Willow Fire jumps Highway 87 in spots; both 87 and 188 closed

By Jim Keyworth, Roundup staff reporter

Thursday, July 8, 2004

Harry Jones/Contributed Photo taken from the Rye area south of Payson.

With the Willow Fire jumping Highway 87 and the diversion of resources to fight the Ponderosa Fire at Highway 260 and the Control Road, the Southwest Incident Management Team had a busy but successful day on Wednesday.

"We had an awful lot of activity around Mount Catherine," Incident Commander Jeff Whitney said Wednesday evening. "It came down Deer Creek, and pushed the highway pretty hard. We saw a number of fire whirls that were very akin to tornadic activity, and as a result it blew across the road on the north side and the south side of (Highway) 188."

Both State Route 87 and 188 remain closed at this time

Three spots where the fire jumped Highway 87 were significant in size, each in the range of 20 to 50 acres. Highway 87 was closed at 1 p.m. and traffic also was delayed on Highway 188 during the afternoon.

"We pretty well got a line around them, but we still do have active fire in there," Whitney said at the 8 p.m. media briefing on Wednesday.

Ponderosa Fire Taps Resources

The Ponderosa Fire, first reported at 11:10 a.m. by the Diamond Point Lookout, grew to 90 acres before firefighters brought it under control later Wednesday afternoon. Whitney said it was lucky so many firefighting resources were in the Rim country when it happened.

"It was a going concern," Whitney said. "The resources we were able to share did make a difference."

A possible statewide blackout was averted when firefighters decided to delay burnout operations that would require the 345-kilovolt power lines southeast of Highway 87 to be shut down. Instead, the burnout operation was scheduled to commence around 9 p.m. Wednesday, giving Arizona Public Service more time to reroute power into the Valley and around the state.

"We are going to burn from the junction to the south and try to get it as far up to Slate Creek overnight as we can to try to alleviate the need to decommission the power line tomorrow during the day so we can meet peak demand," Whitney said.

Highway 87 will probably be closed for at least parts of the day Thursday, but Whitney could not say when.

The lightning-caused fire, which began June 24, stands at 101,500 acres and is now 25 percent contained. There are currently 769 firefighters and support personnel working the fire, which has so far cost $6,818,000.

Watch payson.com for regular updates about the fires in Rim country. See the Friday printed edition of the Payson Roundup for complete details and photos.