Can't They Put That Fire Out? (Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley: house, living, legally)

[tijlover]

I live fairly close to the Catalina Mountains, and the fires have been raging for 3 days now and it's spreading east, west, and downhill toward the Catalina Foothills. Yes, it's pretty to see at night, but I'm more concerned with the wild animals which will be left homeless, displaced.

[grmi66]

It is very rugged country with no roads up there. I've hiked quite a bit in the area and with a small lightweight pack it takes me cruising pretty fast about 2.5-3 hours to get to where the worst of the fire is. With a full pack for fighting fires it would take 4-5 hours of hiking to get to. Then if someone gets hurt, the Forest Service would be unable to get them out.

Plus having to delay air efforts for two days because someone was flying a drone isn't helping either. Those slurry bombers can't fly if someone is flying a drone.

[Marcy1210]

It's really rugged terrain, it's and hard for firefighters carrying 70lb of gear in a full fire suit to get to the fire. There are many narrow canyons that are sucking up the winds and fueling the fire. The low humidity (<3%), low dew points, temps hovering around 105 and high winds are spreading the fire. It's bone dry up there with lots of dried grasses and undergrowth that's highly flammable. No rain is in the forecast, and with only slurry drops of fire retardant and helicopter bucket drops of water, it's going to be a long time before the fire is out.
I live about a mile west of Oracle and First Avenue and can see the mountains from my family room. It's scary.

[grmi66]

Once you get past the entrance to those canyons and up a mile or so down the trail the flora takes a dramatic turn. Open fields of waist high dead grass and dead wildflowers. Then transitions to thick groves of scrub oak and finally miles of pine forest.

People I've chatted with think it's simply a bunch of low laying cactus and some palo verdes that's going up in flames. Quite surprised when I show them pictures of what Ventana Canyon, Pima Canyon & Finger Rock Canyon look like two miles away from where my car was parked.

Add in that those canyons are pretty narrow and the mountains create their own weather and wind patterns, it's impressive the Forest Service is making any dent at all. In the past 8 weeks I've been up in Ventana Canyon, Finger Rock Canyon, Pima Canyon, stood on top of Mt. Kimball & Pusch Peak. Each time I was hiking, I'd look out and shake my head nervously thinking about what a time bomb the surrounding terrain is.

[WilmaWildcat]

When those drones were flying illegally in the way they lost a lot of crucial time on the front end that could have helped contain the fire early in the bud. The tankers had to put down and wait for hours while they found out who was flying the drones and get them stopped. No aircraft are allowed to fly in airspace where some other craft is flying. So they had to put down.

...Meanwhile, fire officials said Monday, their efforts have been hampered by repeated interference from drones that forced firefighters to pause their work…

…The latest drone incursion occurred around 2 p.m. Monday over the fire’s southern edge, she said.

“Our firefighting aircraft communicate with each other and with forces on the ground. When an aircraft such as a drone enters restricted air space we have no way of communicating with the pilots so we must ground our aircraft,” she explained.

Fire crews have lost “precious time” as a result, and drone interference is the main reason the fire is still growing and is only minimally contained at this point, officials said…

https://tucson.com/news/local/illega...16af382ed.html

[Saguarogirl507]

I am currently living out of a suitcase. We are in the SET part of the READY. SET. GO preparation mode. Stressful to say the least. Hopefully we won't have to evacuate but we are packed and ready if and when the GO happens. The fire is right behind the mountain in the backyard of Ventana Canyon. Yesterday they sprayed retardant on our hill. Ugh. Didn't need this for sure.

[WilmaWildcat]

Originally Posted by RobertaWa

I am currently living out of a suitcase...

Wow, I am so sorry, Roberta! How is it going now?

[Bondurant]

Wild fires are never easy to put out.

[Saguarogirl507]

Originally Posted by WilmaWildcat

Wow, I am so sorry, Roberta! How is it going now?

Well, we are still home so that is a good thing. And getting a much needed break from all the smoke of the past few days. The wind is coming from the south so blowing up towards Oro Valley. Poor them. The smoke is so awful. But those winds are due to change with the dry thunderstorms predicted to come later. So we will stay here until told to leave. And then we will leave. So hard to leave the house now with the pandemic raging all around us.

[WilmaWildcat]

oh good lord, yes; didnt even think of that. So sorry.