San Francisco Peaks (Flagstaff, AZ) burning

[OutToLunch]

For the second time this year, we have a major fire on the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff. This one is worse, far worse, than the first. Zero containment, high winds and a dry forest.

This fire was started yesterday by a 57 year old man from Louisiana who had a camp fire. (Daytime temps were only in the 80s.). Don't know if he was one of the homeless or transients living in the forests (there are a lot of them) or just some bozo camper who can't live without a campfire. He fled but FS Law Enforcement, of which there are far too few, did manage to arrest him.

Fire was reported at 10.20 AM yesterday and rapidly spread to 5,000 acres by nightfall as yesterday was a Red Flag Warning day. Probably would have spread farther but it ran into the burn scar of last month's fire.

Today, the winds are worse with gusts 45-50 mph. The fire has reached the ridge of Fremont Peak and is expected to burn down into the inter basin.

Third major fire on the peaks in the last fifteen years, second one caused by a campfire.

It has been a brutal spring in Northern Arizona with more Red Flag Warning days than normal (I counted twelve in May) and higher heat than normal.

After 33 years in Flagstaff and forty years in the West, it just might be time to leave.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Bad news.At least they caught the camper.
Be interesting to hear a follow up story.
Thanks.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

It gets scarier and scarier. Hang in there and stay safe. With bad conditions it only takes one idiot.......

 

[JWL]

Unfortunately these conditions are almost everywhere! Our friends in Grand Junction CO temps are about the same as ours here in S Texas. We are breaking record highs every day and it is only June. It has been sooo windy we feel like we are living back in NM and we are having zero rain and praying that some idiot doesn’t start a fire.
yes, scary indeed!

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Well, I’ll go out on a limb here but another example of why I’m to the point where ALL OPEN WOOD CAMPFIRES SHOULD BE BANNED, regardless of season, conditions, etc. Full stop, end of story. With climate change and drought to deal with, I see no reason to continue allowing what is essentially an act of nostalgia or aesthetic. I acknowledge that many wildfires are caused by lightning and power lines but if we can prevent some percentage of causation then we’re ahead.

As an aside, we’re currently “camped” along the Rincon Parkway beach, less than 150 yards from the past devastation of the Thomas Fire which burned from Santa Paula up into Santa Barbara, causing not only damage due to fire but also devastating mudslides…loss of life and property. What did I find as I pulled into our reserved space? Yup, a still smoldering campfire. I’m now convinced no amount of education or permits is going to prevent stupid. I’m just over campfires.

 

[ski3pin]

Well, I’ll go out on a limb here but another example of why I’m to the point where ALL OPEN WOOD CAMPFIRES SHOULD BE BANNED, regardless of season, conditions, etc. Full stop, end of story. With climate change and drought to deal with, I see no reason to continue allowing what is essentially an act of nostalgia or aesthetic. I acknowledge that many wildfires are caused by lightning and power lines but if we can prevent some percentage of causation then we’re ahead.

As an aside, we’re currently “camped” along the Rincon Parkway beach, less than 150 yards from the past devastation of the Thomas Fire which burned from Santa Paula up into Santa Barbara, causing not only damage due to fire but also devastating mudslides…loss of life and property. What did I find as I pulled into our reserved space? Yup, a still smoldering campfire. I’m now convinced no amount of education or permits is going to prevent stupid. I’m just over campfires.

Yup.

 

[Lighthawk]

I’m now convinced no amount of education or permits is going to prevent stupid. I’m just over campfires.

I conditionally agree with you. We've seen too many of these daytime pyromaniacs in official CGs. Every morning someone has to start another fire; upwind of course. We've also found too many illegal fire rings on the road and on the trail, sometimes with hot ashes in evidence. What annoys me is when people build yet another fire ring when there's already one there. Sometimes they do it on bare granite at one of our favorite swimming lakes. I'm quite good at deconstructing illegal fire rings.


There are times a fire seems appropriate. I remember a group of freezing college kids camped with their UC professor at Eureka Dunes Dry Camp, DVNP on a 15F night. The campfire was in a metal ring, in an official CG, and was needed for warmth. But, we're all caveman descendants and have this imprinted attraction to fire. Heck, my living room now has a gas FP with a remote!

 

[PaulT]

But, we're all caveman descendants and have this imprinted attraction to fire. Heck, my living room now has a gas FP with a remote!

Well... As a denizen of California, I sincerely hope you have taken the online campfire certification training and appropriately registered your fireplace remote and store it securely when not actively using it.

Paul

 

[OutToLunch]

Open flames that did not have a shutoff valve were banned. The guy accused of starting the fire was burning toilet paper. Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[teledork]

I still think of the entitled and deliberately illiterate people I encountered in 2020. They tried to convince me that their dispersed campfire was legal because they had a permit and one of those portable fire rings. They had no shovel or water.

And then I remember hiking out through a campground last September. All of the fire rings had been wrapped with red tape with NO FIRES written on it. The air was full of smoke from Dixie/Caldor/etc but someone had a fire going - at 10:30 am. I spoke with another person who said, yup - the fire had been going all night but the camp host, along with the other campers did nothing in spite of having good cell service in the campground.

No fires. Even in "official" campgrounds.
Patrols - citizen if necessary - don't engage - just make a call with location - (this is being seriously talked about around here)
Get rid of any camp host who is incapable of so much as calling in law enforcement.
And maybe it is an appropriate purpose for those drones to look for that telltale glow of a campfire in dispersed sites.