paula1470

Just watched the 11pm news here in San Diego and they gave an update on the fire. Didn't seem like their news was any different than what we already had. They did show a picture of the Diary Queen and you could see the smoke very close behind it.

emd

Today a big day. See attached story. The firefighters are waiting at 89A and will meet the fire head on to attempt to stop it from heading up the canyon and burning homes that are close to its projected path today.

Send positive thoughts to the area and those firefighters today if you care about it. It is crucial that the winds do not pick back up again. They are saying if they don't stop it today at 89A, it could go all the way up to Flagstaff.

Slide Rock State Park still has not burned, thank God.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...afire0621.html

Malesherbes

It's hard to find news on this so I appreciate your efforts in updating us emd. Thanks. I'm sending your links on to our daughter and SIL, in Guanajuato, Mexico for the next couple of weeks, as I am sure they are interested too, that area being their favorite camping area--their getaway from Phoenix heat. Surely hope they are successful at stopping it at 89A today!

emd

I prefered the nazteam.com site because it gave straightforward and factual news on the fire while that entity was in charge of fighting it. But now that the Type 1 firefighters from Idaho have been brought in to be in charge, the nazteam site is no longer updating. I will try to find the Great Basin firefighting site (the ones in charge now)- I had it up yesterday but didn't bookmark it. Hopefully they will have good straightforward reporting also. I'll post it when I find it.

You can see from a new map posted on the nazteam site last night (before they handed over the primary repsonsibility to Team 1) how the fire has spread and where it is now. See the fire perimeter map at this page:

http://www.nazteam.com/assignments/maps.html

Malesherbes (I can't get used to calling you that), I know you used to go there w/your family at Thanksgiving, or did that one time, staying at the Hyatt when it was new, and I did recall you daughter lives around Phoenix.

I think amwosu would be interested and concerned about this, as she has a condo near Phoneix and she and her husband go to Sedona to bike and hike. I think she is in Alaska right now on vacation.

I wonder how many people know nothing about the fire and are just cruising into Sedona on the way to Grand Canyon. It must be quite a shock.

We had another poster on here besides USNR who lived close to Sedona, but she has not checked in here yet.

I just hope this strategy the firefighters have going works. I am learning more about fire and burned area restoration than I dreamed I would know.

emd

Ok, here is the site of the Team 1 people not managing the firefighting from Natl. Interagency Fire Center.

http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

But it is a Natl. Agency so this fire is part of many fires reported on their site, and not much info is there. I hope the nzteam.com site will continue some updating.

Malesherbes

Topping for MCK

emd

That last post should have read "now managing" instead of not managing.

I got some tenative good news this afternoon from my friend at Junipine, but I want to be sure it pans out and stays good before sharing it, esp. since there are no new updates posted anywhere on the web today.

turista

EMD, Thanks so much for all the updates and sites. That area of the world is so beautiful and has obviously touched everyone of us who has hiked it, played there or merely driven through it. I was there last month for my fourth or fifth visit and it is so sad to hear about the ravaging fires. We are all grateful to you for your information that is way more than the quick flash of the fire we get on the 6:00 news! Your friends and everyone in that area are in our thoughts and prayers. I hope the fire is controlled soon and Sedona will be there for all of us to return and enjoy once again.

emd

You're welcome. Posting the info is about the only way I seem to be able to control the grief of the last few days. This fire has hit me hard on several levels. Like many others, I love the land there and have gone there to go hiking about twice a year for the last ten yrs., sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a week or even two weeks at a time, sometimes alone, sometimes w/my family or other hiking buddies. I also love the people there- in particular I know a few people who live there but I also just like the community of people generally who I encounter in the town and in the Village, from the rangers to the hotel people to the wine manager at Bashas (who knows me now). But also, as much as I have thought about retiring in Sedona part of the year and talking w/my husband about that and looking at houses when we go on longer trips there, I have never considered the impact and potential of fire hazard and drought conditions.

emd

New update from the AZ news station:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...Fire21-ON.html

I think it sounds like the fire did not cross 89A to the other side of the canyon. But I hear that at the town meeting today they said that they were having more problems at the northern containment line around Sterling Canyon. The big deal remains the smae, I think- that they keep the fire from going down any further into the canyon.

God bless each and every one of those firefighters. They have another long night ahead of them.

emd

Here is the update from last night:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...Fire21-ON.html

While the fire did not cross 89A, it has jumped the containment line on the norht side of the fire at Sterling Canyon. This article says that the most logical place for a new containment line would be at Bootlegger trail, 2 miles north of the previous line, but I am hearing that it may actually be further away than that. Apparently they worked through the night.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...Fire21-ON.html

emd

Also:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/fir...06/index.shtml

sparkerlaw

Thanks emd for all your updates. There is so little on our news. I spoke to my step-daughter last night (she lives on Quail Track in Sedona) and she says the smoke from the fire is pretty bad.

emd

You're welcome. I wonder if your DIL went to the town meeting yesterday at noon? I believe that fire officials and the mayor were there, and that the governor also spoke to them. But the fire has changed and moved so much since then that it is old news by now.

I am trying not to get any more fearful for Junipine and that area of the canyon now that the fire has jumped the Sterling Canyon containment line to the north. I just hope the plan the firefighters are carrying out can contain the fire at their next designated containment line. We probably won't see any more updates til late tonight.

It must be terrible to be evacuated so quickly from your home in a fire like this and trying to get up to date info on what is happening, even on the ground in Sedona and Flagstaff.

emd

Oh, I am sorry sparkerlaw, I meant to say your step-daughter.

emd

The Coconino Forest site I gave above says that by mid-day today a new website will be up on the Brins Fire. Once it is up, I will post the site address.

BayouGal

Thanks, emd, for keeping us all updated! I also watched your posts to USNR, and grew more anxious each time I saw you top it waiting for a reply. Glad he checked in.

Don't we have enough with natural disasters without man-made ones destroying some of the most beautiful areas in the world?! I'm sorry, but in this day and age, everyone should know to completely douse a fire before leaving it.

That area, and the folks that live there, are in our thoughts in prayers!

USNR

Sorry to seem slow in keeping updated on my posting. Fodor's Arizona web site does not include this set of postings.

This morning -- Thursday, June 22 -- the air is thick with smoke. We expected it to be that way because last night there were huge fires on top of Lost Wilson Mountain, north of Wilson Mountain. There's nothing up there, so I suspect the strategy remains the same: hold lines down along 89A, let the fire come toward the fire fighters, and hope that winds do not rise during the day. Some fires seem to be hugging the ground. Of course, if flames move up into the tops of the trees creating what is called a crown fire, then things become quite grim.

To my knowledge, no fire have crossed 89A. This containment is crucial because fire moves more quickly on an uphill slope. I do not know if the fires have entered Slide Rock State Park itself, but that is the direction it is moving. Sterling Canyon has been breached, according to reports. Yesterday, Wednesday, helicopters were used exclusively because propeller aircraft could not enter the canyon for safety reasons.

Governor Janet Napolitano met in Sedona yesterday with firefighting officials and local citizens. Many were evacuees from their homes and businesses in the Oak Creek Canyon. All available resources are being thrown into this fight and would continue to receive all aid possible. The American Red Cross has moved its shelter location seven miles south to the school in the Village of Oak Creek.
My take on the current situation is that the Sheriff's staff will aid those canyon homeowners and business people who want to make a quick in-and-out dash to their properties in the canyon. This is a most welcome move because many had no time to take out cherished photos, financial records, etc.

Weather here today is cloudless, slight breezes from south and/or west, and thermometer to reach about 100. There was some rain Wednesday in southeastern Arizona, hundreds of miles away. Most years the summer monsoon begins in early July. Phoenix temperatures for the next seven days range from 109 to 113, with no rain forecast. Spirits are high, things look better in general, and we just have to hang in there, hoping for the best. Appreciate everyone's concern. Our enormous gratitude goes out to all the firefighters gathered from all over the Western states.

emd

Very good to hear from you, and I am sorry about not having this on the Arizona baord (I never do that part of the psoting process...). I am hearing that they are trying to reestablish a line near the Sterling Canyon line. I sure hope they can stop it in that area before another line has to be drawn. It is good that the fire has not come down into the canyon, and as you said is staying closer to the ground.

I am glad to hear that spirits are up and people there are holding on. It sounds like they are doing an excellent job with almost 700 firefighters and no buildings or persons harmed so far- that part in itself is amazing.

USNR

The fire is indeed in the canyon today, from all I can gather. The highway is the line of greatest resistance. Every effort is being made to keep the fire on the west side of the road. Embers, however, may be carried by the wind across the road and into grass, bushes, and trees.