This is the real kind of scary. A large wildfire has been raging this week north of the metro Phoenix area– while some 11 properties in the forest burned, the far north bits of million dollar homes were spared of damage by the Cave Creek Fire. The world’s largest saguaro cactus was a victim along with a lot of wildlife.
However, extremely dry conditions and strong winds from the southwest are pushing the fire quickly north, with not much to stop it from chewing across some of the most rugged backcountry in the state, which is a tinderbox. See the news story and photo in the Arizona Daily Star and updated coverage by the Fire Incident Management team.
It is a front of 50 foot flames chewing across dead grass and brittle trees.
And it seems to be bee-lining a path northeast to our little cabin in Strawberry, with only the East Verde Creek as a barrier, plus the several hundred brave men and women who go out in 110 degree weather in full gear to fight the fire for 12+ hours at a stretch. The next time you complain about lukewarm latte or bad traffic, think of these folks.
We are headed up there Thursday night, and hoping it will take a turn on itself, or get under control, but predictions are it could reach our vicinity by the weekend. It’s not very easy to concentrate on mundane technology when the flames are raging.
