STORM2K

Well folks, here we go, another LOOOONG wildfire season is underway Our neighbor as most of you know, is a Black Mesa Hot Shot, Type II in Heber, home to the states largest wildfire in history. Seems over the Easter weekend, some @$$hole left their campfire unattended and started the first large wildfire of 2003, just 6 miles north of the Rodeo Chediski burn area, the fire is burning in the Chevelon Canyon area, the fire as of late last night was 75% contained. Ya know, what gives with these @$$holes, don't they know it's DRY YES......we've had near normal snowpack this year but it did NUTHIN to squelch the fire danger, just because we have 1 year in a row of normal precip doesn't mean the fire danger will go away I foresee the forest service closing the WHOLE forest down EARLY this year, they should, keep the Valinda Jo Elliotts out of the woods PERIOD!

Dennis

Another @$$-hole doing this .I hope that the fire is 100% contained and nobody gets hurt and no damage to properties happen.

Yep, the Forest Service probably should close the whole area. As the saying goes, laws are usually made to protect people from themselves! What a shame! I'm sorry to hear that Dennis. I hope that the moisture flow continues for you guys so that it'll start to alleviate the dryness left from those many years of drought.

We had it real bad here for wildfires in 98'.... It was crazy, i know exactly what your going through.... All the snow you got did not help you this year?

Could be a long year!

Dennis,
We have had a wetter winter,and an early spring run of 'Dry' ULLs coming off the California Coast the past couple of weeks,with more to come.
This brings little moisture and more wind,lots of wind.The new growth may dry out faster then normal on the windward facing slopes with the dry winds.
Our CWA(TUS)today,is calling for cooler temps(70s)and winds 25-30 with higher gusts up to 40-45mph.This will enhance our fire season start as well.As you may recall,the Mt Lemmon fire and the Nogales Fires that jumped the US/Mex Border preceeded the Rodeo/Chedeski debacle.
However,this year,we have more low lying fuel,succeptable to the azzholes that can't extinguish a camp fire that an Eagle Scout could handle with ease!Lowland grass fires have already popped up in this area lately.
Oh man,it's gonna be bad if the Lightning gets going early with Dry Strikes. :o Not good.How are we set for Firefighting $$$$$ this yr BTW?Can't be good.

The budget for the '03 fire season is by far the largest in history, some 1.7 billion $ has been set aside, only ONE HUGE problem. As some of you know, the FAA has ground over 90% of the Slurry Bomber Force this year due to the aging aircraft that they use. Hopes were to use the military aircraft, helos etc to help shore up the air support, WELL, with the war in Iraq, that kinda put a stop to that. This is a HUGE, HUGE concern, without the air support last year, I wouldn't be sitting here in Pinetop, nor would there be a town called Show Low.

The Haines Index as of this morning is sitting at 2, the Haines Index measures the moisture content in the fine fuels, pine needles etc. The moisture content in the live fuels is already at 37%, should be over 60% this time of year.

Chad.....all the moisture we received did virtually nuthin' to aid in the drought, all it did, as Arizwx said, was fuel the fine fuels growth, which in turn with all this wind we've been having, has created a tenderbox once again. To add fuel to the fire, so to speak, the Western Balsm Beetle has aided in making this wildfire season, even more volitale than last year and let me tell ya's, last year SUCKED, we ARE NOT going to evacuate this year, we have stores already of water, canned goods, BEER, WINE and smokes!

Dennis

chadtm80 wrote:We had it real bad here for wildfires in 98'.... It was crazy, i know exactly what your going through.... All the snow you got did not help you this year?

I know exactly what you mean Chad ... I lived in Orlando that summer and boy was it a bad one. I remember when the toll roads were toll free so people could evacuate. :o

Dennis ... stay safe WxBud, don't wantcha gettin' hurt.

I wish you a lot of luck, Dennis. This doesn't sound good... at least the budget is there, would be worse without the money available.

Chad and Joshua, I remember the fires of 1998 in Florida, listening and watching the news reports from southeastern Massachusetts. I actually went to St. Augustine, Florida with one of my brother's and sister-in-law a year and a half ago and saw the black-charcoal looking trees along I-95, north of Daytona Beach.

I remember in 98 we left from S FL to visit family in NC. On trips we always travel at night. They were stopping traffic in some places because the fire was so close and smoke was so thick. You could barely see the tailights of the car in front of you. The smoke was like a wall. I won't forget that very soon.

Debbie

it's the SECOND major wildfire in AZ for 2003. There was the Border Fire a couple of weekends ago down near Palominas which burned 1500 acres.
That one was Courtesy of Vicente Fox and his people as it was clearly started by an illegal apparently either discarding a cigarette, a match or deliberately starting it-take your choice-the fire started in the daytime, the illegal was seen running away from it by a BP Agent, and the temperatures were hardly cold. Typically we see less rain down here normally than do Tucson or the Whites and with the winds down here gusting in 50-70 mph range as these dry systems come through we have really dried out ( the last system prior to today's produced gusts over 60mph near Bisbee). The dewpoints have also been in the low teens as of late and our windy month (May) and even lower dewpoints (which can go well below zero down here with temperatures near 80 or so) are yet to come.

Steve

I was under the impression that the Forest area where Valinda started her little conflagration WAS closed to the Public at the time. I had the impression that she and her companion were part of the "Laws are for everyone else but me" crowd.

Steve

That's exactly right Steve, they WERE in a *closed* area, that's why the case for all intents and purposes is no where near being closed. Since becoming a member of the White Mountain Apache Police Force, I've learned a WHOLE helluva lot more about the continuing case against Valinda and her partner in crime. Since this incident took place on Federal Land and the Az Attorney General chose not to file charges, the WMAT is still pursuing avenues in which to charge her with. This is far from over by any stretch of the imagination!

Dennis

Why did the AZ Attorney General choose not to prosecute?

The AZ Attorney General at the time is our now esteemed Governor and she probably felt that it would look bad to the voters if she picked on some poor woman who started the second part of the State's largest ever wildfire to signal for help. In actuality, I don't think that decision has ever been explained adequately-or for that matter to everyone's satisfaction.

Steve

This is pathetic. I say the situation needs to be taken care of IMMEDIATELY.