Wallow Fire on the Mogollon Rim
The Wallow fire has grown to 388,000 acres and still has zero containment. It looks like it may break the Arizona worst fire record, which is one record no one wants to see topped!
Our neighbors, Gary and Darcy Ely, loaded dogs and horses and pulled out this morning. The smoke at their ranch was too thick to breathe freely. The Elys have the 4 Drag ranch at the north end of Eagle Creek. They are 2 ranches north of us, about 12 miles. The smoke lifted here with the daily high winds we have been having.
We can clearly see flames on the mountains north of us. The winds have been from west or south west, and that has helped keep the fire off Eagle Creek. The winds are expected to shift to from the north tonight. I guess we will see what that causes when we get up in the morning.
The hotshot crews are considering a burn back fire about 1 mile from the 4 Drag to burn out vegetation and create a fire break today.We hope it works. Doug and I don’t want to load up and leave everything to the mercy of the fire. But it could happen. Unfortunately, there are no rain storms expected in the near future.
So – it is wait and see here at the Double Circle. The Forest Service emailed everyone to not do any work that may cause a spark. The whole country is a tinderbox. We sent our fence crew home days ago. Now we have been told to not even move our cattle. I am just opening gates between pastures. I will regather and start herding again when this emergency is over. I sure hope that is soon.
Hey
Good to hear the fire is staying away for now. Hopefully your neighbors don’t lose their homes or any of their livestock. And hopefully rain will be coming soon too.
Hi, I hope all is well now. The picture of the fire looks menacing enough and I don’t even want to imagine what could have gone wrong. I hope nobody suffers huge losses and everything gets back to normal soon. As Kyle said, hope it rains soon too, that would bring some relief.
Julianne,
Everyone here is hoping for rain too. There are already huge losses unfortunately. The cost of fighting Wallow fire is high in the millions– I haven’t heard the exact figure. 32 families have loss their homes and 4 people there busnesses so far. More ranchers will have lost fences,corrals,waterlines, water troughs and tanks- all kinds of improvements. I imagine the improvements lost are in the millions too. But probably the biggest loss is to the land and critters. It is hard to tell the impact Wallow will have on wildlife, both land and water. Plus the fire was so hot that the earth is scorched. Loss of soil and microorganizisms may be the unseen but most devastating loss of all. The land will recover- but it could take decades- even longer.
Rain sure would be welcome!
Wilma
Wilma