Rodeo and Chediski Fires merging near Show Low, AZ

CNN

[newsperson999]

Thousand more may need to be evacuated. This is a worst case scenario because the fire is forming a 50 mile long wall of flames. Forest firefighters are being redeployed to join local firefighters and focusing their efforts on saving homes.

[newsperson999]

Associated Press (Jun 23, 10:01 AM) SHOW LOW, Ariz. (AP) - Flames pushed unchecked toward this mountain city Sunday as firefighters struggled to save houses in a town just to the west and expected to be defending Show Low neighborhoods by midday.

"This is going to be a tough day," fire spokesman Jim Paxon said. "We're going to get beat up pretty hard."

Two enormous, wind-driven wildfires were believed to have merged into a 50-mile-long line of flame advancing through paper-dry forest in eastern Arizona. About 235,000 acres - 367 square miles - have burned since Thursday, and as many as 25,000 people have fled homes in more than half a dozen towns. It was unclear how many homes have been destroyed.

Show Low's 7,700 residents were ordered out late Saturday after the flames jumped a fire line crews were building about eight miles west of town, and the 3,500 residents of neighboring Pinetop-Lakeside followed early Sunday.

[Geezerette]

KFYI using this hour for updates. Charles Goyette interviewing key people for info.

Pinetop-Lakeside being evacuated.

Show Low will probably get hit by the fire this afternoon. Winds still the problem, 20 mph predicted.

Springerville receiving evacuees ... tripled size of people in that town.

Many in Phoenix have summer homes up there, so I suppose those residents will be coming back here ... if they can. Highways probably congested.

A firefighter said that in 37 years, he has never seen the likes of it. 322,000 acres up in flames today.

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[Geezerette]

Fires expected to burn until the middle of July or when the monsoons start.

g

[John W]

Save Forests by Cutting Down Trees

by: F.R. Duplantier From August 2000

The foolish policies of the U.S. Forest Service increase the likelihood of uncontrollable, raging forest fires like the one at Los Alamos.

"National forests throughout the West face a very high fire hazard because forest fires were suppressed for most of the 20th century," reports Robert Nelson of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. "Suppressing fire does not eliminate the risk of fire," he explains, "but instead defers it into the future, as wood levels continue to build up. When a forest fire eventually does break out, if not suppressed rapidly, it burns much more intensely, posing a major danger to lives and property and doing much harm to the environment."

In a recent issue of UpDate, a monthly publication of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Nelson emphasizes that "Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, and other top Clinton Administration officials know all this. However," he notes, "they are caught in a rigid ideological bind that has prevented them from taking effective fire prevention action for the past seven years."

Nelson identifies "three possible outcomes for the excess wood that past fire suppression has left standing on the western forests. It can be burned up in small, prescribed fires," he remarks. "It can be removed mechanically by cutting down and physically carrying out the trees. Or it can be left to burn up in occasional large and unintended conflagrations -- more of the potentially catastrophic forest fires like the one that broke out at Los Alamos."

Nelson criticizes the Clinton Administration for resorting to prescribed fires rather than the safe and effective alternative of timber harvesting. He points out that prescribed burning "faces major constraints. There is always the risk, as seen at Los Alamos, that the fire will get out of control," he affirms. "The weather and moisture conditions also have to be just right, and there is a serious problem of air pollution in many parts of the west. Finally, prescribed burning -- with all the fire precautions necessary -- is expensive."

It's too bad that the obvious solution, timber harvesting, is politically incorrect. "If the Clinton Administration and the environmental movement continue to put a rigid ideology above common sense," Nelson warns, "we can expect to see many more fire disasters like Los Alamos in the future."

Thomas Bonnicksen, professor of forest science at Texas A&M;, concurs. In the current issue of Environment & Climate News, a monthly publication of the Heartland Institute, Bonnicksen concludes that "high costs, safety concerns, and air pollution restrictions prevent widespread and frequent burning."

Bonnicksen recommends "mechanical thinning and timber harvesting. These are the most effective ways to manage forests," he argues. "They can be used with near-surgical precision, and they have the added advantages of creating jobs in rural communities and producing wood. Unlike prescribed burns by government officials, thinning and harvesting generate revenue."

Bonnicksen also chastises the Clinton Administration for its ideological opposition to timber harvesting. "We have reached a turning point in the history of our forests," he declares. "Unless we begin a large- scale restoration management program now, many of America's native forests will further deteriorate."

[Raymond Hendrix]

Does anyone have any maps or links on the fire and its progress?

[KirklandJunction]

I won't say where in Arizona I am now.

Last night a Smokey told me that the average humidity of a standing Ponderosa pine here now is less than 10%. Average humidity of a retail 2x4 in a (somewhere else!) lumber yard is around 19%.

More CLOSED signs, DO NOT CROSS tapes in the forest than a NYC crime scene.

Add the paranoia because lots of our local fire fighters are gone to help up on the Rim.

More than one 4x4 vigilante cruising about: "Hey Earl, ya' see some jerk starting a campfire, whacha' do?" "That depends on if I see 'em through my binocs, or my 'scope!"

[KirklandJunction]

Don't know how to do the graphics, but maybe this will work for you.

www.arizonarepublic.com

[Semper911]

This makes me ill to think about this area going up in flames. I grew up in Arizona, and have spent a lot of time in Pinetop.

I spoke to my sister (who still lives in AZ) last night, and the news there is that they now know what caused the smaller fire. Get ready for this: Some dopes who were out 4-wheeling ran out of gas and lit a signal fire so they might attract attention to get "rescued".

This was after the Rodeo fire was already burning out of control. They attracted attention all right.

[wittyone]

Satellite view animation - the size of the smoke cloud is amazing...

[KirklandJunction]

More fingerpointing than pine needles.

Everybody is blaming their favorite demon. Democrats blaming Reagan, Republicans blaming Clinton, locals blaming city folks, nouveau riche boutique weekenders blaming naive rednecks, everybody blames someone else.
Some really stupid whites blaming Apaches because the fires started on the res. Apaches could blame the white fanatics who insist on paving roads, building golf courses, tennis courts, bars, condos, and then whining about the loss of nature.
No one, yet, has a nice thing to say about the lost hiker who started a signal fire. She needs protective custody and a change of venue.

Thinning? Yo, sure. Get four people discussing thinning and you'll get at least sixteen opinions. None of which can be proven.

[WSGilcrest]

Wildfires Stories • Terrified Show Low scatters • Overgaard and Heber steeped in history • Hotshots lament losing to the 'monster' • Arizonans answer call • No respite from heavy smoke • Animals displaced by fire find creature comforts in Holbrook • Evacuated kids camp threatened by inferno • Federal fire agencies 'on the same page' • SRP, APS watch lines to Valley Multimedia • See a map detailing the fire's growth (6/23) •  (6/22) •  (6/19 & 6/20) •  View high resolution photos of the Rodeo fire (Requires the Macromedia Flash plug-in.) •  Satellite view of the fires Background •  Interactive graphic: Fire fighting and prevention Resources • Family well-being: Red Cross hotline 602-336-6681 • Pets: Arizona Humane Society 602-359-8595 • Evacuation: A citizen's guide • Get breaking news alerts via e-mail • Make azcentral.com your home page

[John W]

Excellent writing,I like your style.Was your opinion in there somewhere?

[katya8]

Where is our Military?

Where is our Air Force?

Where is the Department of Defense that is supposed to PROTECT AMERICANS???????

And why are so many fools still talking about "forest management" when the problem we're dealing with here, is massive incompetence of the Forest Service, Arsonists who enjoy watching people's homes burn down, and a government that services the needs of the rest of the world but doesn't care a flying patoeti about its own population.

[Semper911]

[Raymond Hendrix]

Thnks a lot.

[Raymond Hendrix]

Thanks a lot.

[Rice]

Does anyone know the status of Pinedale, which is a little west northwest of Show Low and Pinetop?

[Osinski]

Very sad and dangerous situation for all those involved.

[KirklandJunction]

LOL!

Thanks for the compliment John.

Actually, thanks for both compliments!