Wallow Fire
| Wallow Fire | |
|---|---|
| File:Wallow NASA modis 6-08-11.jpg NASA satellite image, June 8, 2011, at 1:25 PM MDT | |
| Date(s) | May 29, 2011 – July 8, 2011 |
| Location | Arizona New Mexico |
| Coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Statistics[1] | |
| Burned area | 538,049 acres (2,177 km2)
|
| Impacts | |
| Non-fatal injuries | 16 |
| Structures destroyed | 72 |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Campfire |
| Map | |
| <mapframe zoom="8" text="Perimeter of Wallow Fire (map data)" align="center" height="200" latitude="33.8" longitude="-109.3" width="250">{"properties":{"stroke-width":6,"stroke":"#ff0000","title":"Wallow Fire"},"type":"ExternalData","title":"2011 Wallow Fire.map","service":"page"}</mapframe> | |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value. | |
The Wallow Fire was a wildfire that started in the White Mountains near Alpine, Arizona on May 29, 2011. It was named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire originated, The fire eventually spread across the stateline into western New Mexico, United States.[2][3] By the time the fire was contained on July 8, it had consumed 538,049 acres (2,177 km2) of land, 522,642 acres (2,115 km2) in Arizona and 15,407 acres (62 km2) in New Mexico.[1] It was the largest wildfire in Arizona history.
Cause
[edit | edit source]The fire was started accidentally by two men who were camping. They cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges relating to mismanagement of their campfire.[4] In November, 2012 they were ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3.7 million.[5][6]
Response
[edit | edit source]The communities of Alpine,[1] Blue River, Greer, Nutrioso, Sunrise, Springerville, Eagar in Arizona,[7][8] and Luna in New Mexico were evacuated. In addition to other aircraft, a converted DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker ("VLAT"), capable of dropping up to 12,000 gallons of fire retardant in seconds, was deployed to help fight the fire.[9][10] On June 11, 2011, the leading edge of the fire advanced into Catron County, New Mexico.[11]
On June 12, evacuations were lifted for Eagar, Springerville and South Fork.[12] On June 14, the Wallow Fire became the largest fire in Arizona history, passing the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, which burned 732 square miles (1,900 km2) in 2002. On June 18 and 20, evacuations were lifted for Alpine[13] and Greer[14] and on June 21, the evacuation for Luna, NM was lifted.[15] Additionally, the Apache National Forest was closed to the public.[16]
On July 3, the fire was 95% contained. The Wallow Fire was declared 100% contained as of 6 p.m., July 8.[1]
Damage
[edit | edit source]Four commercial buildings were destroyed; 36 outbuildings were destroyed and one damaged; 32 residences were destroyed and 5 damaged. The estimated cost was $109 million.
Widespread smoke plume
[edit | edit source]The thick smoke in the NASA satellite image was only part of the smoky haze plaguing the continental United States in early June 2011. According to the U.S. Air Quality "Smog Blog Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine", smoke from fires in Arizona and New Mexico extended through Texas and Oklahoma up into the Great Lakes region, affecting air quality for large areas east of the Rocky Mountains.[17][18][19]
See also
[edit | edit source]- 2011 Horseshoe 2 Fire
References
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- ^ Query results
- ^ "Wallow fire burns through Greer, Arizona" , Wildfire Today, June 9, 2011
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- ^ Audi, Tamara (9 June 2011) "Arizona Fires Worsen: Authorities Say Biggest Blaze Covers 389,000 Acres; 2 Towns Ordered to Evacuate" Wall Street Journal
- ^ Query results
External links
[edit | edit source]
File:Wikinews-logo.svg Smoke from Arizona fire spreads to other states at Wikinews
- Wallow - InciWeb Incident Information System
- U.S. Air Quality “Smog Blog” Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine at University of Maryland
- Image gallery of the Wallow Fire by the U.S. Forest Service at Flickr.com
- Wallow Fire Information
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