FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., July 21, 2019 – Due to the complexity of the Museum Fire and additional resources needed, a Type 1 Incident Management Team has been ordered and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow for in-briefing and assume command of the fire.
The Southwest Area Incident Management Team #2 (IMT), led by Incident Commander Rich Nieto, will arrive tomorrow afternoon and is planning to take over management of the fire at approximately 6 p.m.
The Museum Fire, located about a mile north of Flagstaff (Latitude/Longitude: 35°15'47.3"N 111°38'19.2"W), was reported at about 5 acres at 10:53 a.m. this morning. The fire has grown quickly and is currently estimated at 400 acres.
Smoke will be visible from Flagstaff and other local communities. The public should use extreme caution when driving on U.S. Highways 180 and 89 north of Flagstaff as firefighting vehicles, personnel, and equipment will frequently be using those roads as they fight the fire.
Evacuation information is handled by Coconino County Emergency Management and conducted by the Sheriff's Office. The Emergency Management Call Center can be reached at (928) 213-2990.
Several other fires this weekend including one North of Roosevelt Lake and the one near Kinder Crossing put out a huge smoke smoke plume before 10 am. Museum Fire will be a tough fight.
Last edited by tibber on Jul 22 2019 7:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination. Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.
Firefighters are planning to conduct burnout operations tonight in an area between Mt Elden Lookout Road (Forest Road 557) and the southern portion of Brookbank Trail.
Fire from these ignitions will be very visible through the night and are part of the efforts being used to battle the Museum Fire.
They published a map with at least 2 spots on the slopes which were thinned and I photographed in my Elden photos earlier this month. I wonder how containing those went and if they will continue to spread.
Linda made the comment that this fire will run into to less fuel, which is true of the standing trees, and probably overall, but at the time I walked the road and upper oldham trail, and probably today, there was a lot of dry flammable down material which had yet to be piled and burned off. Also, I seem to recall a lot of duff in the ground around the remaining trees. And, it's been a couple of months of perhaps no rain on the fire, low humidity, and winds, for days.
So, I might get my prescribed "wish" of a stand replacing event if many or most of the remaining stems are killed and potentially replaced by seeds from the not so great appearing stock that was left there. it depends on how thick the duff is and if the trees are girdled or have injury to their base that weaken them and cause fungal rot and wind-throw in a few years.
No real discussion in this thread. You can tell HAZ is a phoenix based website when comparing this fire to the Woodbury, or others.
Personally, I find this interesting. It finally happened, and the city is lucky. This could be a very neat experiment on the forest and it bears some watching.
Last edited by Jim on Jul 22 2019 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Flagstaff's 71,975 population is 0.0148% of 4,857,962 in metro Phoenix.
Not much of a Pine Flats base either at 0.000002% of metro Phoenix on HAZ either. Nobody even blinked at the Cellar Fire.
SuperstitionGuy wrote: ↑Jul 22 2019 3:45 pm
I drove through the smoke today at 11 AM coming down from the North Rim.
Saw no sign of personnel or equipment however.
I saw a helicopter in the air just off of 180, near the turnoff to Schultz Pass Road
Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there
I grew up at the base of Mt. Elden. The Radio Fire happened when I was a kid, while my family was out of town on vacation. Much of my boyhood playground was destroyed in that fire, and 40+ years later, Elden has yet to reclaim much of its forested grandeur. As a college student, I mtn biked FR 146 from Schultz Tank up to the inner basin, which has also been reduced barren mountainside of burned matchsticks in the Schultz Fire. Other fires have scorched Kendrick and other areas around the Peaks. Now this. I suppose there's a circle-of-life aspect to such incidents when you live in the middle of one of the largest ponderosa pine forests in the world, but I still mourn the loss of these beautiful, forested canopies ....
I imagine this one will mostly be contained by the burn scar from the schultz fire? Still, rather uncomfortably close to some of the populated subdivisions in that area of Flagstaff.
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, ankle-twisting, HAZmaster crushing ROCKS!!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, ankle-twisting, HAZmaster crushing ROCKS!!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!
No real discussion in this thread. You can tell HAZ is a phoenix based website when comparing this fire to the Woodbury
Seems like the responses from FS have been different too. I did not follow Woodbury much because I was traveling and it legitimately was hard for me to read about. However, from what I was told and read, it seems with Woodbury it was we are going to stop it from getting structures and push it into the wilderness because there are "only" trails to destroy and wilderness area.
This fire on the other hand, it seems to be we are going to protect Flag, fight the fire aggressively and pour everything we have on it to stop it from spreading to the Peaks. Seems if the same logic was applied it should be, we are going to stop this fire from reaching Flag and push it into the Peaks because there are "only" trails and open wilderness in its path. You have two paved roads going north and south to keep it contained to, seems if they applied the Supes logic they would push it north into Kachina and let it burn until it reaches the high desert on the res.
Some of this come from a perception that they did not do enough to attack the Woodbury Fire from the start and obviously some personal attachment to the area, but from my casual following of both fires it seems with the Museum Fire more is being done to stop this one and more is being done to protect a wilderness area it borders. I just feel there seems to have been less emphasis on protecting the actual the Supes Wilderness and the decision seems to have been made very quickly that the Supes were going to be allowed to burn...I guess the Peaks are revered more maybe, perhaps the people of Flag would not have been as cool with the FS if they came out like they did in Woodbury and said hey we going to let the wilderness burn, its just trails out there and no human structures, but we going to keep your houses safe...
@friendofThundergod
Keep in mind that the Kachina Peaks Wilderness encompasses a watershed that is absolutely critical to the existence of the City of Flagstaff. It is also an iconic recreation area that significantly contributes to the economic engine of the area (as well as a sacred site to Native Americans). The Superstitions are surrounded by a major metropolitan area that will suffer virtually no economic damage by the entire loss of the wilderness. (Sad but true).
Firefighting investment is made where financial damages could be most impactful. In Flagstaff that certainly includes structures and water, but also tourism.
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
@chumley
Ya and I really do get all that. The politics of fire management are just frustrating, especially, when you have some emotion tied to it. For me, the economic viability of Flag does not mean much. Something tells me their current water usage from that mountain is probably unsustainable anyways. They will still have NAU and their city. We will most likely never have sections of the Supes come back to the way we remembered. The being said, if the Peaks burn up during this fire, I do believe it would be one of the most devastating things to happen in this state in a long time. Well since the Woodbury fire anyways. Insert cliche quotes about its natural, the forest will come back etc...
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