Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Thousands ordered to evacuate as mammoth forest fire
encroaches on Arizona town
By Bob Christie,Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press | The
Canadian Press
SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. - Flames from a mammoth forest fire licked
the ridges surrounding the eastern Arizona town of Eagar on
Tuesday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of about half the 4,000
residents as surrounding towns also prepared to empty.
People started streaming out of Eagar as sheriff's deputies and
police officers directed traffic. Flames were spotted on a ridge
on the southeastern side of nearby Springerville and columns of
orange smoke rose from the hills. Ash rained from the sky, which
was filled with thick smoke, and when the sun peeked through, it
was blood-red.
Angie Colwell, her husband Mike and their two children were
loading up their belongings as authorities ordered their Eagar
neighbourhood to evacuate.
"We love the mountains and we're just afraid of what's going to be
left after the fire comes through," the longtime resident said.
The blaze has burned 486 square miles of ponderosa pine forest,
driven by wind gusts of more than 60 mph since it was sparked on
May 29 by what authorities believe was an unattended campfire. It
officially became the second-largest in Arizona history on
Tuesday.
No serious injuries have been reported, but the fire has destroyed
10 structures so far. It has cast smoke as far east as Iowa and
forced some planes to divert from Albuquerque, N.M., some 200
miles away.
Joe Reinarz, commander of a firefighting team battling the
so-called Wallow fire, told residents Tuesday night that the fire
was within two miles of Springerville and Eagar. He said the blaze
had skirted around Greer because crews were able to keep it out of
the canyons surrounding the small resort town.
Reinarz said several structures had burned in the Alpine and
Nutrioso areas but he couldn't provide specifics.
Crews were doing back burns Tuesday night and trying to build
dozer lines around Eagar and Springerville to keep the flames away
as law enforcement officers patrolled the evacuated areas.
The Apache County Sheriff's Office issued the evacuation order for
areas south of Highway 260 and east of Greer just before 4 p.m.
The highway will be closed after the evacuation is complete.
Eagar has about 4,000 residents, while Springerville has another
2,000. In all, about 7,000 people have been ordered to prepare for
evacuation in recent days.
Several tiny resort towns in the nearby Apache-Sitgreaves National
Forest were evacuated earlier. Winds whipping the fire Monday
drove the last holdouts from Greer.
Earlier in the day, bulldozers scraped away brush and trees to
create a barrier between the towns and the approaching flames in
the surrounding mountains. Other crews removed brush from around
homes and firefighters were sent to protect buildings from the
flames.
Thousands of firefighters, including many from several western
states and as far away as New York, hope to keep the flames from
getting into Springerville and Eagar, which sit in grassland at
the edge of the forest.
"The worst-case scenario is we're going to order an evacuation and
the fire is going to burn up to the homes here," fire incident
command spokesman Steve Miller said before the order was issued.
"Or to wherever we stand and defend, hopefully not further than
that."
With a blaze as large as this being driven by unpredictable and
gusty winds, putting the fire out is a gargantuan task. All fire
managers can do is try to steer it away from homes and cabins by
using natural terrain, burning out combustible material first and
trying to put out spot fires sparked by embers blowing in front of
the main fire front.
New mapping showed that some fire breaks have held but the
wildfire was still considered zero per cent contained Tuesday
night.
Dozens of firefighters worked Tuesday alongside a stretch of
Highway 191 about two miles outside of Springerville, burning
combustible material such as vegetation along one side of the road
in an effort to keep the approaching fire from jumping across and
heading into town.
Puffs of smoke billowed from underneath juniper and pinyon trees
as flames licked at the trees.
Jeff Brink, a member of an Idaho-based Bureau of Land Management
fire crew, had spent the better part of Tuesday doing burnouts and
making sure the flames stayed on one side of the highway while
warily watching the weather.
"Obviously, with these winds, when we're burning out the wind can
shift," Brink said.
The American Red Cross has an evacuation centre at the high school
about 15 miles west in Lakeside, Ariz. that can handle several
thousand people, spokesman Mark Weldon said. The centre was opened
at Blue Ridge high after last week's evacuation of about 2,700
people from nearly mountain communities, but only about 50 were
there before the new evacuations on Tuesday. Extra cots, blankets
and comfort kits were rushed to the school early Tuesday as the
threat heightened.
Smoke from the fires was worst in the towns just north of the
blaze, including Eagar and Springerville. But haze was being
carried by a ridge of high pressure as far as central Iowa, said
Kyle Fredin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Denver.
The smoke was also visible in New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and
Kansas.
Colorado health officials cancelled a smoke health advisory
Tuesday as smoke cleared from the southern half of the state. Two
airliners headed to Albuquerque were diverted Monday night because
of smoke and high winds.
The state's largest blaze came in 2002 when flames blackened more
than 732 square miles and destroyed 491 homes. A fire in 2005
burned about 387 square miles in the Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek
and consumed 11 homes.
Another major wildfire was burning in southeastern Arizona,
threatening two communities. The 163-square-mile blaze has
devoured two summer cabins and four outbuildings since it started
May 8.
___
Christie reported from Phoenix.