It has been a crappy 10 days up here. I was out camping by knoll lake the day the fire started. Got the call and flew home. Pretty sure I set an 80 series speed record on the 300 road - 22 miles in 35 mins...
Since then it has been prepping, packing, making videos for insurance and moving vehicles to various locations in safer places around town. Finally finished everything yesterday evening, now we are sitting here waiting for the word to go.
This fire started out as a potential worst case scenario for us in kachina village. This time of year, the winds are always out of the south west and the critical period to make it through is late spring until monsoons hit. We are in the worst and most critical time currently and are getting spring like SW wind events a month later than normal.
Our biggest fear has always been dry fuels, strong SW winds and a wind driven fire coming up oak creek canyon then up pumphouse wash directly into Kachina. The firefighters have done an excellent job of keeping the fire out of oak creek canyon, but the second worst case scenario is any wind driven fire approaching from the SW. Having some background in wildland fire, it is absolutely amazing the fire crews were able to hold the line on FR231 for as long as they did. Without their efforts and immediate massive response, all of oak creek canyon and Flagstaff would be burned by now.
The new line on FR535 is holding well. The leading edge of the fire is currently in the slide fire burn scar from 2014 with greatly reduced fuels and is approaching several areas that were treated with prescribed burns in the last few years. There has also been some substantial logging in the areas east of woody ridge (between the fire and us) that was done to create a defensible space to keep fires from jumping 89A from the west. We have been out of the smoke for about 95% of the last week thankfully and are hoping for the wind to stay SW or SSW until this is over.
Currently the leading edge of the fire is far enough north that our property will likely be OK, but that can change at any time. I am the 3rd generation of my family to live in this house since my grandfather built it 49 years ago. We absolutely love it here and would like to stay another 50 years.
Thank you
@kelly saad for helping me move a few cruisers out to his place on Saturday. He got to feel the pain of driving a 45 as a person over 5'5"
Yesterday a friend and customer of mine helped me move a few to the Airport in a secure spot.
The wife, dogs and I are loaded and ready to go. My dodge is hooked up to our travel trailer and the wife's 100 gets to tow the monster LX. We plan to head south out of the smoke to camp when/if the order comes in.
