Fire and flood danger in Prescott area??? (Chino Valley, Paulden: earthquakes, dangerous)

[wldgrdnr]

Again, on another site (which happened to rate Prescott #2 best place to retire of smallish cities in the country) they gave it very high indicators for fire and flood danger...Can someone tell me more about that? Thank you

J

[adventuregurl]

Originally Posted by wldgrdnr

Again, on another site (which happened to rate Prescott #2 best place to retire of smallish cities in the country) they gave it very high indicators for fire and flood danger...Can someone tell me more about that? Thank you

J

I'm not sure about floods unless they're referring to the monsoons, maybe someone else can help you out there.

Anywhere in AZ is a fire risk at certain times of year depending on the previous winter and current spring/summer conditions. Google the Gladiator Fire, it's one of 3 currently (or recently) burning in AZ.

[DellNec]

Originally Posted by wldgrdnr

Again, on another site (which happened to rate Prescott #2 best place to retire of smallish cities in the country) they gave it very high indicators for fire and flood danger...Can someone tell me more about that? Thank you

J

Gladiator Fire now 50 percent contained - The Prescott Daily Courier - Prescott, Arizona

Fire is always a high risk in Prescott, especially in Ponderosa and brush country. See above article.

Flood danger is in areas that are low lying, like in canyons and areas of Chino Valley and Paulden (due to having lowest elevation in area). Areas of Chino Valley and Paulden have water tables within 10-50 feet of the surface, and there is good reason why, a lot of the tributaries flow down through that area being that it has the lowest elevation. In Prescott areas can still flood if they are near a wash or in a low lying area.

Another issue is earthquakes. While not as serious as fire or flood, the area has a couple of faults with the Big Chino Fault being the largest (over 25 miles long) and capable of producing a 7.0 quake. The AZ USGS wrote a couple of reports on it and it is serious enough that the building code for the area recognizes Prescott as a Seismic Design Category "C".

With "A" being the least dangerous and going up in risk with "B" and then "C" and finally "D (San Andreas Fault), E and F".

[chazk14]

Originally Posted by DellNec

Gladiator Fire now 50 percent contained - The Prescott Daily Courier - Prescott, Arizona

Fire is always a high risk in Prescott, especially in Ponderosa and brush country. See above article.

Flood danger is in areas that are low lying, like in canyons and areas of Chino Valley and Paulden (due to having lowest elevation in area). Areas of Chino Valley and Paulden have water tables within 10-50 feet of the surface, and there is good reason why, a lot of the tributaries flow down through that area being that it has the lowest elevation. In Prescott areas can still flood if they are near a wash or in a low lying area.

Another issue is earthquakes. While not as serious as fire or flood, the area has a couple of faults with the Big Chino Fault being the largest (over 25 miles long) and capable of producing a 7.0 quake. The AZ USGS wrote a couple of reports on it and it is serious enough that the building code for the area recognizes Prescott as a Seismic Design Category "C".

With "A" being the least dangerous and going up in risk with "B" and then "C" and finally "D (San Andreas Fault), E and F".

The fire and flooding connect perfectly right now, because with the Gladiator Fire those areas will most likely severly flood when the monsoons come.