PEAKS ON FIRE! (photos)

[deerhunter]

All it takes is one careless $!^hole to ruin a forest!!!!!!!

[Red Rabbit]

This aerial photo gives a sense of size and location

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/collectio...e0.html?photo=3

[Red Rabbit]

8800+ acres listed. Looks to be pushing up the northeast of Doyle and also Little Elden from what I could tell from the Kachina Wetlands a few minutes ago. Has not backed down the southwest slope of Shultz peak ridge much. Didn't see or hear a slurry bomber, so they may be grounded due to wind.

[tjhunt2]

Thoughts and prayers for all those affected by the fires going on around Flagstaff. It just makes me sick to my stomach to see that beautifull country go up in smoke. Let's hope they get control of it soon. Thanks for the pictures Doug and please keep us updated.

 

TJ

[Red Rabbit]

Fire investigators have determined the cause of the 10,000-acre Schultz fire to be an abandoned campfire near Schultz Tank and Elden Trail.

 

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/article_8...1cc4c002e0.html

[Rembrant]

I certainly hope no one is hurt or any property is damaged. It's a shame that folks gotta evacuate their homes.

It's also too bad it was man caused. A natural caused fire in a wilderness area would be allowed to burn. Fire has been suppressed on that mountain for way too long. No deer food except in the very few meadows and the upper slopes at the top of the timber. The rest of it consists of canopy so overgrown that the sun can't hit the ground, and no brows/graze can grow; full of deadfalls anyway - a tenderbox.

And this is what we get after 100 years of fire suppression. BOOM!

This mountain is not damaged or ruined. All that canopy is being recycled and returned to the nutrient cycle. And it's way overdue. Think of the grasses, forbs, shrubs and aspens that will regenerate; deer food! Can you imagine the fall colors on that mountain in 5 to 40 years from now? Now the mule deer can spread out from that Mt. Elden deer factory (that was created by the Elden burn approx. 35 years ago), and populate what will certainly be some of the best mule deer habitat in the state. And it won't take that long. People got all emotional over the Rodeo-Chediski fire; been there lately?

This is the best thing that has happened to that mountain in my lifetime.

My prayer: No human casualties, no property damage, and maximun acerage burned.

 

Mike

[bowsniper]

Fire investigators have determined the cause of the 10,000-acre Schultz fire to be an abandoned campfire near Schultz Tank and Elden Trail.

 

So if the mountain is such a tender box, why didn't the forest service ban campfires? The forest service should take a major part of the blame for this one.

 

Mark

[Red Rabbit]

Mark, How about this?

The area on the south side of the peaks has permanent "no campfire" restrictions to protect the peaks. If the Schultz Pass area was determined to be a threat decades ago, why no permament restrictions there?

Lest we forget groups like Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, Forest Guardians, Southwest Center etc who have opposed many thinning projects and sucked up USFS budget in court.

 

From the AZ Daily Sun:

 

"The topography of Schultz Pass tends to exacerbate these winds, acting like a chimney, and making it a past priority for thinning.

 

Firefighters and some people living in Timberline have long seen the pass as a problem area, and it received some renewed attention during the 1996 fire season, when the Hochderffer and Horseshoe fires north of the San Francisco Peaks burned a total of 25,000 acres.

 

"This is a fire that we've talked about for 30 years," Summit Fire Chief Don Howard told an audience of the public gathered at Coconino High School on Monday night. "We knew it would happen -- we always hoped it wouldn't happen -- due to this pass' ability to push wind."

 

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/article_3...a6f460d490.html

 

 

 

[Red Rabbit]

From this morning's paper http://azdailysun.com/news/local/article_c...ed17d6e079.html

 

"The main entry road into Lockett Meadow had been burned over as far north as Forest Road 418 by Tuesday, and fire pushed high up the east side of Doyle Peak, one of the San Francisco Peaks, reaching to within a fraction of a mile from Doyle Saddle.

 

One flank of Sugarloaf Peak (next to Lockett Meadow) had also burned, and the fire had grown to nearly 22 square miles as of Tuesday at a firefighting cost of $978,600 and growing.

 

Worst-case scenarios projected the Schultz fire would grow to 24,000 acres -- or 38 square miles -- which would be the largest single wildfire by far ever recorded in the Flagstaff area, and cost $8 million to fight.

 

Access and setting firelines on the fire's western edge promises to be problematic, as the fire is already uphill from Waterline Road on the west, the road used by the city of Flagstaff to maintain its Inner Basin wells.

 

The Weatherford Trail is not promising as a fireline, Hughes added."

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

 

 

You know one of these days the Greenies might want to untie the hands of those who should be managing these forests.... Then Wild fires like this wouldn't always be so devistating or so dangerous to fight.... hope all the Flag-town Granolas enjoy driving by and through this blackened award for their Stupidity! Sorry just had to say it..... feel better now.

[Rembrant]

Thank you for saying that Big G.

I just had a resident - with a home next to the fire line - tell me that this Shultz fire was rolling along Little Elden until it hit the old Elden Burn, and went no further in that direction. This is a 35 year old burn working as an effective fire line. If it were to cross the Inner Basin and over to the North side, the maze of burns up there would stop it at that end.

I say as long as it is not threatening property, let her burn, reducing the chances of catastrophic fires in the future. Of course we should pull no punches at saving homes and property, but why spend $8 million fighting a fire in a wilderness area that hasn't seen a decent burn in a hundred years?

Why do we save pine trees just to have them - at such a cost? Heck we don't even log em anymore.

People that are talking about irreversable damage from these fires (this morning's Republic) don't know anything about nature.

The only thing that offends me about a dead ponderosa is that it's not being turned into lumber.

Most people's attitude about fire reflects the attitudes of the greanies. Most people think forest fires are terrible. Period.

Go figure.

 

Mike

[Red Rabbit]

Fire Progression map

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ftp/InciWeb/AZCOF/...3-112519-3.jpeg

[Red Rabbit]

You know one of these days the Greenies might want to untie the hands of those who should be managing these forests.... Then Wild fires like this wouldn't always be so devastating or so dangerous to fight.... hope all the Flag-town Granolas enjoy driving by and through this blackened award for their Stupidity! Sorry just had to say it..... feel better now.

 

Guess one could partially lay the blame on Tucson SWCBD. But I have never read the Daily Scum paper to lambaste one of these groups, so not expecting it here either.

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/article_b...2ba0ab0073.html