SPRINGERVILLE - It was tough to breathe easy Saturday in the communities on the east edge of the White Mountains as the wind blew, the fire grew and ash fell on Springerville and Eagar, 20 miles away from the leading edge of the Wallow Fire.
Greer remained under an evacuation alert as the fire blew past the fishing and camping mecca of Big Lake in its direction.
There was good news, however, from this, the third-biggest wildfire in Arizona history.
The fire that burned around the community of Alpine on Friday night destroyed only a trailer and a storage building, no new evacuations were ordered, and the fire grew more slowly than in the previous two days, said Joe Reinarz, commander of the Type 1 Incident Command Team that took charge of the fire's northern flank Saturday.
That team joins the Eastern Arizona team, now assigned to the south end. Their combined army of firefighters grew to 1,300, and more were coming in from across the West. So far, their effort has cost $3 million.
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Busloads of hotshot crews streamed into Round Valley, where Eagar and Springerville sit, as trucks pulling fifth wheels and horse trailers headed out.
Shane Stevens and Sammie Beevers took their two horses from Eagar to a relative's house near Fence Creek. They will return and ready their other pets and their most prized possessions in case an evacuation order comes to Eagar.
Reinarz, pressed to name a probability for that happening, at a community meeting at Round Valley High School auditorium, said: "No more than 50-50." About 5,000 people live in the twin communities of Eagar and Springerville.
The 20-mile distance between the fire and those two communities could be covered quickly if the fire returns to the form it showed Thursday and Friday, when it grew by a total of about 100,000 acres (nearly 156 square miles) in two eight-mile runs to the north and northwest. The forecast for Greer today is for a mostly sunny day with a chance of thunderstorms and winds of 15-18 mph, gusting as high as 28 mph.
Greer, an idyllic alpine meadow filled with high-end resorts, venerable lodges, restaurants and rustic rental cabins, is even closer to the fire - about eight miles away. Reinarz said it will take a two-mile run to change the current alert to an evacuation order.
Some residents and guests have already left Greer. Apache County Undersheriff Brannon Eagar said that's a good thing. The road to Greer is a "choke-point," he said at the community meeting. It's a one-way drive on a winding two-lane road flanked in places with thickets of tall conifers.
Crews are burning meadows between the fire and the endangered communities, Reinarz said, trying to force the flames to drop from the canopy of the big trees. It might stop the fire or at least slow it, making protection of homes and businesses easier.
That happened in Alpine, Reinarz said: A tree-thinning project by the U.S. Forest Service and a coalition of partners in the White Mountain Stewardship Project caused the fire to drop from the canopy toward the ground when it came through the area.
Similar thinning was done on the south side of Eagar and Springerville, said Christopher Knopp, supervisor of the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forest.
But even if all the homes here are spared, the loss is immense, said Knopp. "It is a lovely forest, it's gorgeous, and it's just heart-breaking to see it burn."
Residents of these communities live with fire but said last night they haven't seen anything like this one since the Rodeo-Chediski Fire burned through more than 460,000 acres on the west end of the White Mountains, taking out much of the Sitgreaves unit.
Now it's the Apache unit's turn. The big difference between now and that fire in 2002, said Eagar resident Randy Heinrich: "That one was 50 miles away; this one's closer."
Wallow Fire
• Started: May 31
• Burned: 143,713 acres
Horseshoe 2 Fire
• Started: May 8
• Burned: 90,000 acres
Murphy Fire
• Started: May 30
• Burned: 22,000
OTHER FIRES
Horseshoe 2 Fire
Crews were trying to protect a church camp and two communities from the Horseshoe 2 Fire that had burned 140 square miles in far Southern Arizona. It's the fifth-largest fire in state history.
The 90,000-acre blaze had come within a mile of the evacuated Methodist church camp in the steep Pine Canyon near the community of Paradise on Friday night.
"It will be a major concern until the fire passes there," said Dave Killebrew, a spokesman for the team fighting the fire.
Helicopters were dumping water and retardant on a hotspot near the camp. "As far as I know, (the fire) hasn't gotten into the camp," Killebrew said Saturday.
Crews also were focusing on protecting the evacuated communities of Paradise and East Whitetail Canyon. The fire, 50 percent contained, was within two miles of the eight to 10 homes in East Whitetail Canyon.
The nearby Chiricahua National Monument was closed as a precaution.
The Associated Press
Murphy Fire
The Murphy Fire forced authorities to close Peña Blanca Lake and a couple of nearby picnic areas Saturday.
The Coronado National Forest closed the lake, its two access roads, and the Upper and Lower White Thumb picnic areas because of the wildfire, which has burned about 22,000 acres near Arivaca and Tubac.
Arizona 289, known as Ruby Road, has not been closed. Helicopters are scooping water from the lake to help fight the fire.
There are more than 300 people fighting the human-caused blaze, which is 15 percent contained, said Murphy Fire spokeswoman Melissa Smith.
Firefighters conducted burnout operations on the east and northeast sides of the fire to protect nearby homes, Smith said.
No homes or structures have been threatened, but fire officials are monitoring Rio Rico and Tubac, she said.
The Tucson area will continue to see moderate to heavy smoke conditions, she said.
Jamar Younger, Arizona Daily Star
Contact reporter Tom Beal at 573-4158 or tbeal@azstarnet.com
