Posted on 05/21/2014 6:25:19 PM PDT by crz
The Slide Rock Fire, in the well known are of Oak Creek Canyon, north of Sedona, has grown to some 4000 plus acres.
It is ZERO percent contained at this time.
I have been down that canyon a ton of time. Its burned now. But, the Oaks should be ok as they tend to regen from a fire. But the Fir and Pond Pines are done for.
It’ll take a hundred years to get back to what it was.
heavy smoke being reported in greater Flagstaff area and
“Crews are currently conducting burn out operations off FSR 535 to create defensible space between the fire and HWY 89 and FSR 535.”
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3874/
Thank-you for the update and the specifics. I will pray on this sad news. My husband and I were reminiscing about our last trip there. How we must appreciate what we have, especially the beauty that will be missed.
This is so sad. Prayers go out to all the residents and firefighters.
535, I believe is where the Tea Cup sale is. I was supposed to be on the logging crew that cut that area till the worthless A Hole that owns the company decided to cut the crew. So I have been laid off since early March and am heading back up to Upper Pen of Michigan to work.
Anyway, if that fire gets into the brush piles and those go up..its all over. Down past Rodgers Lake we did a sale last winter (Railroad Springs)that has brush piles about 30 foot high and a hundred feet long. MANY of them. And they are dry. That is not far from the fire.
Am not impressed at all with the quality of logging companies down here. They wouldnt last two days back up in the upper mid west. Oh there are a couple good ones, but the rest are the cut and get out type we drove out of up there.
It has been a disaster in waiting. The USFS has been dancing to the tune of the eco freaks for years and now they decided to try and thin those forests out...AFTER they helped drive the wood manufacturing (sawmills, pulpmills) out of the state.
Now there is no place to go with the timber. So they decide to put in place this 4 FRI program..a government subsidies program to have a company come in an establish plants to use that timber. They let the contract to a guy who had gone bankrupt before, had a couple such contracts take away from him and THEN, he transfers the contract to a foreign company which is...you guessed it-A GREEN ENERGY Corp. Owned by a mideast oil baron and financed in part, by..you guessed it again..A CHINESE FIRM.
I appreciate your info.
Online audio:
Northern Arizona Wildland Agencies:
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/9705
Flagstaff Fire and EMS (not yet involved):
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/7
Thanks for the shocking insight. Very disturbing to this AZ native. The ignorant, strident Left will ruin this country sooner than we expect. Thinning is GOOD for forests and essential. Dickheads. I hate them.
I never heard of a fire in Oak Creek. Is it unusual? Could this be arson or otherwise man-caused?
We logged right up to Fort Tuthill. That is where they sabotaged our equipment. That is where I nearly flattened a lady that stood in the way of the harvestor I was running as she was trying to stop us from cutting. I told her husband he had 10 seconds to get her ass out of my way before I dropped a big one on top of her. He got her out of there.
It is suspected to be man caused.
Zane Gray, I think.
I think the fire started in the area of Slide Rock Park and ran up the canyon wall and then has spread north from there.
I agree that the area above the rim to the north has nothing to stop it.
They weren’t able to put the planes on it this afternoon from news reports I read, due to high wind — 25 gusting to 35.
Looks to me that that pic was taken atop the rim coming from Flag before you dropped down over the rim. Would you believe that the woods off to your side was logged just a few years ago? It was.
This is the future of logging. This is a piece of equipment that is brought in after the merch timber is taken out. They then chip it for area bio mass or wood fired plants that use the material for heating etc. Although this demo is in TX where no doubt it was used for bio-mass for co-gen operations.
Messersmith Engineering makes wood chip boilers for hospitals, schools etc which are used for heat. Way cheaper than other types of heating fuels, where available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-11yXWMqjSg
Lord, I think I am going to be sick after looking at those pictures.
Yup, I have some shots just like that from the overlook area at the head of the canyon after you come up that series of switchbacks.
This is a double blow to the small cottage and cabin business in the canyon — they were going to have the 89A shut for three months this summer making it a dead end from the south. The project the road crew was going to do was peal the rock back on the switchback area as it is a big hazard and tough to keep safe in the winter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.