HikeArizona.COM

Rebooting for the 2012 Fire season. Here comes the smoke, and we now what that means.












I must be blowing it?

They just opened back up the Lincoln National Forest, fire restrictions in place but camping and hiking is allowed... this is for the Smokey Bear and Sacramento area... Carlsbad area is still closed down.

imike wrote:They just opened back up the Lincoln National Forest

I wondered when that would happen. I checked on Thursday and it was still closed.

The latest of the natural lightning fires in the Gila Wilderness are now >3620 acres and under one complex name. I don't know if they're working other sides, but the update says they are checking the west and south side of the fire, which is a shame since these are natural, and are burning in areas that require fire for ecosystem maintenance and have not had fire for many years. I guess I'm just one of those insane people who believes a wilderness area should be just that, and not some BS political designation where the government keeps out what it wants when it suits it, but does what ever it feels like when it pleases. They could argue they're keeping fire out in a dry year, but that would only work if they allowed them to burn in wet years (2010).

Driving I-40 from Holbrook to Flag, could see small amount of smoke arising from those mountains south of Winslow (which are part of the Mogollon Rim). I wondered if that was something new or if it was left over from the Wash Fire or other fire?

That is smoke from the Bolt Fire, which is also noticeable in Flagstaff.

Also, in the last 10 minutes the inciweb updated the jack Complex and there is now a map, and a photo. While I still object to suppressing natural fire within wilderness areas unless non-wilderness structures or resources are directly threatened, it appears that the fires are mostly north of the North Fork of the Gila-White Creek drainages and probably wouldn't have large growth to the south, but would to the west up to the Mogollons. Would the Jack meet the Miller if allowed to burn as fire in wilderness areas should be allowed to? With 3 different drainages and rains likely, it is uncertain.

The fire on the North Rim has a fan page.

The Kaibab hosts a lightning fire for resource objectives. It is west of Kendrick Mountain.

I love the Kaibab National Forest. They're forward thinking, adhere to the science that places like NAU's Forestry School produces and is otherwise completely worthless without real world application, and they have a pretty active fire program for the forest. This is at least the 4th decent sized fire since 2009 on the Kaibab that will be allowed to burn for resource objectives. It may reach 8000 acres, though it may only reach a small fraction of that if rain extinguishes it before it can treat that designated area. This is the Beale Fire, named for obvious reasons.

The Bolt is still going, but not too well.

Jim_H wrote:I love the Kaibab National Forest.

I too love the Kaibab. Not to defend the Coconino more than they deserve, but I do think it is important to consider that the Coconino is really more of an "urban forest", dealing with more areas that are heavily used and close to populated areas, all the while encompassing an incredibly diverse amount of biozones, many of which are highly sensitive. The Kaibab manages the forest much better than the Coconino, however the Coconino admittedly has much, much more on their plate.

I wasn't attacking the Coco or any other NF, I was just saying how I like their style. The Bolt is on the Coconino in the Mormon Lake District.


The Beale is doing fire, and looked well from Humphrey today. I could also see the Bolt, the Point on the North Rim, and 2 new ones on the Kaibab. These are the Parallel and Woodbridge and they are being managed for resource benefit. These two separate fires may burn up to 10,300 acres.

Jim_H wrote:I wasn't attacking the Coco or any other NF

I know you weren't, I just bringing up a point that I didn't think had been mentioned here before. On a separate note, I didn't know you wore bows in your hair? I wouldn't guess it would be long enough enough to do so...

The Bolt by Munds park has a inciweb page. http://inciweb.org/incident/2426/

The Beale pushes towards 2000 acres an has made some good progress over the last few days. It burned through an area that looks to be comes of large trees over a grassy ground cover, out towards where the FR 786 joins FR 194. Might be worth a look to see how it is in a month or so, if out hiking Kendrick or something else. The area may respond really well with grass regrowth with all the rain we're having.

The Bolt as reached it's designated boundaries, according to a Coconino NF Twitter post. The 3 on the Kaibab are still going, but slowed with the rain.

...Lightening strike ignited the ridge above my house here in Alamogordo yesterday... amazing illumination through the night! Looks to have burned itself out , but Forest Service checking it out this morning with overflys. If it dropped down into an adjacent canyon (Mule) it could get nasty... that area is big time overgrown.

Our dry to wet to dry monsoon season has given us lots of rain to green things up and lower fire danger, and the dry spells have helped out a lot with numerous managed lightning fires. The 3 on the Kaibab are going well, and the one most likely to be noticed on local Flagstaff hikes, The Beale, is well over 3,000 acres. If you do any of the Kendrick Mountain hikes, you'll have a good view of the Beale. The Coco has a few as well, with two fire near the junction of 260 and 87 anticipated to grow to near 16,000 acres. There is also one near I-17 and Stoneman lake that may make 5000 acres.

This is a new one

Flaming Raccoon Starts Fire
SALT LAKE CITY -- Authorities say a raccoon that clambered up a power pole, touched electrical wires and burst into flames caused a grass fire in an industrial area of Salt Lake City.
Crews have now extinguished the fast-moving blaze that started when the burning raccoon fell to the ground. The fire burned about 10 acres and threatened several nearby businesses. No damage or injuries were reported.

No damage or injuries were reported? Liars. Are they forgetting about the raccoon? :whistle:

azbackpackr wrote:No damage or injuries were reported? Liars. Are they forgetting about the raccoon?

That's not damage, that's dinner!

Scroll about 1/3 of the way down.

An interesting link with 4 photos of areas in the Rincons that have burned multiple times in the 20th century. The lower right image probably looks the closest to what pre-settlement conditions in Sky Island mixed conifer would have looked like. A far cry from Mt Lemmon.

More drought in the state, a dry winter, limited moisture (mostly from the one March storm) since the start of the year, and usual spring conditions will soon prime the season. I wonder what will burn this year?

I read an interesting tidbit from NWS Flag saying that despite a relatively dry winter, they are not expecting the kind of wind that was experienced last spring, and therefore fire danger shouldn't be as bad in the higher elevations as last year. They indicated that the wind forecast was a result of this year's ENSO status. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I'm still hoping for another rain-maker or two before Memorial Day.