Today's high winds began shoPalominasrtly after I got to school, but I didn't realize that until I left the building at 3pm. Becca, the woman who runs the reception office by the south entrance, told me there was a wildfire in and that people were already told to evacuate. I had no idea, since I don't usually check my phone for news via social media.
The smoke was visible from the parking lot, and even more so as I got closer to home. I was worried about Susan, as the smoke was in her area closer to the San Pedro River.
The dogs were happy to see me when I got home. Gretel was inside the RV and it got a bit warm this afternoon, but she was fine. My first priority was to check on Susan and then walk Hansel and Gretel along the maintenance road.
Susan was on pre-evacuation orders. Her GMC and doggie essentials were already packed. She'd have trouble getting Allie into her GMC as the step up is too high for her old bones. But she was also worried about all the trees on fire along the river. "All those cottonwoods are gone!" she added ruefully. A few years ago we walked that part of the river south of Hereford bridge quite often. There had been large piles of flood debris along the banks from the 2014 river flood.
I drove closer to the fire area first, but turned around on Hereford Road and Longhorn Road, where Susan lives. County sheriff deputies had closed the road and access to thru-drivers at the intersection of Hereford Road and Palominas road anyway, and I didn't want to be in the way of fire fighters. So I turned around and headed to my alternate walking route closer to home
The winds had increased in the late afternoon. No aerial suppression was safe, so the smoke was fought from the ground only.
I could see the smoke even from the maintenance road. Both Hansel and Gretel were olivious to the distant danger, yet my mind was on potential lives, structures and animals lost. Reports said the fire had jumped the river and was moving northeast, toward Bisbee and the Mule Mountains.
The smoke seemed contained an hour later. I couldn't see any fires from embers as the sun set. Hopefully the fire can be quickly contained, as winds were howling past midnight.
Three weeks ago creeks and drainages were running nicely from snow melt. Carr Creek was running near the maintenance road. Now all that is dry, the grass is drying out. The stockpond is still full, but that will be dry by the end of April if we don't get more rain.
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