Once again, Arizona burns.

[Gunslinger808]

Another summer is upon us, and I think this one is going to set records for fires.
So far there are 2 fires with at least 25,000 acres each burning East of me.
Highway 60 is closed from Superior to Miami, Top of the World is being evacuated, and Superior is waiting for the same order.

View from Florence, that’s all smoke, not clouds.

 

[QuietM4]

This is my shocked face...

 

[azrik]

They are hitting this one hard. I've counted up to 12 air tankers working it at the same time on Saturday.

6 planes working it as of 7pm Sunday:

 

[QuietM4]

Ha, I was tracking the tankers on FlightAware today.

Every summer, I hear about how the US always has to borrow or hire tankers out of Canada to fight forest fires all over the US. I don't know why we (the US) doesn't operate a fleet of tanker aircraft (large drop tankers, helicopters, lead aircraft, etc.) I know the obvious answer is money, but wouldn't it be less expensive to operate a fleet of 50ish aircraft stationed around the western US than to let forests burn, along with homes, businesses, etc? Isn't it easier to knock out a fire immediately, instead of waiting for 2-4 days until tankers can show up?

Last year I watched the tankers fly in and out of the canyons on My Lemon...incredibly impressive. Those pilots have big brass ones. Not a whole lot you can do if something goes wrong and you are flying at 1000ft.

 

[Gunslinger808]

Their flight path for Williams Gateway is right over my house, in the last 3 days between the two fires it’s a constant back and forth.
Friday night I could see the flames, not just the smoke.

 

[Basher]

Not a whole lot you can do if something goes wrong and you are flying at 1000ft.

1000’ AGL is generous, LOL. We heli guys often fly at half that on the regular. Fire guys? They’re frequently even lower, both fixed and rotorcraft. Gotta get down in it to make an accurate drop, as well as to fill your bucket! A former instructor of mine had an engine fire light come on last month, which was thankfully false. Said the seat cushion started to migrate up his crack a bit until he was able to verify it was a false alarm! :lol:

 

[nimrag]

My mom lives just north of Payson. I was up there this weekend riding the quad around. Several of the springs the feed into the east Verde river were completely dry. She has been up there since ‘92 and I have never seen these particular springs dry. They usually have quite a bit of water coming out all year.

 

[AZ_Five56]

This guy I know in town posts a lot of aviation content on IG, but he also does some fire content with all of the slurry bombers he's chasing. He got these photos out near Superior.

I was reading his photo description about how close the fire is to the arboretum. I sure hope that place doesn't burn. It's been a family favorite for years.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP1I8vehmbM/

 

[Gunslinger808]

Telegraph is now up to 61,000 acres, less than 10% containment, evac orders in place for Miami as well now.

 

[pvreb]

My mom lives just north of Payson. I was up there this weekend riding the quad around. Several of the springs the feed into the east Verde river were completely dry. She has been up there since ‘92 and I have never seen these particular springs dry. They usually have quite a bit of water coming out all year.

Too many years of Smokey Bear have caused the forest to overgrow. Part of the result is the ground water has caused streams to stop and springs to go dry. The other effect is the fires we see now. Things would not be so bad as they are, even with the drought, if we had let nature take its course.