas. With a crown fire, it's usually going to outrun the wildlife. What's bad is there are a lot of dead ponderosas courtesy of the bark beetle. Those go up like roman candles because they're dried, seasoned wood "on the hoof". I burned this wood all winter---it burns well, hot, and goes up quick.

I hiked through a place far east of here where they had a wildfire two years previous (the Jacket Fire.) It was like walking on the moon. Nothing grows there.

They do prescribed burns here and are thinning the doghair thickets, but it takes time.

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