Yuma crews battling massive fire

YumaSun.com ^ | Mar 13, 2003 | KERRY POHLMAN

[farmfriend]

Yuma crews battling massive fire

BY KERRY POHLMAN, SUN STAFF WRITER
Mar 13, 2003

A fire northeast of Yuma consumed between 800 and 1,000 acres Wednesday and was still burning.

"It's big," said Lori Cook, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. But she added, "I don't think it will get any bigger."

As of Wednesday evening, the fast-moving fire was 75 percent contained.

Smoke and flames rise from a brush fire
north of Mittry Lake Wednesday afternoon.
Photo by Charles Whitehouse

The blaze, located west of Yuma Proving Ground and north of Mittry Lake, caused the evacuation of several campers in the area. Nearby homes at the Hidden Shores RV Village, however, were not threatened, Cook said.

This morning, Imperial Dam Road was expected to reopen for YPG employees to get to work.

Investigators suspect the fire was human-caused, but they don't know more.

The vegetation burning includes cattails, willows, cottonwoods and salt cedar. Despite the recent rains, this area is still parched, Cook said.

"We've had several years of drought and that vegetation is still very, very dry," she said. "It just takes that one spark to start a wildfire."

A stream of water from a Yuma Proving
Ground fire engine is sprayed onto
part of a brush fire near Mittry Lake.
Photo by Charles Whitehouse

In a matter of hours, the fire grew from several acres to nearly 1,000. A blanket of smoke could be seen from Yuma, about 30 miles away.

"The west side is really giving us a problem," said Cook, who added that the fire was pretty well contained from the other directions.

Agencies attacking the fire include BLM, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rural Metro and YPG.

Two more 20-person crews were being brought in today. BLM also requested a helicopter to fly over and help assess the damage.

[farmfriend]

And so the fun starts.

[scab4faa]

Oh this is going to be bad for us in the mid-west. Colorado took such a beating last year, I can only hope our Mtn snowpack will help us out. We need more rain!

[B4Ranch]

Yep, get out the smoke filters.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks.

Ebuck fyi!

We were getting fairly dry in N. Kali until last night's frog drowner that came through. I had reset the timers for our drip irrigation system to 3 times per week.

[OldFriend]

Weather much too warm in Denver, much too early. Already considering water restrictions. Good luck!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Senator526]

I could see the fire from my house. Lots of smoke. Just about out now. They say it was started by a smoke canister dropped by The Golden Knights. Just an accident.

[EBUCK]

Thanks for the ping...

G'Pa, I saw that the weather in your area was getting pretty rough. How much rain did you get? And can you send some south, priority mail would be fine, water is only what 8.3 lbs per gallon...and they need around 4 billion gallons down in AZ so can you foot the shipping???? I could help out with probably 10 bucks!!

[farmfriend]

They have a couple of lakes of ice in Michigan. Perhaps we can trade them some warm weather for ice?

[Grampa Dave]

I have heard from 3 to 5 inches.

My raingauge got broken in the December Monsoons we had before Christmas. The poor spring just snapped for the weight of the water.

[Grampa Dave]

Yeah, the global warming is really hitting the Great Lakes Area this winter.

You saw that Bliz is more concerned about the damage from Global Warming than the WMDs that Soddomite has?

[farmfriend]

Yep, Ignorance is Blix.

[Conservative4Ever]

Glad they got it out...but this kind of stuff is just another day in Calif country.

Red

[farmfriend]

but this kind of stuff is just another day in Calif country.

Don't I know it. Not only am I a native to this great state, my dad worked on many a fire.

[EBUCK]

well, just got to figure out how to bottle and ship nice weather...

[EBUCK]

Any flooding?????

[Tijeras_Slim]

Here we go again! :)

[farmfriend]

The federal government likes to play God, I'm sure they can figure something out. It will have all the efficiency of the Postal Service.

[EBUCK]

...It will have all the efficiency of the Postal Service....

we're doomed.