Sunday 060511 Wallow Fire Update

As of last night at 10 PM the fire was estimated to be at 144, 100 acres, which is good news in that it didn't spread yesterday as much as it has been.  We are waiting for an updated fire map from USFS.

Contrary to rumor, NO further evacuations (other than Alpine and Nutrioso) were ordered as of last night, although Greer area remains on pre-evacuation alert, and people in other communities, such as Eagar and Springerville AZ and Escudilla Bonita and Red Hill NM have been asked to ready themselves, just in case.

Yesterday firefighters completed approximately 30 miles of burnout operations.  Approximately 160 firefighters will be continuing burnout operations overnight along Hwy 191 & 180.  As of last night the fire had not crossed the roads, and with low overnight winds hopefully the back burned areas will keep the fire from continuing on in that direction.  Note that along 180 much forest restoration work has been done, so combined with the burnout operations, there is a very good chance the fire will be stopped there.  

Editorial opinion:  That's the point of forest restoration - to allow natural fires to occur but not give catastrophic wildfires a chance to get going.  We all need to urge USFS to go forward with forest restoration in the western states with all speed, and we need to get our legislators to support forest restoration with adequate and timely funding.  And we need to tell our government that it's time for realistic response to rabid environmentalism that has blocked forest restoration and gotten us to the point where fires like this can occur.  It's time to stop succumbing to environmentalist litigation that does no environmental good.

As more information is available we will get it to you here.