Sedona Update

My neighbor, Ted Grussing (Ted Grussing Photography), launched early this morning in his Lambada motor glider and got this picture of the Slide Fire burning just northeast of Sedona. Since many of you have visited Sedona, I thought you might want to see this picture and get a local update. The airport (KSEZ) is in the center of the photo.



The 48 hour old, human caused, Slide Fire grew from 5000 acres as of this morning to 7500 this evening and is expected to grow to 8000 acres by tomorrow morning. There are 850 people fighting the fire, along with many air assets. So far, the crews have been able to contain the fire on the west side of the canyon and have avoided a run of the fire north east to Flagstaff. Zero percent containment, but they admit to making progress, and hope to report some containment numbers tomorrow morning.

The airport (KSEZ) is open for business with a TFR close by to the northeast.

We can smell the smoke. Until the wind stops, all bets are off.
Lots of money spent, but it is all about the wind I am afraid.

Great lesson in fire atmospherics

This shot, looking to the north shows the calm cold air from within the canyon flowing down slope to the south bringing smoke with it, and the hot smoke from the active burn area visible to the north flowing up into the prevailing winds and being carried to the north towards Flagstaff. This fire is burning in one of the most scenic areas of our state, and I'm kinda sick right now.

WOW!! Really awful and upsetting. I love this area!!! We're currently exploring the possibility or relocating there when Rich retires. Hope there's something left.

Roberta:

I flew over the airport yesterday on my trip out West. I wanted to stop to eat breakfast but decided against it and flew on. This is such a beautiful area. I hope they can keep the damage to a minimum.

I use to own property in Cottonwood and did a lot of hiking in the Oak Creek Canyon area. It is a beautiful area and this fire is heartbreaking. There are a lot of homes spread through the forest on top of that plateau so they have no protection.
That's a GREAT photo by the way!!

The smoke over the top of the ridge has been headed mostly toward the peaks, veering from slightly West to slightly East (right over my house). It's spooky with the smoke smell and ash dropping all over everything. Right now it's clear over the house and hopefully the rainstorms forecast for today will help contain the blaze.
(Flagstaff is in the middle of the smoke in that first green area; the peaks are obscured by the plume).

Hate to see this

I used to live in SoCal and lived through many wildfires. Had the ash falling from the orange colored sky. The drought is really creating problems for the entire west.

One of the most beautiful drives I have ever made was from Flagstaff to Sedona and back, through Oak Creek Canyon. Comparable to the North Georgia mountains, but not as much greenery. While in Sedona, we drove up to the airport (at my insistence, the other 3 just tolerated my whim, airports to them are just a place to change modes of transportation), and it has been on my bucket list ever since to fly into Sedona. That has been a while, since we flew to Vegas, and drove to Grand Canyon and Sedona, during the week the Olympics were in Atlanta, to escape the crowds. Good reason to keep pounding these cotton-pickin' rivets, got to get some of this stuff off my bucket list.

Looked bad this morning. The rain in the night hit Payson. Smoke filled the entire Verde Valley. Feel pretty bad for the folks in that mess. Wish the rains had soaked it.

Latest on the Slide fire

The evacuation warning was lifted today for a community south of Flagstaff- So my buddy got his stuff back... Things are looking up. The fire is 30% contained.
This could have been real bad though.

Current Resources: Approximately 1,236 personnel including 35 crews, 61 engines, 9 helicopters, 2 air attack planes.