Monday night we drove home to Phoenix skirting the edge of the active Willow wildfire and was awed/dismayed at how the smoke completely obscured the Mazatzal range– the front in the photos below was only 1/2 mile from the Beeline Highway (AZ87) and the radio was reporting that the Beeline was to close the next day so fire fighters could build defense lines to keep it from crossing over. Check out this image of a plane dumping retardant on the fire.
This is a big deal, not like in a metro area where a detour would be perhaps a detour to a surface street 1.2 mile away- closing the highway means for people traveling between Phoenix and Payson, a route that would add maybe another 80-120 miles to a trip (this was cancelled, but sounds like it could happen any day this week).
Anyhow, I snapped a few pics from the truck window as there was no stopping allowed….