DefinitelyDressage.com

Yesterday a fire (human caused) started a little over a mile away from my house. It grew from 5 acres to over 1500 acres in 12 hours. I feel very lucky. The winds pushed it north and East. They are evacuating parts of Cave Creek. The winds are expected to rise again today. The fire dept estimates that the desert brush is 600% greater than normal due to our unusually wet winter. It is very smoky. Last night the hills glowed from the fire. Today I can see the charred hill tops. Air support stared with crop dusters dropping water. Now we have four tankers and hot shot crews. I feel very lucky and very sorry for those in the fires path.

Forest fires are scary. When we visited Yosemite a few years ago there were lots of evidence of previous fires as we drove around CA and Yosemite.

I am so sorry this is happening. Prayers for everyone to stay safe. Is your horse out of harm's way?

Sr, are you in a possible evacuation zone right now, or are you considered "safe" for now? Keep vigilant. Fire scares the poopie out of me. Folks around here don't even seem to know what county they are in, much less whether a burn ban has even been implemented sometimes. We've seen some fires started right across the road by some real ding-dong acts of stoopidity....

We have good friends in Sedona, so I'll check in with them.

Very scary! Glad for your check in srhorselady, but as texsuze says, stay vigilant.

I am luckily not in the mandatory evacuation area. The fire burnt over the Hills (approximately 3 miles away) yesterday leaving them charred. This morning it looked like there was one reassurgence on this side of the hill but it was quickly dealt with. Then the tankers dropped lots of bright red fire retardant on this side of the hills. Meanwhile it is still only 20% contained and burning near Cave Creek Az (small old horse oriented town just north of Scottsdale). There have been mandatory evacuations of about 40 residences (semi rural area) but no homes have burned. They have been hitting this fire hard from the air since they want to avoid putting too many fire men on a line due to Covid. There were winds today but not as bad as feared. I had my trailer checked out today and it is sitting hitched up. I’ve been in conversations with neighbors, some of whom don’t have trailers, so no animals will be left if we have to go. Next to me is a public boarding/training facility that has 70 plus horses when full. Luckily it is off season so far fewer now. However, it definitely would take multiple trips to get everyone out. However, everything is definitely looking more positive for us today. The fire is farther away and much of the smoke has cleared. We are all watching it, however, since even when contained and technically out (and we are no where near that yet) hot spots can flare back up. They are calling this the East fire and compared to other fires it is still relatively small at 2000 acres.

Swirling gusting winds today but cooler temperatures and firemen were able to get a handle on the fire. It is now 70% contained and approximately 100 evacuees have been allowed to return home. It has been very scary and as I drive through the area every where I see people out dealing with weeds and trimming bushes and trees. Landscapers are doing a big business. It was a major lesson that could have been a lot worse. We lost approximately 2000 acres of undeveloped rough desert State Trust lands, County Park lands, and a little National Forest land. They hope to get it totally contained tonight and tomorrow. But we are only entering the fire season. My eyes are sore from a combination of smoke and all the weed eating I have been doing on my property. Nasty globe chamomile is sending pollen everywhere and it is dry and ready to burn at any spark.

Keeping you in my thoughts. I've dealt with wildfire every year for the last three years, to the point that I wanted to understand it better and am in the process of getting my B.S. in Wildfire and the Urban Interface. Defensible space is key, most people don't do enough of it, and wind is the game changer. Be safe!

Thank you all for your good wishes! The fire that was threatening here is down to mopping up the hot spots. I’ve unhooked the trailer and put the truck back in the garage. Unfortunately this looks like the start of a very bad Fire Season. There have been at least three other outbreaks in the local area in the last week. One is in Rio Verde which may be in Exvet’s vicinity. (I hope all is well with her?) Another was within 10 miles of me, but across the freeway. Two of our County parks had to be evacuated and were burned in the last week. Unfortunately most of these are human caused. Later in the summer we will get our monsoon storms and lightning caused fires. The problem with wet winters is all the dried summer brush it leaves behind! Allergies are also bad too.

On the plus side the trees are gorgeous right now! The Palo Verde trees are just finishing their blooms. Trees are Just covered with everything from Pale to golden yellows. The Ironwood trees with their gray bark Are in full glory from deep to pale pink and some purple. Now the Vitex trees are starting To bloom with deep purple/indigo and other variety’s are white. The fresh green of other trees, and Mesquites with their puff ball Yellow blooms and seed pod add variety. It really is beautiful.

Prophetic words, Srhorselady. Right now there is a fire not 30 miles from my house that has already charred over 150K acres with no eta on getting it even remotely contained. This is only the beginning of fire season, so I would make sure your truck is gassed up and you can get your trailer out.

Stay safe, everyone.

Stay safe Redsoxlover! There are currently no fires close to me, but the smoke from the Bush fire is causing very bad air quality and is making my eyes burn. Fires are so scary.

Glad to hear that. I've been hearing about a big fire around Mt. Lemmon (Bighorn Fire) and wondered if anyone here was threatened by it.

Informational link: https://wildfiretoday.com/