Category: ZNET

– June 16, 2011 1800 Town Meeting

WALLOW UDPATE: Next Town Meeting | Monday, June 20th at 6PM @ Round Valley High School’s Auditorium
WALLOW UPDATE: Red Cross has a few masks at the Springerville Chamber and RV Senior Center. Senior Center has some assistance available if you are an evacuee.
WALLOW UDPATE: Livestock Inspector, get your animals out of the St. Johns Fairgrounds. 602-908-3396
WALLOW UPDATE: Special cases can be helped/escorted through 180/191 to Morenci/Safford area. See the Sheriff’s office for arrangements.
WALLOW UPDATE: HWY 180 is opening back up later this evening (pending no future issues). People are currently being escorted.
WALLOW UPDATE: How are evacuees going to be notified they can return? They should have registered…..if not they will utilize all media ie radio news, tv, social media, etc to let people know
WALLOW UPDATE: Beware of scams for repair and cleanup. Documents to come, and i’ll upload them to http://wallow.us/
WALLOW UPDATE: Flood Control help will focus on areas/houses with the most need

Hwy 180 is closed at the Hwy 260 Junction due to nearby fire activity.

– WALLOW UPDATE: Clarification, HWY 180 between Eagar and Nutrioso is closed just outside of Eagar (near the rodeo grounds) at the top of the hill by the Sipe turnoff due to spot fires. UNCONFIRMED: Nutrioso residents cannot get back in to Eagar right now.

Okay I am looking at the models and it looks like the wind will remain
high and could strengthen on Sunday as the pressure gradient between a
Low over the west and a High in the gulf strengthens.. Winds will be
around 35mph to 45mph with gust of 50mph… this is higher then last
week. The will be flowing in an East direction, but as I said before
winds will speed up and flow in the direction of the valley and
canyons. I would remain on high alert as we will see this fire flare
back up over the next few days. Currently the winds are carrying
embers up to 8 miles ahead of the fire wall so we could see spot up to
10 miles over the next few days. I will keep you updated.

Gary Stein

Don Davidson sent me this picture from Nutrioso. Again, it is hard not to call this photo beautiful.

The boundaries for the pre-evacuation area in Eagar is the west slope of Flattop Mountain on the east, Amity Lane on the west, and all of the area south of Schoolbus Road in Eagar.

From 593Info – “This notice is due to predicted high winds for the next few days. There is a possibility of spot fires during the high winds. If you see any spot fires occurring in the area please report it immediately to 911.

Law enforcement is issuing a pre-evacuation notice for a small area of SOUTH EAST EAGAR. This includes the Eagar area South of School Bus Rd., East of Amity Ln. to Juniper St. (W. of Flat Top). At this time residents are requested to prepare to move out of the area when notified by law enforcement. This notice is not time specific. Law Enforcement has not been advised of a specific time frame nor has it established one.

If you are asked to move out of the area we are hoping it is not for an extended time. If you are asked to leave, it is for your safety and to avoid interfering with fire fighting efforts. The Round Valley Intermediate School (Brown St. and 2nd St.) will be open for residents in the affected area as a temporary location to stand-by. If long term arrangements are needed you will be notified at the Round Valley Intermediate School.

This notice is an advisory only. The next notification issued by Law Enforcement will be either to move out of the area or to rescind the advisory. It is the intent of Law Enforcement that the residents of the South East Eagar area and surrounding community be prepared to move out as quickly as possible in the event it becomes necessary to leave due to the “Wallow Fire.”

We feel the possibility of spot fires and the need to remove citizens from the area is very small. But, we want you to be prepared just in case. For additional information or status updates, please call the “593” info center at (928) 333-3412 or visit their website at www.593info.com.”

Here is a map as best as I can visualize it from the report.  Please do NOT consider this map to be the official pre-evacuation map, but is only a representation to help people see the affected area.

Good morning,
To say that I’m upset is about as mildly as I can phrase it. It seems that the flow of information has dried up since the folks in Eagar and Springerville have been able to return. So . . . this is about how my morning has gone.

• Call to 928.333.3412 yields a tape from last night. No updates and no live person to talk to.
• Call to Forest Service in Springerville provides little or no information. The last she had heard was from Monday and that was that folks could return to Alpine in 2-5 days. She did, however tell me that the fire was now in the hands of “Area Command” and she seemed pissed about it. She told me that if I wanted to talk to them I had to call Hon-Dah Casino (800.929.8744) and ask for them.
• Much to my surprise, when I did exactly that it worked. They connected me right away to someone named Steve that walked to phone over to Don Ferguson. He was very apologetic and polite. He said he couldn’t answer all of my questions, but that he would all me back and he soon did.
• When Don called back he gave me the name of the PIO for Zone 2 (Trish Hergervorst (sp) in Reserve) and said that she was in a meeting but would soon call.
• Trish called to related this:
  • It’s unofficial but the are working for a 10AM Saturday return for folks that are residents of Alpine. No media, no gawkers.
  • High winds today threaten that schedule, but they are working their butts off to make it happen.
  • While Alpine is in Zone 1 and Trish is in Zone 2, she acknowledged the fact that the Zone 1 folks have pretty well shut down the communications pipeline. She, and the rest of folks in Zone 2, will do their best to provide us with up-to-date info. For that we can call the Zone 2 information line at 575.533.6928.

I will relay more info as I get it.

For those that know him, Terry Kilmer was able to return to Nutrioso yesterday and called me last night. He was ecstatic about the way the firefighters had treated his property. He says, he has some work to do, but all is OK.

Take care,
Steve Malcolm

How to possibly describe what has happened over the last week and a half?  I can honestly say that I never anticipated this website to mold into what it has become.  I was planning on just streaming the Town meeting last Monday, and as the day progressed information, maps, and other data began to flow my way.  It wasn’t until around 1am Tuesday morning that I started to realize what I had gotten myself into. It literaly consumed all of my time, and I hope that we ended up with confirmable and solid information that was able to help people get informed about what was going on with this fire.  While I plan to continue to provide major updates and map data while this fire is being contained, I must get my family and home back in order.  So much has happened in the last few weeks, and I am thankful for the opportunity to share it with all of you.  I have learned how small the world really is, and this “community” we live in stretches farther than any geographical border.  It seems like the worst and most trying experiences can bring out both the carnality, but also the greatness that is within people.  Acts of kindness, help, and other services rendered that people may never know about are truly what make this community that I call home great.

Thank you, each and everyone of you.  I really feel like I have learned and gained from you and this experience more than I contributed.  Please continue to check http://wallow.us in the days to come for continued updates and information about the Wallow Fire.

Wes