Even though parts of southern Arizona received some rain late yesterday, the southwest remains very hot and dry. It is hope the the summer rains will help firefighters contain the fires without additional loss of life after the 19 deaths in the Yarnell Hill Fire last night.
When conditions are this dry, rain is needed to add moisture, reducing the amount of fuel for wildfires. However, with rain comes lightning, as was the case with yesterday’s rain in southern Arizona. Lightening started a fire at about the 5,000′ level in the Santa Catalina Mountains, not far from the eight mile marker on the Catalina Highway. The fire has burned over 200 acres and has been named the Prison Fire since is in the area where the former WW-II prison camp, now the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site.
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View of Catalina Highway near Windy Point with smoke to the upper right and a red helicopter near the lower center of the photo.
On most Mondays in the summer, I hike with the Monday Morning Milers on Mount Lemmon. This morning’s hike was on the Knagge Cabin trail at Incinerator Ridge, which is located about 3,000′ above the Prison Fire.
Readying the bucket to drop water on hotspots.
After starting the hike, I noticed a red helicopter circling below, so I move for a better view of what was up. The helicopter was landing near a water tank where a bucket was being attached to a cable from the helicopter.
Since I had driven up the mountain by myself, not needing to wait for other hikers, I decided to get a closer look at this helicopter firefighting method to help put out hotspots. Driving down the highway, stopping at several points to take photos. I was not able to go into the Prison camp area because of security, so my closest photos were taken near the entrance. A professional photographer was nearby, so we talked about the wildfire. He is in one of 26 images you can see on Flickr by clicking here.
kenne
Images by kenne (To See More Images, Click here.)
Related articles
- 19 AZ firefighters confirmed dead (kypost.com)
- Fire in Santa Catalina Mountains grows to 200 acres (azstarnet.com)
- Photos: Arizona Firefighter Deaths Mark Active Wildfire Season (usnews.com)
- It Is Dry, Dry, Dry (kenneturner.com)
- Arizona wildfire balloons to 20-square kilometres after elite crew of 19 firefighters killed (news.nationalpost.com)
- Largest Line of Duty Death Incident for Firefighters Since September 11th (2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com)
- Obama statement on Yarnell fire tragedy (azstarnet.com)
- Monsoon hits Tucson with a bang (azstarnet.com)
