Fire on fort: Grenade sparks blaze in Garden Canyon

Sierra Vista Herald/Review ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA — A Tuesday fire on this Southern Arizona post was caused by a ricocheting practice round from a 40mm machine gun-like grenade launcher that hit a tank hulk being used as a target, post officials said.

As of early Tuesday evening, the blaze, which is being called the Range 9 Fire, had consumed between 350 and 400 acres since it started about 10:30 a.m.

Using the special range on the post were soldiers of the Arizona Army National Guard’s 860th Military Police Company, according to fort officials. The company, whose headquarters is in Casa Grande, is at the fort doing its annual two-week training.

Fighting the fire is a number of U.S. Forest Service assets, including three Hot Shot Crews, one from Gila, another from Heber and the third from Payson, local Forest Service firefighters, two water-dropping helicopters, as well as a single engine air tanker and a twin engine heavy aircraft, both of which are dropping slurry, and a control aircraft. The range is an area of unexploded ordnance, and during the fire some of it “cooked off” but no injuries were reported.

Part of the area where the fire is burning was subject to a prescribed burn earlier this year by the U.S. Forest Service.

Bill Wilcox, the fire manager for the Coronado National Forest’s Sierra Vista Ranger District, said more than 100 firefighters, which also include fort firefighters, were on the scene.

Bright flames could be seen occasionally rising through columns of dense gray smoke, as a helicopter and aircraft alternated dropping water or slurry onto the blaze.

More than once the larger aircraft disappeared into the smoke as it attacked the fire over rough terrain, dropping its load of fire retardant.

Concerns of the fire spreading led to the closure of Garden Canyon, said post spokeswoman Tanja Linton. Military Police officers were sent up into Garden Canyon to tell civilians, such as birders, to leave.

Soldiers from the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion were also training in the area and initially it was thought they, too, would have to be pulled out but the 250 soldiers and others continued their training in the Garden Canyon area, while watching the fire’s activity.

Wilcox, who is the incident commander, said he has two more Hot Shot crews available, as well as two Arizona Department of Corrections groups. Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management provided an engine and crew, he said.

Later in the afternoon a cloud cover moved in, which Wilcox said was good because it helped put a lid on the fire. However, slightly after 5 p.m., there was concern the clouds would move out before sunset and that would create a heating environment for the fire to resume its destruction. Firefighters were working hot spots trying to control the path the fire can take, he said.

Late Tuesday, there was no estimated time the fire would be contained, although fighting it is was expected through the night into this morning, he said. Linton said the post will be providing MREs — meals ready to eat — and drinks to the firefighters Tuesday night “and hot chow” this morning.

Wilcox said although the fire seems to be heading into a controlled environment he could not put a percentage of how much of the blaze area was contained.

The best he could say was, “We’re holding our own.”

Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.

[Killborn]

“Hold muh beer and watch this!”

[Parley Baer]

Hehehe. Maybe it is the Apache’s getting ready to raid the fort.