Category: Yarnell

I had to see it although I wasn’t sure I wanted to.  Yet there is beauty to the land amongst the devastation of the Yarnell fire.  It is spotty with some homes singed, others flattened and some still standing.  Very difficult to wrap my head around.

Saw the recognizable contour of the Weaver Mountains from about 20 miles north.  Wasn’t until I approached Peeples Valley that I saw the char between the boulders stark protrusions and the sharp contrast of a ruddy line on scrubby foliage from the air dropped retardant that saved the block-long business district of blink-and-you-missed-it Peeples Valley.

Although State Route 89 had opened to the public that morning traffic was minimal, and not in a hurry.  It was though drivers approached Yarnell with a bit of reverence, and I hope respect.  The main drag looked like a typical sleepy summer day except for the prolific amount of security presence of fire, police, utility companies, gov agencies and saw-horse signs stating the side roads are closed except to local homeowners.

I crept into town, not really knowing where to start or go.  I wasn’t sure my Yarnell drivers license would get me past those signs with only a PO box.  Yet no one stopped me as I barely rolled through the 4 blocks of town.

I stopped at friend Patty’s bead and antique store because she was open.  I knew her home survived.  We chatted about the activities of the last week while I waited for a call from Berta so we could rendezvous somewhere.  I felt a sense of calm, or maybe procrastination to enter the fire struck part of the community where I live half the year.

No one stopped me at the road closed sign into Glen Illah and I followed a rig with a “media 5” decal from somewhere.  That made me a little angry, but I soon slowed to no more than 3 mph stunned by what spread around me and forgot all else.

A building standing surrounded by charred remains as if the fire knew where the property lines of man lie.  APS trucks and bulldozers everywhere, people working to restore some sense of sanity.

At Berta’s request I first drove by another friends devastated home where he were supposedly digging in the ash but had instead realized the job was too big so I didn’t find him.  I slowly made a loop around one of the many curvy roads to head for my own driveway.

Both sides of the road had these geometric silvery shapes with very little topography, maybe a tireless car and the twisted remains of fence.  Yet still the scattering of other homes still standing amongst the burn.

The low scrub gone, a layer of charcoal on the hard baked ground, and stark silhouettes of the various height oak exposed the rounded boulders suddenly standing out more than ever.  Almost a winter scene on negative film.  A cleansing has occurred.

As I drove over the wash the view was open due the loss of foliage and I could see a silly natural wood and stone sculpture placed on a large boulder years ago, untouched.

Friend and neighbor Gail’s house stands as before, and she has water to be boiled as the systems are repaired yet won’t return until the power is back on.  The spottiness of charred ground caused confusion.

My shed stands with a new patina, doors open.  But it’s not the first place I head.  Instead I just wander around trying to take this in.

Finally, I just have to look.  This small tin shed, packed floor to ceiling with boxes and tubs of I’m not even sure what anymore has been reduced to an eight inch blanket of white ash.  Vaporized.  Several ceramic bowls and crocks lay at the opening, mostly brittle and cracked although a few seem fine if not just a little dirty.  Mom’s cookie jar smiles out of the gloom.

I wasn’t wearing the right footwear to step into this mess yet couldn’t stop from stirring in the closest ashes and discovered a few spared treasures.

It took a while to walk to Berta’s not because of the physical distance.  Her house has always been a second home to me.

Yet it is a dangerous structure right now so I didn’t venture too closely.

So many inconsistencies.  Such a feeling of confusion.

Now time to clean up.  Many volunteers and locals help with clearing up the remains.  Think I’ll buy a cheap pair of boots at the thrift store, get a shovel and rubber tubs to save the ashes until I have more time to sift through it all.

And when the new growth returns, as it will, new beauty will surround our currently stark and charred neighborhood.  Life goes on in this ever changing world.

The Yarnell Hill Fire caused loss of lives, homes and possessions, all precious in their own way.  The question is, should this have happened?

Photo from AZ State Air Attack plane on 06/29/13

In the beginning

A Friday night lightning strike on the Weaver Mountains with no rain started a fire in the crispy dry chaparral.  Smoke could be seen from the backyards of residences.  A friend called the local volunteer fire department who was aware of the incident and said Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was on the scene.

An 8-10 acre fire increased to 200 acres by Saturday and extreme temperatures and wind moved the fire closer to the small community of Glen Illah at the southwest end of Yarnell, Arizona.  BLM were there watching.  Why wasn’t this put out right away?

AP photo Tom Story

And so it burns

Sunday at 7am aircraft were finally ordered and the Arizona State Forestry wildland-firefighting team assumed command at 10am.  By then the blaze had increased to 800 acres heading north towards Peeples Valley and in the afternoon Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshot crew were sent in to Yarnell to establish a fire line to save homes from the growing inferno.  Prescott firefighters were joined by the US Forest Service to attack the fire from ground and air.  By late afternoon the people in town were told to evacuate.

What would you grab from your home with a five minute warning?

Tragedy strikes

National Weather Service meteorologists in Flagstaff were tracking a monsoon thunderstorm with 40mph winds to the north of the Yarnell Hill Fire.  Calls were made to incident command.  Swirling winds pushed the fire back south towards town and an unprecedented wave of flame engulfed 19 of the 20-man hotshot crew.  The largest loss of life during a fire in Arizona’s long history of fires.  And now 2000 acres burned.

We mourn for these firefighters.  An investigation is underway.

Taking this seriously

Late Monday the Type 2 fire was re-designated as Type 1, the most complex kind of wildfire, and the federal government took over from the state fighting this now 8400 acre wildfire with 0% containment.

By Tuesday approximately 500 firefighters were on the scene along with air support and with little growth in the fire achieved 8% containment.

Wednesday, the winds calmed a bit and the temperatures decreased allowing for a 45% containment attained by 600 firefighters.  Media fly-over images began to show downtown Yarnell still standing and a patchwork of destruction mostly in the neighborhood of Glen Illah.  Yet even though I live there six months of the year I had difficulty discerning where and what I looked at.

Some allowed to return

Thursday afternoon evacuees from Peeples Valley just 3 miles north of Yarnell were allowed back to their homes.  Later in the evening the containment had reached 80%.

By now anxious homeowners had been made aware if they still had a home to return to.  Yet Yarnell residents remained under evacuation orders while utilities and infrastructures were checked for safety.  Because of the bouldered terrain hot spots could linger.

Photo taken by a Fire Information Officer on 7/3/13

Making repairs

On Friday APS began installing power poles and restringing lines.  As part of the recovery, portable toilets will be installed in Yarnell, along with trash dumpsters to help with the cleanup. Rakes, shovels and other tools will also be available to residents.  By evening the Yarnell Hill Fire was reported at 90% containment.

The aftermath

Friends who made it safely to Wickenburg 30 miles to the south recently discovered their homes were lost while others were luckier.  There is talk of rebuilding but right now is a time to find more than a hotel room to live in, some place to rent not too far away.

The evacuation is being lifted at 9am Monday.

I both want to see, and not see, what is left of our neighborhood.

Yarnell is a small and friendly community of about 600 people where the 80 year-olds take care of the 90 year-olds, the 70 year-olds take care of the 80 year-olds and the 60 year-olds take care of the 70 year-olds .  It’s primarily a retirement community with so few children the school was closed.  The business community is made up of one grocery store, two restaurants and several antique and second hand stores.  A town that not many had heard of may be remembered as where 19 brave firefighters perished.

Fire is a natural part of the environment but these mountains hadn’t burned in 40 years.  Massive buildup of dead fuel combined with long term drought, excessively high temperatures and powerful winds allow monsoon lightning to set the land a blaze.

Yet from the ashes rises the Phoenix of new birth.  By no later than spring green shoots and buds will show their colorful blooms.

I followed this story online from my summer base at Grand Canyon’s North Rim because Yarnell is my home town and many of my dearest friends live there.  If I got some of the facts wrong I apologize.  This has been a most difficult time.

People have pulled together and made donations for the firefighter families and residents.

Sites with fire information:

https://www.facebook.com/YarnellHillFire     Yarnell Hill Fire Official Information

https://www.facebook.com/GraniteMountainHotshotsMemorial     Official website for the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Incident Management Team

http://www.100club.org/web/100Club    https://www.facebook.com/100Club     Providing support to public safety for over 40 years

http://yarnellfallenfirefighters.com/     The official team website

http://www.wffoundation.org/     Provide emotional and financial assistance to firefighters and their families

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3461/     Incident Information System

https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php     American Red Cross safe and well program

Media sites followed:

http://www.dcourier.com/

http://www.azfamily.com/

http://www.abc15.com/

http://www.azcentral.com/

Sending out help:

http://arizona.newszap.com/eastvalley/123800-114/the-need-everything-group-collecting-donations-to-help-yarnell-fire-victims-rebuild

As of this posting 8400 acres burned at 90% containment with diminishing amounts of creeping and smoldering.