The "Slide Fire": Say Goodbye to Oak Creek—Hello Phoenix (?!)

[Christopher O'Brien]

A helicopter pilot flying over the Village of Oak Creek took this photo after dawn. Bell Rock is @ the bottom—you're looking north up to the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon. I was up @ Grand Canyon 2day when I saw this pic & was instantly haunted w/ a realization. FWIW: we finished shooting principle footage last wk for a documentary on Oak Crk Canyon (funded by the State of AZ) that will show the extreme importance of the only flowing water in AZ that (besides the CO River) has never been reported going dry...

Yeah—that was then, this is now. Now we have fire suppression chemicals and extreme levels of carbon polluting a most vital AZ freshwater source for Phoenix and the valley millions for decades.

Latest "Slide Fire" update: 12,000 acres gone, 1000 firefighters digging in fire lines at a 25K acre line to protect Flagstaff. Visibility in Sedona this morning @ 7 AM was less than 1/4 mile and the pine and juniper smoke was scary toxic. And the fire season has yet to begin…

 

[mike]

As a bush fire fighter myself i can sympathise.
We have a 65 percent chance of el nino kicking in this year, its been the hottest winter on record for 100 years here.
El Nino on the horizon, with warm days forecast to stay
I got am email from the fire commisioner last week saying next season will be a bad one

The CO river is badly stressed

the Colorado River is the 14th most stressed among the world’s most populated river basins, and the sixth most stressed if ranked by size. More than 30 million people depend on it for water.

World’s 18 Most Water-Stressed Rivers | World Resources Institute

 

[john rogers]

perhaps, as in the state where my brother works for the forest service, they do not allow proper controlled burns to keep the wild fire hazard down. Sierra club fights in his state to block burns, allowing debris to build up for years, creating a perfect storm........One of the activists told my brother, the "wild fires will stop people from polluting the wild lands with their presence"

 

[Charlie Prime]

Large populations of humans sensibly did not habitate in deserts for thousands of years. This is one reason why.

Unlimited federal dollars printed out of thin air frequently put people where they do not belong. That is fine and dandy until the funding stops. The unnatural anomaly then succumbs to nature's correction, and things return to normal.

 

[stonehart]

As a bush fire fighter myself i can sympathise.
We have a 65 percent chance of el nino kicking in this year, its been the hottest winter on record for 100 years here.
El Nino on the horizon, with warm days forecast to stay
I got am email from the fire commisioner last week saying next season will be a bad one

The CO river is badly stressed



World’s 18 Most Water-Stressed Rivers | World Resources Institute

Been a very odd late summer and autumn here in NZ.

Has been by far much wetter than normal and to warm and then we get hit with frosts near to -10.. things are far from normal.

 

[boomerang]

Chris, sorry to hear about problems you guys are having in that beautiful part of the world. It may not be much solace, but the history of the American west has largely been one long squabble over water.

At any rate, we can at least hope that over the short term, at least, rainfall will increase.